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Old 03-16-19, 05:17 PM   #1
kapuhy
Grey Wolf
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Poland
Posts: 874
Downloads: 72
Uploads: 3
Default Range of radio stations

Hi guys,

Recently bstanko6 posted a question on general SH5 forum regarding how far the radio waves would propagate in real life, in order to allow for more immersive gameplay. Reading this got me to do a little experiment - forgive me if this is all common knowledge but for whatever reason it is unused (neither in TWOS, Bstanko6's Radio Channels nor Carotio's International Radio Mod). Radio range is modeled in radio.ini for all stations:

[CHANNEL]
Name=Berlin
Folder=Berlin
Freq=200
Antenna=01.01.1930-01.01.2000:52.32,13.42:750
MusicVolumeOnNews=0.01

This is an example of entry in the file. We can set station name, frequency (any between 1 and 999), time range when radio is active, position from which it broadcasts and the last parameter seems to be maximum range in kilometers at which you can hear the station - at first, barely audible over the white noise sound. I tried tweaking this value back and forth for stations in known range from my U-Boat and I'd say one needs to be some 100-300 kilometers inside the radio range to hear it clearly and without noise, for example:

- My boat is 664 km form Berlin. I can hear Berlin station well if I set it's range to 800, barely if I set it to 750, and not at all below 700
- Algiers, 2854 kilometers from by boat: audible when range set above 3000, clearly audible over 3100
- Grossdeuscher Rundfunk: 1291 km from my boat, audible very weak when range set to 1300, and clearly when set to 1550

I was thinking that these parameters (antenna's time, position and range) could be used to have a bit more immersion in game - let's say if we use semi-realistic ranges and have more radio stations all over the world, player would have different music/news available during various patrols, depending on his boat position.

One could also use the same radio folder for several antennas - this would not inflate the radio folder size but could have interesting uses, for example German radio could broadcast not just from Germany, but also from capitals of occupied countries at the time when they are conquered by Germany.

Ok, I'm rambling a bit here so I'll shut up for now Just wanted to know if anyone has been putting this range parameter to use.
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