hydrophone range

[barkhorn45]

which has the better range the hydrophone or lookouts using the 16 km mod?i'm in april 1940 and have been staying submerged 80% of the time using the hydrophones currently at border between bf15 and 16 there usually is a lot of activity here.also does using the obsevation scope increase the visible range?i read somewhere that rl u-boats utilized there scopes while patrolling on the surface and in sh2 it appeared to help.

[GoldenRivet]

hydrophones... always hear them further away than you can see them.

[kranz]

I read somewhere that real-time hydro could catch a convoy from 100 km-but in game it is probably impossible

[GoldenRivet]

i searched the GWX manual briefly for a hard number on hydrophone range in SH3. im sure they adjusted it to a more historical value.

i also recall reading it could pick out sounds at about 100km

[Paul Riley]

I don't have any experience with this 16km mod,but i'd still put a bet on that the hydrophones will still be able to pick up sounds a lot further away.
The OS allows you to see more of your immediate viewing area compared to the PS,and the OS has less range than the PS.The PS can zoom upto x6,where the OS is x1.5 I think.
The only time I raise the OS when surfaced is when in rough seas and the waves are coming over the conning tower,it allows me to still be able to see as the boat goes under momentarily.
Is this what you wanted to know?

[finchOU]

the game models single merchants out to 30ish KM....and Convoys out to 50ish KM..from what I've seen. Its kind of a spoiler actually when you get into Convoy "hydrophone" range as it slows your computer down a bit (a pause in TC then jumpy) to pick up the extra stuff it is trying to process...this happens even down to like 64 Time Compression...so its no suprise that a convoy is over the horizon when you check your hydrophones. So that sucks for Immerison factor.....I never run into a convoy (visual) by suprise, which would be cool every once in a while....or to actually miss a convoy completely because of lack of hydrophone checks. It would be a lot easier to "lose" convoys as well...because you wouldnt have that jumpy TC to tell you, you are still close to a convoy when it changes course out of sight while you are trying to reposition...especially later on with Radar coming on the scene ...pushing you beyond the horizon or farther.

[GoldenRivet]

one other thing... do at least two or three sweeps of the hydrophong YOURSELF.

there are usually boats out there that are barely audible that you - the payer- will hear, but are still too quiet for your sound officer to detect even though you can barely hear them.

try it out some time

[Kielhauler1961]

I've detected sound contacts out as far as 25km. "Visual" contacts as far as 40km using that weird thing with the UZO and getting a "lock" on something well beyond visual range, or in poor visibility! So far away it should be below the horizon. Been tempted but never yet taken advantage...

[Pisces]

Sometime last year I played around with the mission editor to create a hydrophone training mission. (lost it with a format unfortunately) I only tested single ships and they became audible when the range was about 34 km (give or take 0.5 km, I placed them right outside that distance). This was GWX version 1.03, But I don't think that performance was changed in GWX 2.1. I don't know what ranges for stock SH3 or other mods are. You may want to dig around the forum for posts by greyrider and/or raduz. They had a mod by which you could estimate speed by the prop's turncount (here's a thread: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=80804 and http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=86693)

For using the hydrophone, don't forget to increase the volume knob. It has 4 levels, simply click the upper area of the knob next to the bearing display.

A higher scope viewing location helps to see objects behind and below the visible horizon. But since SH3 doesn't model this 'dropping' behind the horizon its not much use in game. The only use it has for me is preventing scope washout by waves.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by Pisces

A higher scope viewing location helps to see objects behind and below the visible horizon. But since SH3 doesn't model this 'dropping' behind the horizon its not much use in game.

this is the exact reason i wish that these subsims would use a "round earth" model like Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

not only that but the cellestial navigation, latitude longitude, great circle issues and grid would all match WAY more accurately than the mercator projection world we see in SH3.

[barkhorn45]

thanks for all the replies it seems i was correct to use the 'phones almost exclusively.about the only time i surface day or night is to replenish compressed air and internal air.at night i stay at pd and during the day at 25 m.i guess my crew is thankfull since the sea has been rough for 2 weeks now.

[Pisces]

What is your reason for staying submerged the whole time? This severely limits your mobility I would say. Unless you are certain of sitting right in the middle of a chokepoint of sea-lanes you could be missing alot of contacts that pass by you. I prefer to stay moving surfaced and regularly dive to listen. I think that improved the odds a bit more of running into someone. But it is probably more dangerous in later years with increased airial surveilance.

[meduza]

Originally Posted by Pisces

For using the hydrophone, don't forget to increase the volume knob. It has 4 levels, simply click the upper area of the knob next to the bearing display.

I always thought there are just two positions: on and off. And no matter how many times I click on the knob, the sound level doesn't seam to increase at all, after the first time I clicked to turn it on. :hmm:

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by meduza

I always thought there are just two positions: on and off. And no matter how many times I click on the knob, the sound level doesn't seam to increase at all, after the first time I clicked to turn it on. :hmm:

Have you tried it while listening to your own screw? I noticed a significant volume increase each time.

[meduza]

Originally Posted by Pisces

Have you tried it while listening to your own screw? I noticed a significant volume increase each time.

I just have, and still didn't notice any difference.