basic hydrophopne tutorial

[jangles]

Hi,

Are there any basic guides on using the hydrophone available anywhere that arent videos? , I cant watch videos where I am currently.

Im a bit of a noob , I have been trying to get to grips with using it the last few sessions.

I am diving down to about 50m during a patrol and doing a manual scan - I sometimes pick up ships engines , but im not even completley sure of how to tell which direction it is in relation to my boat

I dont seem to get the hydro lines appear on my Nav map anymore (I used to), but I would really like to be able to find a contact by myself from a random scan anyway.

Im using GWX

thanks

[Gerald]

Yes there somewhere, came just can not remember where, try the search function ... or else it will surely someone very soon, and talk about what you can find it....wondering if Neon had something like that

[Osmium Steele]

I'm not an expert; but I played one on television , but here's what I do.

Remember that 0 on the sonar scope is always the front of the boat. The scope only shows bearing to the target relative to the direction of travel of the boat. i.e. relative bearing.

I make all my sonar sweeps during partols from PD, periscope depth. In my experience, there is no difference in sonar efficiency at deeper depths. Not realistic, but hey, it is a game.

Your ship's heading is 020. You detect a contact at 040 on the scope. Just add the ship's heading and the relative bearing, and you have the true bearing to the contact. (I know, let's not discuss the difference between true north and magnetic north.)

020 + 040 = 060 true. You steer 060 and the contact should now be at 000 on the scope. Dead ahead.

You are playing GWX, so the big white compass which slides in from the right of your screen is your best friend. It makes the math unnecessary.

The inner dial on the white compass is relative bearing, the outer dial is true. In the example above, just click on 040 on the inner dial and your ship will turn to 060.

To determine a rough direction of travel of your target, just listen for a few minutes. 5 - 15 minutes is ample for most contacts. I'll turn 45 - 60 degrees, whatever I feel like, toward his direction of travel, surface and run 15 - 20 minutes. Go to PD and listen again.

Rinse and repeat until your deaf sonarman has the contact.

[jangles]

great, thanks! , that clears it up for me a bit.

I was getting a bit confused where to click on the white compass and in some cases ended up going in the wrong direction completely..

I'll do some more listening tonight and hope to get some tonnage

[Osmium Steele]

Not a problem mate. Happy hunting.

[Pisces]

These links should get you going for a while:

My handheld disk-tool to figure out AOB/course (only): sit still, take bearings and wait, slide the wheel and know which way he is going

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=147719


A pretty clear document describing a technique to get position and course (and speed if you divide the sections between the bearings with the time interval):

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=160817

Another, document describing a similar technique (different geometrical steps, same idea):

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=160817

A program to calculate it for you:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=167103

[EDIT] I wouldn't call this 'basic'. That would be simply homing in on the direction of the sound, surface and sprint, while ever so often adjusting the course after you take a dip to listen. These methods above are the smart 'advanced' way of doing things. A bit more patience is required, but the result is a solid solution. (as best as you can measure the bearings though) And these methods are not neccesarily historically accurate. But in the game they do work!