DCS: F/A-18C Hornet | AA Radar Use

Perhaps one of the most complex and confusing aspects of operating the Hornet is correct use of the air-to-air radar. The APG-73 is a mechanically scanned, pulse Doppler radar that is not a magic sensor that detects anything in front of it. Rather, there are several factors that determine what it can detect.
In this video, I’ll go over many of these factors, and in the end, I hope you’ll better understand how to best to use the radar and understand its limitations.
Many of these same principles will also apply to the F-16 radar.
RANGE
It probably goes without saying, but the range setting simply sets the scale of the radar format, it does not affect the actual range at which the radar can detect a contact. If you wish to display a target at 40 nm for instance, you will need to have the scale of the radar set to at least 40 nm.
AZIMUTH
Because the radar searches in front of your aircraft in a cone pattern, with you at the pointy end, contacts left or right of the cone will not be detected. To detect such contacts, you can either increase the azimuth setting of the radar, and thereby increasing your scan volume, or slewing the radar azimuth to the selected location of the contact.
If you increase the azimuth though, recognize that contact updates will be slower. Combined with a low target aging setting, the contact will disappear.
BAR
The bar setting controls the total vertical scan volume of the radar, and this can be 1, 2, 4 and 6 bars in a repeating raster scan. A 1 bar setting provides the fastest contact updates, but the smallest vertical scan volume, whereas a 6 bar setting results in the lowest contact updates but the largest vertical scan volume. Just like the azimuth setting, a large volume can result a dropped contacts when combined with a low target aging selection.
TARGET AGING
If a contact is not detected in the set target ageing time, it will be removed from the radar format. So, if you searching a large volume based on azimuth and bar, contacts can easily disappear from the display because they have aged out.
You may find that 16 or 32 works best for you when searching a large volume.
ELEVATON
Just as with the azimuth setting, the contact will also have to be vertically within the acquisition cone volume of the radar. If a contact is above or below the cone, it would not be detected. To solve this, you can either increase the bar setting to increase vertical scan area or tilt the radar up or down with the elevation control.
PRF
The radar can operate in three pulse repetition frequency, or PRF, modes.
In High mode, the radar is putting out the most energy and is best at detecting closing, high aspect contacts at long range. However, High is greatly limited at detecting low closure contacts that are flying away or perpendicular to you.
Medium mode has less detection range against high closure contacts flying toward you, compared to the High, but it is superior at detecting contacts at low closure rates with lower aspect.
Interleaved alternates High and Medium PRF in each bar of the raster scan and is thus a compromise between the two.
Given this, optimal detection range is based on expected contact aspect / closure rate and then matching that with the best PRF. So, for a likely contact flying at you, select High, for a contact beaming you are away, select Medium, and if you have no idea, go for Interleaved.
NOTCHING
When a contact is below you and flying near-perpendicular to your flight path, there is no Doppler shift difference between the contact and the ground, and the contact can be lost. This is termed the look down Doppler notch.
For optimal detection range and maintaining a track, a look up scenario is your best bet. However, this needs to be balanced with the advantages that a medium to high altitude missile shot affords.
RADAR CROSS SECTION
The Radar Cross Section, or RCS, is the radar return value of the aircraft. These can vary based on shaping, materials, intake shape, and more. For aircraft with no RCS-specific reductions, it often comes down to the general size of the aircraft.
Given this, in general, large aircraft like bombers, tankers, and AWACS, will have a much larger RCS value than a small fighter like an F-16 or MiG-29.
The higher the RCS value of the contact, the further out you’ll be able to detect it.
Datalink
To make things a bit more complicated, let’s also throw datalink into the mix.
When in Latent Track While Scan or Track While Scan modes, the position of friendly, unknown, and hostile contact symbols can also appear on your radar format.
An AWACS datalink contact is indicated as a small diamond that you cannot not lock on to because your radar does not see it.

[@MattWagner]

A little update on this video: 1- We are looking into adding the ability to set an MSI-only track as an L&S or DT2 later. This video is about how the radar currently operates. 2- This week we added a range modifier based on look-down angle. - Wags

[@9GLoco]

Will you do one of these for the Viper now that the CNTL page has been added to the FCR?

[@dcskater602]

Hey Matt, curious if you had any recommendations for target lockup on the f/a18 at 35ish miles and beyond. Been flying the f16 and the 18 and I feel like detection and time to lock is much much longer on the f/a 18. Grim Reapers just made a video showing a pretty dramatic difference between range to detect for both aircrafts radars as well, with the 16 far outperforming the 18. Any thoughts on this? This seems to be my experience, although purely subjective. Have even tried narrower scans

[@sschreck]

Can F 18 do offbore HMD shots with AIM120 & AIM9X like the F16? The F 18 does not have a dogfight switch correct?

[@104th_beef7]

"So long and thanks for all the fish" is what the dolphins said before Earth was destroyed. Clearly this is a reference to a new DCS module, the Eurocopter MH-65 Dolphin

[@Devil-mn3dc]

I would literally solicit myself if this was the case. I grew up around them in Texas. Dad test flew all 96 of the first one the Coast Guard got and also unveiled the "Panther" back when that was a beast. Love the Dolphin!

[@Zilch79]

DCS: Vogon Construction Fleet. They're going to build a bypass through the Caucasus.

[@a753951852]

It's so endearing to see Matt hold our hands and show us the radar (presumably for the newbies).. As an older dcs user, I am almost touched..

[@mattwagnerismylordandsavio5169]

Stop worshipping him! What my name? uhmm.. :)

[@a753951852]

@@mattwagnerismylordandsavio5169 🤣

[@JohnGaltAustria]

Boy, learning Jane's F/A-18 back in the day would have been way simpler if I had one of your tutorials back then.

[@MattWagner]

I wish we had KZbin back then.

[@groundpounder0541]

Wags you bloody hero. This is the video I was about to search for and you put it right on my doorstep.

[@MattWagner]

You are very welcome.

[@lucasreis6251]

@@MattWagner heeey Matt, what button do you press for slewing the radar azimuth scan zone?

[@SsgtHolland]

@@lucasreis6251 Press TDC down where you want to search.

[@jellypowder3325]

As a casual player I love these practical demonstrations, still nothing beats the in-game tutorials.

[@romainlerallut1409]

Is it just me or is anyone else fascinated by the landing gear work during take-off ? Impressive modeling !

[@MiG-17]

Timeline 0:00 Introduction 0:57 Range Setting 1:34 Azimuth Setting 2:41 Bar Setting 3:46 Age Setting 5:02 Elevation Setting 6:03 PRF setting 7:51 Look Down Doppler Notch 9:00 RCS 10:37 Datalink 12:20 Final Notes

[@Hraptor]

When Matt makes a video, 1 Million new pilots join and 1 Million veterans enjoy

[@ericandi]

I’ve been trying to learn the F/A-18C in DCS. I’ve probably spent at least 60 hours so far, watching KZbin videos from this KZbin channel and many others, as well as reading through the DCS manual for the F/A-18C and reading lots of forums. I’m a private pilot and I thought that fact would make DCS easy for me, but boy was I wrong. Being a private pilot prepared me for flying a study level military aircraft in DCS about the same that taking a driver’s ed course in high school would prepare me to drive a Formula One race car. After dozens of hours invested in learning the F/A-18C, I honestly feel like I am less than 1% of the way to being fully proficient in all of the F/A-18C systems and controls. I really felt like I was making some decent progress. That was until last night, when I dug into the 712 page F/A-18C Chuck’s Guide for the first time. I downloaded the Chuck’s Guide a few weeks ago, but until last night, I had only been using the official DCS F/A-18C manual, plus KZbin videos and forums. Last night I dug into the Chuck’s Guide to try to get more proficient with the A/A radar system. I’ve been trying to learn one F/A-18C system at a time, but I got really overwhelmed last night when I decided to quickly scroll through all 700+ pages of the Chuck’s Guide, just to get a feel for what else I need to learn to become fully proficient with the F/A-18C. I feel like it’s going to take me a month just to learn everything there is to know about the A/A radar system. Anyone who thinks that DCS is just a military flying game and not an full fledged, study-level flight simulation, just needs to take a few minutes to scroll thru one of the 700+ page Chuck’s Guides. When I was training for my private pilot license, I flew about 10 hours in an FAA-approved flight simulator. Granted, I was only flying a Cessna 172, but it terms of the accuracy of the flight model, the simulation of weather and aerodynamic effects, and the overall level of immersion, the FAA-approved flight simulator can’t hold a candle to DCS.

[@Carwash301]

Same situation here. Flying a Cessna has little to nothing to do with flying an F18.

[@kevykevTPA]

You have to keep in mind, to go from a real life civilian with zero aviation experience to a full-fledged Hornet driver takes 3 years of full-time training, education, simulation, and real world flying. You spend 13-weeks in basic flight school at NAS Pensacola flying a T-6 (after a 6-week aviation indoctrination training where you don't even look at an airplane), and then, if you score high enough to qualify, it's off to Hornet school which lasts over 2 years. Us DCS Hornet drivers, flying the most difficult, highest fidelity simulation of the aircraft available on the planet (except perhaps actual US military simulators) are trying to land on carriers, thinking we understand the systems, and we're out there flying "real life" missions is less time than the initial indoctrination classes take. In other words, it's a very steep learning curve that, even for the real-life professionals, takes YEARS to master, not weeks or even months. Of course, dying in DCS has no actual downside, and you don't have to be the best of the best in flight school to even be eligible for Hornet school, just have an extra $79 you're willing to part with. Half of that if you can catch it on sale. Another thing to consider is that, in the "real world", generally speaking, pilots fly ONE kind of airplane. They're not in a Hornet to Tuesday, a Tomcat on Thursday, and a Viper over the weekend. That's one reason I only HAVE the Hornet, though I might pick up the F-16 next time it goes on sale. And, if and when they come out with an F-35, I'll grab that the second it becomes available, but I haven't even seen an internet rumor that it's even being considered, much less worked on. Could be that too much about it is still highly classified. At any rate, there are my 6AM ramblings on learning to be a DCS Hornet driver.

[@PappyGunn]

I've got a private pilot's licence too. I was in the RCAF for 30 years. Worked on the F-18 for about 10 years. Got the maintenance course, studied and did the AOI exam. I've had the DCS F-18 since it came out. Yeah, I'm still learning too. The thing isn't made to fly, it's made to fight. The info overload is a thing. You need to learn muscle memory to speed up some functions and always think ahead of the jet. There is no sightseeing in this thing and if you find yourself looking around, there's something important you're not doing. Just a note to let you know you're not alone trying to tame the beast.

[@poggersfish.5021]

nice hitchikers guide to the galaxy reference

[@thebiggestoneyouveverhad]

With just a slight variation. It's thanks for all the fish...

[@lordfarquaadgaming9316]

matt has such a soothing voice

[@Towy2012]

unfortunately hard to understand for a german native speaker ;-)

[@EricJaakkola]

The problem is when other planes do have magic radar

[@asciiCAT]

Ai can lock stationary planes through hardened bunkers

[@liammackenzie9283]

[@trooper9739]

looking at you, viper.

[@jonnyj.]

Immediately thinking about the viper. That fucking thing can outrange the hornet by almost 2x and even the tomcat and f15...

[@fear2218]

As a virtual pilot who has always focused on A2G in flight simulators - this was very helpful for improving my radar knowledge. Thank you Wags

[@Devil-mn3dc]

I was waiting for it at the end, hoping a group of Apaches would do a low pass by the Hornet after Wags touched down

[@luggilu7864]

i could listen to this mans voice all day

[@MrLightning1776]

I've been flying the F-18 for over two years now and its insane how many of these little tricks I didn't know. Fuck.

[@lambdabot6454]

Thank you for your time you put into this video - these are all very important concepts to operate Hornet radar properly. I probably already asked before but I'd be very grateful if at some point you also describe Hornet radar RAID modes changed recently: SCAN RAID, 1LOOK RAID, STT RAID (aka SAM) in your future videos.

[@mattwagnerismylordandsavio5169]

I Already know these things.. Yet I watched it till the end! Hornet's Radar might not be magic but your voice is.

[@MattWagner]

Mom?

[@mattwagnerismylordandsavio5169]

@@MattWagner :)

[@nathangehman7018]

This was immensely helpful. I was unaware of how the datalink info meshed with the radar, and was getting very frustrated at not being able to lock up the target. Now I know that my own radar was just not picking it up. I still am not familiar with lots of the symbology of how the datalink meshes with the radar, and lots of the symbology of the radar in general. But I feel like this is a massive step forward.

[@nickgrey4136]

Fabulous stuff. Clear and concise. Many thanks Matt. Kind regards Nick

[@staubsauger2305]

Thank you Nick - haven't your team and product come a very long way. It's incremental engineering enhancements that have progressed to the point of high art. DCS is beautiful !

[@nickgrey4136]

@@staubsauger2305 Dear Dir, thank you for your warm words. We still have a long way to go. But with your support and the passion of our community we will get there. Our mission is simple, excellence with humility. It’s a long slow road but one worth travelling. Thank you again. Kind regards Nick

[@haackhaack4217]

Keep up the good work sir! Oh and hey… a high fidelity F-15C would be a dream (like your Corsair…) :)

[@nickgrey4136]

@@theeltea Dear Sir, I will do my best. Kind regards Nick

[@peenice]

"So long and thanks for all the fish!" Legendry quote. Lovely succinct video, to explain the basics of radar.

[@timtierney1]

Appreciate the video Matt. Learned a couple new concepts. Very informative.

[@StandingCow2]

Thanks Wags, good info for vets and new folks coming to DCS.

[@TheAntorian]

This was a great video. I especially liked the examples you used for radar cross section to illustrate detection ranges.

[@aybaws]

Just bought the hornet and as a newbie, this is a godsend. Thanks!

[@Wikkus]

Every day a school day! Thought I knew all of that, but I still learned a couple of useful titbits, thanks Matt!

[@drsal]

Excellent video Wags. This has nicely consolidated all of the developments made to the raider. Thanks for posting this.

[@therealsilens]

Wow, great stuff for the Hornet! These training videos are really important. Also, loved the landing - talk about smooth!

[@radsy5821]

the flare triggered me a bit though ngl

[@Mako-sz4qr]

Congrats 👍🏻 this is the best tutorial I have ever seen regarding DCS. Well done and thanks.

[@brettreynolds6960]

Bless you Mr Wagner. I bet even your patience is wearing a little thin with the forum comments about the radar, and this video shows your tremendous teaching qualities :-) Thank you for all of your videos and indeed - the fish are the least we could give you! So long for now :-)

[@MattWagner]

Thank you for the kind words. I fully understand how difficult and frustrating it can be to learn a system when you don't have a complete picture.

[@aarnoman1088]

The water effects towards the end (13:32) look really good and much improved. Hope to see them in an update soon!

[@SsgtHolland]

Already here, mate.

[@MilitaryNick13]

​@@SsgtHollandThe water reflection one can see in this vid isn't in the game currently. The difference is night and day for me. Possibly a new water shader. Coming later - at least that's what Wags said, can't wait

[@MattWagner]

Us to! There are few issues we are sorting out for the new later like ship wakes.

[@richjones859]

Matt great video, especially coming off an 6 month summer break from dcs. Best regards to team, 2.7 is a whole new and amazing experience. Those clouds in VR!

[@matts2758]

Hi Matt - really appreciate you taking the time to explain this. Just a small note - it would be awesome if you said what buttons and controls you were pressing as you skip through some of this stuff quite quickly which makes it hard to know what steps you're following.

[@supertopsecret5485]

Ohhh this is much appreciated, thanks Wags!!!!

[@phoenixsui]

Havent watched yet but a very needed video thanks. I was lost since a update few month back :)

[@wiwa23]

To me that takeoff at around 00:20 just shows the complexity and details of the awesome and excellent aerodynamic simulator DCS really is.

[@carniv0rous]

This has been a long time coming...thanks!

[@ceasaraepoling5910]

Beautiful landing at the end brother.

[@Sirrah81]

Very handy refreshment video Wags thanks 👍 Maybe something similar can be done at some point for the AG radar

[@kevykevTPA]

Wags, I love your videos, but I do have a request. When you talk about things like adjusting the elevation on the radar (or anything, really, that was just one thing that jumped out at me), could you try to explain the "how" of it, too? What controls are you using, what buttons are you pushing if applicable, that sort of thing. It took me a month to figure out that what I thought was a useless dial on the left side of my X56 throttle could be mapped to actually adjust the elevation of the radar, and that's just one example. Not a complaint, like I said, I love your stuff and watch it a LOT, but it's an "it would be nice if..." thing.

[@radsy5821]

Been flying the bug a lot but still got something out of this, thanks Wags

[@Jozzie79]

Thank you Wags, really clear and sooo helpful.

[@ohiodabbio917]

thanks for providing the rod and the reel

[@RAF33Strike]

Hello Wags. Great stuff! Looking forward to the planned open beta update next week 😉

[@arguy3297]

Feel like I finally understand the data link target information and how to discern the difference between the two.

[@YlmazDALKIRANscallion]

This community has great instructors.

[@pyroscot]

Very interesting many thanks Wags really helpful

[@MrWillathon]

I can't tell you how much I needed to hear the RCS point. Makes so much more sense now

[@Dcs-Brasil]

perfect explanation!

[@Helixophilia]

nice landing mate

[@kasmiller9289]

The FPS over Guam looks amazing

[@MattWagner]

We have been optimizing.

[@olivier3816]

Thanks Wags for this video!! Very useful for me. And a lot of incoming upgrades too, water rendering is far better than what we have curently, and... What can we can we hear there... Better cockpit sounds and touchdown??

[@franciscoborges9591]

Great video❤... is the sea looking better..looks better to me🤔...well not sure🤗...love ED

[@lordlobs]

17:10 lol :D Great tutorial, Wags! Take care!

[@ja1cspikes]

Nice landing dude!

[@Taliyon]

A basic, and brilliant video. I love that you took time to cover this. It's good for the community.

[@markfowler9692]

Haha, Hitchickers Guide ! Awesome M8... Just be careful of the Mice..

[@cramthelan]

Outstanding

[@frankster1969]

Rampagers baby... love it :-)

[@LittleRedMini]

appreciate it Wags thanks a lot

[@ignacehelsen7609]

Nice outro!

[@wrmay80]

I think a big issue is the hornet radar is preforming realistically while the other radars are over preforming. Some dramatically.

[@MattWagner]

In general, yes. The F-16C and F-15C particularly require adjustment.

[@Balthazar030]

And this is the reason more and more people they turn to F16 together with the thrust. With F18 i feel quite underpowered. Maybe this is close to reality but comparing with F16 right now it is day and night.

[@qiyuxuan9437]

@@Balthazar030 F15C is even more broken, but it dosent have datalink and lower detect range. As long as you dont mess up the elevation, you will never drop any lock lol😂

[@mirandaab972]

Thanks for the daily engineering class. Im taking mechanical engineering but I hope I get to work with radars

[@fastfiddler1625]

It's like he saw me flying around the northern AA range in Hoggit Training Server today. I had an easy time in the Tomcat, but in the Hornet, I was flying in circles just painting nothing.

[@grzmz]

Great video indeed, thank you! But I've got some issues of which I'm not sure if they are caused by me or some code malfunction. In TWS mode sometimes the radar elevation seems to go completly haywire by itself (e.g. looking as far down as possible without me noticing and wondering why I don't get any tracks and also in TWS while in manual the radar isn't following to the gimbal limit while I'm cranking and diving so I'm losing lock or if I switch to auto/bias it seems to set the radar elevation to default so I'm also losing lock because of the vertical angle. Is this a) user to stupid / working as intended or b) actually a bugish behavior? Because I never had any of these problems in the F-16 TWS mode while maneuvering. Edit: radar elevation cant be manipulated in TWS auto mode.

[@MattWagner]

This is not something we can reproduce. Please feel to provide a track to our forum and we'll take a look at where you may be going wrong, or if these is a genuine issue.

[@grzmz]

@@MattWagner Ok, thank you. Will try to figure that out.

[@JaZoN_XD]

Thanks wags! On a sidenote, had amraam mid course update issue been fixed yet? It has been a very long time since i did A2A because of the bug.

[@MattWagner]

High on the to-do list, the engineer is currently on an even higher priority.

[@JaZoN_XD]

@@MattWagner Thank you for the update, looking forward to this even higher priority update as well.

[@cristiangonzalez761]

The RCS its new?? Can you tell us, this affect the 120 guidance capabilities?? Should start to set RCS on the weapons settings?? Other question, are you guys will implement FCLP in the future?? Pleaseee jeje regards! And thanks for this large and incredible job.

[@SaintBrick]

RCS isn't new

[@pixy67_]

I use 140 azimuth, 8 bar scan...it covers the most so its clearly the best way...

[@Andrea-uc7wg]

Gives you the slowest refresh rate so that’s the massive drawback

[@02DCS]

@@Andrea-uc7wg No you don't get it. Think about the big area it covers.

[@cristiangonzalez761]

8 bars? Thas its new for me.

[@02DCS]

@@cristiangonzalez761 you have to remove the metal nose cover of the radar. It's in ground grew menu

[@CB-ii2uy]

Cheers Wags

[@bronco1738]

Dear Matt,. Would it be possible to have this video with Captions “available” please. Much appreciate.

[@xenimaging]

Wags this is great! Any chance you can do an updated F16 TPOD video for us dummies? There's been so many changes that I know a lot of use struggle with it. Especially TOO scenarios away from waypoints.

[@MattWagner]

Yes, probably. I first want to see a few items sorted and the new FLIR system in place.

[@Kathlanus]

@@MattWagner Does this mean the new FLIR system is not too far away *getting double helix from crossing fingers*

[@Wawar9]

Hey Matt ! Thanks for the video. Good stuff, very qualitative as usual. What about the MSI integration? It's one of the key feature of the FA18C. Back in the days, It was the first aircraft, or one of the first to have data fusion. I would be surprised to see the plane come out of early access without such an essential function which almost defines it.

[@MattWagner]

Please see the portion on datalink. There is certainly MSI integration.

[@Wawar9]

​@@MattWagner I think we should define what's really "MSI". Please check the doc A1-F18AC-742-100 for evidence. In short, the radar can be commanded to "look" for an MSI trackfile, based on existing track data. In that way, you should be able to designate an MSI track as L&S from the ATTK RADAR or SA format. It also differentiates between raw radar hits and MSI tracks, when it comes to acquisition. It states that: The radar system, forward looking infrared (FLIR) system, data link, high-speed antiradiation (HARM) missile are used to provide sensor inputs to MSI. Already reported on the forum months ago and explained with evidences : forums.eagle.ru/topic/269790-msi-info-designation-on-rdr-attk-page-coming/page/2/ Since you are talking about radar now, I thought it would be interesting to ask about MSI integration also. Thanks.

[@MattWagner]

@Wawar9 We are well aware, thanks, and have much better information. Although there is MSI work to do with AZ/EL, the radar format for MSI is correct based on available, credible data. Cue already works as seen in the video, but creating an L&S based on a donor only track is far from certain. Further: I'm not saying that we will not implement this one aspect of MSI, we just need more research and be 100% sure before we task time and money toward it.

[@jrb_uy]

It would be a great learning tool to be able to display the radar emitter cone as I remember it is shown in some development Mirage 2000 videos.

[@jacksonspencer2707]

You can kinda get close with the AZ/EL page

[@haackhaack4217]

Did the Hornet have a cone - Mirage supports two different scopes as part of its systems

[@19Koty96]

@@haackhaack4217 Not that, that is B vs PPI scope Talk here is about a visual reference "in the 3D".

[@Tailspin07]

Thanks for the video, definitely cleared some things up. However, I still have issues with locks being dropped almost immediately. What can cause a hit, positive lock, then the plane disappears? Is this caused by the enemy plane jamming me? I am struggling to BVR with enemy planes and always end up having to take the gloves off and get in a scrap with heat seakers, which means I get shot down a lot

[@MattWagner]

Impossible to know without seeing a track file. Please use our forum here: forums.eagle.ru/forum/130-dcs-fa-18c-hornet/

[@0waffel0]

I've watched this video numerous times but I'm still at a total loss. one time I pick up stuff on my radar and the next time I can fly right past them and never have them show up on the radar.

[@MattWagner]

Please use our forum here with a track and we can better help you understand where you are going wrong. forum.dcs.world/forum/130-dcs-fa-18c-hornet/

[@phoenixsui]

@Matt Wagner If i have a Mig-29 coming at me at 30k feet and i am at the same hight. Or i follow a enemy Tu-22 with 0,5-5nm distance also lvl. I keep losing him, even if he is already so close, what causes that? I am really lost. My yellow bracket is set on his hight so he is in the scan angles of my radar but my radar only shows him for short times. I usually scan 1-4 bars if i know where he is. I mostly fly with the autostart settings of my radar. And only adjust the yellow bracket. What would be the number one thing i have to adjust better to keep him locked? Also why does it seem the Migs can always fire from double as far as i can with the amraam? I have to do something really wrong. I learned in this video about the dopplereffect i didnt know of but thats not it since i fly level. Also i learned i can move my scann angle to the left and right, i only knew i could adjust up and down before. I know the symbology of the radar and have watched other guides. But i just cant seem to do it anymore since a update few month back that made it way harder.

[@MattWagner]

Please post a track file to our forum and a kind soul will help figure out where you are going wrong. forums.eagle.ru/forum/130-dcs-fa-18c-hornet/

[@qiyuxuan9437]

That age setting could be why my radar keep dropping tws locks. Im curious about what is the default age setting on F16? Since in my experience F16 tws lock is much more reliable. Also, on F15, due to its a low fidelity moudule, does the age setting not simulated at all? Because I never had any lock drop on F15, and it just work like magic😂.

[@MattWagner]

The F-15C radar is at a much lower fidelity level.

[@qfan8852]

What's that big "+" that shows up sometimes on radar screen? The one that sometimes tracks a radar contact and sometimes just magically floats somewhere, and sometimes jumps between multiple contacts making a mess on the radar screen. What is it? Is it useful at all? Can I turn it off somewhere?

[@ianthewhite7035]

man i really wish you would show what keys or buttons you are pressing to really help me learn what to press how to slew the target. i just bought this f 18 and your tutorial is awesome but have no idea how to implicate all the things you are saying if i dont know where to look for key binds

[@andrewhardie8138]

What button are you pressing to center the scan or move it around?

[@hossi2582]

ty

[@aidanq4280]

2:16 what key bind allowes you to move the cursor?

[@vidar7106]

The only issue I'm having is I don't know how to change the direction of the scan. My scan stays dead center on the display. What function is that? Also, designating an aircraft with IFF doesn't seem to be working for me via the Sensor Select Depress function. Is there another step?

[@MattWagner]

TWS --> select MAN --> Slew TDC to scan azimuth --> TDC depress

[@DAZnBLAST]

Do 'all' the modern aircraft the F18 come up against in DCS have to worry about the same complex settings, ie a non magic sensor!? Same as missiles, do ED and partners work from a realistic baseline?

[@starfleetau]

The downside to this is while the Hornets radar is working 100% correctly there are some glaring examples now of other jets who's radars seem to not be, the vipers is still WIP, but the FC3 aircraft and the JF17 all seem to be really great examples of radars that need to be 'tweaked'. The Viper I get will get it's passes with time and benefits from the work on the Hornet, but the JF17 for example can see things out to ranges that don't make sense given it's radar should be based on all avalible information no better then a hornet's and actually has a slightly smaller radome.. and the FC3 Aircraft all seem to be 'magic' almost.

[@MattWagner]

We will work with our 3rd parties to address such issues for a more unified radar performance landscape.

[@Impact117]

@@MattWagner 10/10, thats urgently needed.

[@starfleetau]

@@MattWagner hopefully sooner then later as right now there is a massive impalance happening on MP servers etc where the Viper and JF for example sit at 32,000 ft piffing MRM's off at targets coming in low often locking up at ranges the hornet etc can't even see targets at now. It's a little 'unfair' to have one radar behaving properly and no others, as it impacts the entire game.

[@mattringen5334]

Curious, has anyone else noticed a reduction in overall radar detection range capability and ability to maintain lock since the major updates? I feel like we were able to detect far beyond 40 miles in prior versions. These principles that Wags describes were always in effect, but the ranging was superior before. I wonder if it was a correction for realism or to satisfy the powers above.

[@mattringen5334]

We'd be able to detect and create a plan for AIM-120 salvos before. Now, many times the bandits are INSIDE the launch window at first detection. Anyone else?

[@-hrp-trigger8418]

So does that mean that in the future updates the F/A-18 radar will lose its magic ability to track enemy air to air missiles such as the r27 or the aim-120?

[@MattWagner]

Yes

[@Impact117]

​@@MattWagner Why is something like that added for a month, then removed in the next update ? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also: When will the weapon loadout affect RCS ?

[@Harker_N]

@@MattWagner good to hear, because it's not really a thing. You *might* see a missile once in a while, but it's rare.

[@-hrp-trigger8418]

@@MattWagner Thank you very much Wags! Love you !

[@MattWagner]

@@Impact117 Just an unintended consequence of dialing in the radar performance for the Hornet. Not planned.

[@t.branson9150]

Can you tame the AI use of the radar then? I mainly do the 4YA multi-player server because it's a good mix of casual/serious, but the AI always seem to lock me up from very far away with it never dropping, and I can't see them at all, or I will and then something happens with the awacs/dl and everything drops from my SA and AA radar while I'm still getting locked up and fired at.

[@hazlinabdulhamid7461]

From Malaysia ✌️😊✌️🇲🇾🇺🇸

[@dyoox01]

Thank you for this. For some reason I just can't seem to get A2A contacts with the f-18.

[@MattWagner]

I hope this video will help you.

[@makefigo]

Guys can anyone explain to me which are the key binds to slew the radar azimuth? I can’t seem to find them anywhere in the controls section :(

[@arlenn729]

If I understand the Doppler radar correctly, a group of small aircrafts flying in a tight formation should be mistakenly detected as a single large aircraft. DCS currently does not illustrate this phenomenal, if this is a real thing IRL, can we have this in the future?

[@MattWagner]

It is already implemented and why you have the RAID modes.

[@arlenn729]

@@MattWagner Oh really? Cool! Thanks

[@Pekins]

Every time I try to do CAP in the Hornet I wanna pull my hair off, this helped a bunch.

[@ZIP18PL]

Nice water. Do I see cloud shadows on the surface?

[@MattWagner]

Yes they do

[@wraith444]

What happens to the PRF when you go into single target track?

[@MattWagner]

If memory serves, it auto-selects the PRF based on target range and aspect. Not 100% sure...

[@Sushiconnexion]

Wags with the 4 minute flex at the end of the video lol

[@MattWagner]

More to show off the new map.

[@Sushiconnexion]

@@MattWagner the new map is incredible!

[@sunshinestaterailfan5960]

How do I move the yellow thingy on the radar and what is the key bind?

[@fishbed_]

That's the TDC slew, check axies

[@Browniiie92]

How the heck do I move that little yellow Box (Azimuth?)

[@Funk_Reactions]

VFA-83 Rampagers.. our sister squadron of VFA-131 Wildcats.