I am working on a project that relies on the long overwater distance of NDBs,
which can be up to 600nm. Despite having a greater value set in my xml file in
\PackageSources\scene the range seems to be limited to about maybe 80-100 nm?
The range limit isn’t called out in the SDK. I really need that range to be
higher if there’s any way for me to get it to actually work. Thanks!
The 80-100nm range seems to be reasonable
Typical service ranges of non-directional beacons (NDBs)
Non-directional beacons in North America are classified by power output: “low”
power rating is less than 50 watts; “medium” from 50 W to 2,000 W; and “high”
at more than 2,000
W.[5]
Class of
NDB, by power rating | Transmission power output,
watts (W) | Effective range, nautical
miles (nmi)
—|—|—
Locator beacon | 0–25 | 15
Low | 0–50 | 25
Medium | 50–2,000 | 50
High | 2,000+ | 75
ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHF_omnidirectional_range
However, like all radio communications in MSFS, Noise does not appear to be
simulated, so either you have a signal or not, and if the signal is weak,
there is no audible noise on it. I am assuming the above numbers are the
minimum distance for “reliable” communications. In the real world, these
Station can he heard from much further away, but their signal strength and s/n
ratio may make them unreliable at those extended differences. The addition of
NOISE onto COM radio systems would be a nice addition, and technically, a
rough approximation should be quite possible. A more precise simulation ,
taking into account other factors, however, could get really complex.
Just as information, I have searched online for AM Station Power Output:
"Radio transmissions are measured in Watts. The highest AM frequency wattage
licensed to stations is 50,000 watts. The following list contains these
stations by location and frequency. " They can be a LOT higher than Standard
Aviation NDBs. In fact, in the old days, I know it used to be common for
Aviators to tune some Station and listen to the Score of a Soccer Match that
was happening during the flight, and these stations could be hundred of miles
away from the Plane. I don’t know if the Author intention for higher power
NDBs are something in this area, but I just though this information might be
relevant to the subject.
In the old days no, even today! And usually, 121.5 becomes very active during
a game.
This is correct and reasonable for NDBs over land, but see here on page 16:
<https://www.casa.gov.au/sites/default/files/non-directional-beacons-
associated-automatic-direction-finding.pdf>
On a semi related subject … If the Mod could do its own calculation of range,
then you could achieve what you are looking for. (1) Understand how MSFS is
current,y calculating the range (2) Do your own different calculation (3) use
that to somehow replace MSFS’s calculation.
https://devsupport.flightsimulator.com/t/3238 Some similar interesting work
along these lines being looked into for XP. :
https://github.com/skiselkov/libradio Radio systems and navaid simulation
library for X-Plane - skiselkov/libradio