Full Jamming & Radar Tutorial | VTOL VR FA-26b
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- 1.8 is here! Here is a quick, but in-depth explanation for the new jamming module and the changes to the radar. This applies to the F/A-26b and the T-55, since jamming with the F-45A is as easy as clicking on a radar signature in the TSD and tapping the jam button. The EF-24 jammer and radar will behave differently and have more functionality in some aspects so expect another video on it when it's released.
If I missed anything, or you know more about something than I do, leave a comment!
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0:00 Intro
0:08 Radar
1:16 Radar Options
3:27 Soft-Lock Change
4:27 Jamming
4:51 Bands
5:52 ARAD Jamming
7:57 TGP Jamming
8:39 GPS Jamming
9:21 Auto-Retargeting
9:47 Radar While Jamming
10:03 When YOU Get Jammed
10:58 Outro - Hry
Notes & Slew Radar Elaboration:
1. Your radar is broadcasting in a cone that expands as it gets farther away from you, meaning that it can scan a wider altitude range the farther away the signal gets.
Moving the cursor with the right thumb stick does not change the altitude range that you scan, though it looks like it. The left thumb stick is what changes the scanning altitude. Moving the cursor around simply changes the altitude values to help you understand the radar cone and the altitudes you can scan at different parts of the cone.
2. AWACS radar and EW radar are also both low band.
was gonna mention this, glad you caught that mistake. nice video!
To add onto the jamming section: the reason you could maintain a hard lock was that the jamming type was set to noise. This just adds false radar return blips, being the boxes, to simply blind your radar basically.
To throw off a hard lock (STT/Single Target Tracking) you need to use DRFM, which will, when targeting the enemy who’s hard locked you, mess with their radar enough to throw off the radar lock.
It’s all detailed in the EF-24G’s manual, in the third section.
Could be true. Unfortunately noise is the only option for the other jets. The EF-24G is the only one that can use the other modes.
Yup. Sadly as of right now, the F/A-26 and T-55 are only able to use noise, and for me at least, only medium band jamming is available.
On a side note, some fun math (which is probably wrong): The FA/26 can bring two jammer pods (I believe.) With only 4 different channels, there are only 4 different ways to jam (medium band noise, from 1 t 4 pods)
The EF-24G gets access to 4 pods with all bands and types of jamming. With 2 channels in each pod and 4 total pods, you get access to 8 different channels. Combined with 9 different combinations of jamming (3 bands, 3 types) you get an astounding 144 different methods of jamming with the EF-24G (3 bands per channel, 3 different types of jamming per channel, across 8 different channels.
The EF-24G's jamming capabilities are infinitely better than that of the F/A-26.
Conclusion: you do not get the full EW experience outside of the EF-24 (maybe the F45, but I don't fly it so I can't vouch for that)
The F45s jamming is pretty simple noise afaik. You get a jam button on the tsd, no mode or band select.
The EF24Gs flight manual is currently out and details EW implementation thoroughly. Recommend read
@@shyneus9773Could you point me in the direction of the manual? Is it on the vtol discord?
@@gregbarnes4083
docs.google.com/document/d/1fM7stkRmIPnB8YuhbPtWZeSZbr9fox37vfHYbzSUmwQ/edit
Manual is this google doc. Fair warning, it's an 80 page monster of a handbook.
Sublime, will help tremendously not be overwhelmed when the update hits, thanks. EW is gonna change so much about the game, excited !
I’m glad I could simplify it all. I’m really excited for the update to drop too.
I'm still kinda freaking out about the fact that we can jam comms and really hoping you cant jam friendly comms otherwise trolls are going to get into ATC servers and just screw with everything :(
@@elalixo7162Trolling is love, trolling is life 🧌
@@elalixo7162 youve given me ideas lmao, just jam one single person and then they will try to land without permission and get yelled at lol
HE'S A MADMAN
This is gonna be watched so many times in the news few months. This is a super good tutorial, probably the best I've seen for vtol. Keep it up!
Glad it was helpful!
To further explain jamming, there are three kinds of radar degredation: noise, or barrage jamming, DRFM, and signature augmentation.
Noise jamming is fairly straightforward: it overloads the targetted emitter with false returns, causing the real target to be lost in the noise. It's very useful for jamming multiple radars at once if you can get them all on the same bearing. It can also hide any allies that are in the jamming corridor, delaying lock-on. However, you have to manually set the frequency band of the jammer and your radar is unavailable while jamming. It also gives away your bearing (though not your range) and you're susceptable to missiles fired in home-on-jam mode.
Digital Radio Frequency Memory, or DRFM jamming, is more complex than simple noisemaking. It involves digitizing the received radar signal and modifying it to achieve a result. Typically, DRFM jamming does this by copying the radio frequency of the radar pinging you and sending it back to the receiver at a higher power. This creates a loud, but false track that the jammer then "walks" away from your aircraft to break a lock. The advantages of DRFM jamming are that it automatically matches the frequency of the emitting radar, and it can pull single-target tracks (hard locks) off you. The disadvantage of DRFM is that it can only affect one emitter at a time, allowing multiple enemy radars to cross-reference and get your actual location.
Finally, there's Signature Augmentation. It operates on many of the same principles as DRFM jamming, but instead of walking the false track away from your ship, it modulates the signature so you instead appear as a different track. The primary use case for this is to have a MALD decoy appear as a larger aircraft, say, an F-26. The advantage here is that signature augmentation can't be tracked by missiles in home-on-jam mode and in PvP lobbies specifically, it can trick enemy players into making decisions based on bad info. The disadvantage is that it doesn't hide your actual position, and in many cases, the decoy radar pulse is a lot stronger than the actual return, which can actually give your position away.
Great explanation. This will be useful for the EF-24G because the others can only use noise.
Thanks for this. I was surprised how opaque the new mechanics are in game, so it's nice having it all spelled out.
Great video man! Very informative! Definitely looking forward to the update.
Thanks! You and me both.
Small corrections:
1) A is for Altitude, not for Angels. That is from BRAA call, Bearing, Range, Altitude, Aspect.
2) The B-scope maximize the separation of targets, but it is still based from the conical scan and does distort the radar scope further the contact is from centerline and closer it is to own plane. It is best to have scanning in default "sector PPI" that give best idea of range, angle and position. Especially if the Sector PPI can be overlaid on Map, when it is very clear what you see and don't see horizontally.
3) Slew mode is about seeing the scan volume values, not the bars value and scanned bars level. As you select scanning volume by selecting how many layers the radar sweeps vertically, you change time it takes to update the radar picture as it is updated only when all bars is scanned.
But bars do not inform you what volume you are really scanning. As radar beam is example 4.5 degrees cone, it will scan larger volume at longer distance than at closer distance, as the radar beam will be wider in diameter further it is measured from radar. This is as well what makes radar less accurate at the long range, as well less sensitive.
When you select the slew mode, you see the calculated vertical volume for given range, so example at 5 NMI range radar with 4 bars scan only 16-22 kft vertical volume, at same 4 bars at 100 NMI it is covering 2-35 kft vertical volume.
The visual information in numbers help to come up for setting, like wingman tells that enemy was flying at 3000 ft and was about 15 NMI from you, that you can adjust your radar vertical angle so that scan is example 1-5 kft at 10 NMI and know that you should detect it.
Doing that just with bars value tells nothing about volume. It isn't manual, you just get adjusting radar vertical scan angle to point radar as needed.
Good catch, I’ve gotten used to just saying “Angels X” when talking about altitude on comms so it slipped out. The B-scope distorting the view to maximize target separation makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
@@darkstar1592 Your are welcome. Didn't yet look to the end, but I will update post.
And the B scope and well distorts the speed by range horizontally. So when target is flying to left from your point of view at 400 knots, target will move faster from right to left when at 50 NMI than when at 5 NMI. What makes difficult to visually estimate expected position in next update.
That makes sense, thanks.
@@paristo The thing that clicked with me learning about how to read B-Scopes is that the vertical lines are always the same relative bearing, regardless of range.
For example if the bogey is at the first vertical line on the left, he is 30 deg to your left no matter if BVR or WVR. You could probably get the same effect with -30deg, 0deg and 30deg lines on the PPI, but the increased separation closer to the bottom of the display helps readability.
It... would be nice if you could set the number of bars you want to scan, which I know for some aircraft you can set that were other aircraft have specific bar settings depending on your scan angle. But then we start getting out of the area this game is in.
Buddy, you cleared up so much for me, and you didn’t waste my time doing it. Mucho gracias. 🙏 🛩️
Glad it helped!
Learned a lot here! Great video too!
Glad to hear it!
wow, thanks, man. I feel a lot more prepared going into 1.8 now because of this video. good job on the video, very good quality.(i know it sounds like I'm being sarcastic but i am being entirely truthful ) :)
Glad I could help!
Super hyped about this
Absolutely excellent video man. Great pacing and breakdown DS. Anyone else want a B2, B21 or generic flying wing bomber with missions and escorts.
Thanks man. A bomber would be so cool to have in the game
When slewing the selector on the radar forwards and back, you arent increasing or decreasing the upper/lower bounds of the radar volume. The display is simply showing you the upper/lower bounds for that section. Since the radar projects outward like a cone, the further away your curspr gets, the larger the cone becomes and subsequently so does the upper/lower bounds.
Good explanation.
this was really helpful and informational thank you
Glad it helped
Awesome now i understand why I kept getting shot down by SAM sights i was jamming in the mission 3 for the F26 (i was using the wrong bandwidths)
Next update: WEATHER AND CLOUDS?!?
Man I hope so
Very helpfull, thanks.
Thanks man! I am new to VTOL, and this was very helpful!
Glad it helped!
@@darkstar1592 questiom tho: how do you get locks with the radar? I never get that even if I move my square onto them. I always use bore sight
Move your cursor over the target, then click in the right thumb stick twice to lock it. Alternatively, clicking it once will only select it and “soft lock” and you can still fire a missile, though it’s less accurate than a full lock. You can also switch between selected targets with the numbered buttons on the left of the screen.
@@darkstar1592 aah, did it! Thanks!
Been waiting for more dcs like radar mechanics for a while and I’m glad it’s being added. The terms your are using like soft lock and hard lock are referred to as single target track (STT) and track while scan (TWS). TWS is what makes the F-45 seem so powerful because you don’t know you’ve been launched on till the missile goes pitbull as a TWS lock does not spike a bandits RWR. The downside to TWS is that the targets position is only updated after it is sweeped so you will see the contact on your radar skipping from pos to pos after each sweep. This doesn’t seem simulated in VTOL tho. The benefit to STT is you have persistent tracking but the target knows it is being locked
@@jumpingjoy7689 👍
@@pjohns9532 👍
In VTOL VR this is handled slightly different than the reality DCS simulates:
- All radar targets are "track while scan" automatically.
- "Soft locking" enables the radar to update a target position in real time, at the expense of slower scanning, (3:27 notice how the sweep triangle slows down with a soft-lock acquired).
- Every additional soft lock slows down the scanning even more (presumably because more nodes of the array are busy tracking?). This means the more targets you soft-lock, the less situational awareness you have of the rest of your radar returns.
- F-45 and the new EF-24G can acquire targets optically, lock onto them using the TSD, and fire AIM-120 missiles at those targets without ever having to engage their own radar, as long as they can maintain visual of the target (F-45 does this automatically thanks to its camera arrays, EF-24G requires spotting the target with the optional Targeting Pod). They can also lock onto targets received by datalink, spotted or locked on by other planes.
Targets that are on radar with TWS tend to have actual trackfiles built, which means the radar will continue to project where the aircraft is flying until the memory time depletes or the aircraft is scanned again, updating that trackfile. It's why it looks constant - it's doing what you would expect from TWS trackfiles.
You sound like dr garry nolan 😂 Great video 👌🏻
I need to confirm but I'm pretty sure you got a mistake inyour description of the radar altitudes coming off the cursor at the ~3min mark and some mistakes about ranging. In real jets as the cursor moves around those numbers are what altitude can be seen at that range.
Think of it this way, the radar beam is a cone of energy that sweeps the sky. Imagine the side profile of that cone, and pick say the 5 mile mark, the cone is smaller, at that range you might only see a fe thousand feet above and bellow your jet. Now look 20 miles out, and you can see 20 thousand feet up or down. The cursor is only telling you what the radar can see at that range, not actually changing the beam shape.
Also, range up and down doesnt limit the energy, it just zooms the screen in. As far as I know we can't actually control the energy amount. I beleive this update give some sort of option like that to the F-45.
Thanks for pointing this out. I’ve pinned a comment that elaborates on this and explains it better.
The B-Scope is a lot different than PPI, B-Scope extends the point of the cone - ie your Radar emitter to the entirety of the bottom of the Radar scope, what that means, you are not seeing the pizza slice view anymore. In this view everything left or right of the middle is the angle offset to that side, and anything that is pointing directly down is coming at you - makes it easier too see which target vectors are intercepting you and which arent pointed at you.
So same information, just the bottom part is spread out. This makes it easier to differentiate targets. It also distorts the reality, so the B-Scope requires some explanation and imagination to understand. So PPI is more fitting to the simplified simulation approach of VTOL and deservedly remains the default setting.
@@oznerol256 PPI and Bscope both exist IRL, B Scope is a better view and gives a more tactically advantageous view. The explanation is trivial really ...
FINALLY we get TWS (Track While Scan) RADAR mode. Only hard locks was awful. This will also mean that they won't get a lock warning before you fire, though of course they'll get the same radar spike
I’m hyped for TWS too. Trying to be stealthy and firing maddog AIM-120s is so sketchy with friendlies around lol.
They won't get a spike - TWS was never a spike before. We had TWS already, but you had to STT lock to fire and then back out to switch other targets. TWS track targets shouldn't get a lock warning because you're never painting them with your radar the same way the STT lock would.
Great video, lots of good information, it would have been nice to see how you go about using your jammer in a bvr fight. As demonstrated at the end, he was jamming you prior to you having a lock, so how was he jamming you? Was it just that he was fast enough to start the jam the moment your radar passively detected him, before you could soft or hardlock? Or is there some other tactic I am failing to understand.
He saw my radar signature on his ARAD before he showed up on my radar, so he was able to start jamming via his ARAD before I could lock onto him. Now that you mention it, you might be able to passively jam using the TGP as the source because in TGP mode the jammer broadcasts in whatever direction the TGP pointed. That'd be very interesting in PvP if true.
Very helpful
Thanks!
What do all of the readings on radar after locking on a target mean? If A=altitude, what are the others?
Thanks
Thank *you*
Did they remove the MODE button (and thus DRFM) from the F/A-26B's jamming pod?
I'll take it for ECM, but...the radar change is a flat nerf that would only apply to the T-55. Every other aircraft is advanced enough to have phased array setups.
Also, NOT a fan of jamming only working forward.
Great video, though. Well arranged.
Will AI SAM sites fire in HOJ mode? If so what are some tips for evading? Can missiles launched in HOJ mode be retargeted after launch if the jammer is deactivated?
You know what might be nice, a thigh notepad. Just so as to help remember some of this jamming/radar stuff.
This actually exists, it's called Open Kneeboard. I use it occasionally and it works well enough. It's kinda tricky to switch between pages using your keyboard while in VR, though.
@@darkstar1592 ah you star, I shall be having a look for that.
This was really helpful, thanks. Do you think you could another tutorial with the EF-24G? I know the process is similar but it's different enough for it to still be confusing. Many thanks if you do.
I might give it a try. The EF-24G is just as confusing for me as it is for you lol.
@darkstar1592 oh ya it's crazy, but I love it so much. Sitting back seat as the WSO feels like you've got command and control of the whole area.
The tutorial vid is posted. Thanks for the suggestion.
@@darkstar1592 👍
So there are no aesa radars?
You sure "soft lock" isnt TWS mode lock? Track While Scan like in DCS
F26 radar jamming not working - I've been playing the VTOL and trying to use the Jammer while selecting ground AAA & SAMS - I can select the targets on ARAD but unable to use the Jammer ( cannot select the TGP, GPS, ARAD, nor select the BAND. Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this issue?
You need to equip the jammer pods. You do it at the main equipment menu where you select your loadout before the mission.
@@darkstar1592 fantastic
Thanks for looking out
You only covered NOISE mode, what about DRFM and SAS?
Since those are only in the EF-24G, I explain them in this video:
Full EF-24G Jamming Tutorial | VTOL VR DLC
czcams.com/video/fHtbvf-gOlA/video.html
What do you do when youre being jammed? Do you just fight through it or is there some sort of countermeasure?
Burn through
Getting closer seems to make the jam less effective, but more testing will probably be required to know for sure. In my experience getting within 8nm made it easier to fight the jam. Also getting behind them prevents them from jamming you, because they can only broadcast forward.
when I went to the jamming screen, it showed I didn't have any jammers but I don't know where to equip them.
You equip them at the main equipment menu where you select your load out before the mission
I was using the EF-24G Mischief and opened the jammer and the multiple boxes were grayed out and not available to do anything with. Does anyone know a fix for this?
Equip more jammers. You can have up to 4.
when Is the update arriving?
also is that like a public beta or just for the higher ups? If it is public how do I access it.
It dropped an hour ago!
thanks for these radar tips. i was confused why i couldn't get radar contacts belov or above me . the radar antenna elevation feature is a good news because it was too easy to sweep the area. i noticed AIM-7 misses enemy easily if you don't use 15 degree scan and STT withing 5 miles. also the enemy radar icon is retarded depending on scan width
Edit: Jamming bands was comprehensive. i love the fact that ef24 is capable of disprupting the comms
AIM-7s are not designed to be fired under TWS. They require a STT lock because they don't have their own radar.
@@AliceDerg i know that it needs stt. I mean even if i was in stt lock it still missed the target. I need to experiment more with aim7 to make sure if it's a bug or just a fact i got notched by ai bandit, because in dcs i can kill bandit from 10 miles, and yes. I'm aware they're totally different simulations but in my knowledge aim7 should have hit the target from 5 miles.
Honestly AIM-7s are just not great. It’s old-tech. They don’t have as much thrust or maneuverability so they miss a lot more often than AIM-120s. My advice when using them is to get a little closer to your target when you shoot and to try to fire from in front or behind them, never from the side. It drains a lot of energy because it’s turning pretty much the whole way to the target.
If AIM-120s can be fired from soft lock, what is the function of hard-locking? Is that solely for AIM-7s now?
Soft lock is much easier for your opponent to break than hard lock, but it’s still solid in my opinion. It’s also less accurate, so you’ll be limited by your radar scan speed for position updates. Hard locking will give great position accuracy, but at the cost of alerting your target.
Is the radar scanning up down to the plane or is it just the altitudes
Altitudes
If I fired a radar guided misisle with only a soft lock would that worsen the accuracy? also is this update already out?
The update just dropped about an hour ago! And yes, soft lock is much easier for your opponent to break than hard lock, but it’s still solid in my opinion.
alright well thank you for making this awesome tutorial, its truly underated♥@@darkstar1592
How do I equip a jammer?
You just have to equip the jammers before starting the mission. It’s the ALQ-245.
Hey Darkstar,
Maybe a steep ask - but... can you revisit this with the EF? I'm having a bitch of at time just trying to figure out how to turn on the jammers.
I’ve had a couple of requests for it now, so I’ll probably make a quick tutorial on it. I didn’t expect it would be that different, but the more you know.
@@darkstar1592 to be fair, I'm an utter idiot and didn't realize I needed to actually put the jammer modules on the wing. Once I noticed that, it was much easier lol
Video is up. Thanks for the suggestion.
@@darkstar1592 you're the best!
Sure thing. Once I took a closer look it was clear that it could use it’s own video. Thanks.
Aren't dish sites high band?
High band
- AAA, missile warning truck, and missile internal radar
Mid band
- Aircraft and ground radars
Low band
- Comms, GPS, AWACS radar and EW radar
- Only the ground based GECM truck and the EF-24 jammer can do low-band jamming
Is there a way to have the jammers automatically select a target and jam it?
Not that I’m aware of. I believe the only options are ARAD, TSD and GPS and none of them can passively acquire or select targets.
Update: You can use the decoy missiles in noise - auto mode to do this.
Which hardpoints does the jamming pod go on?
You can have up to four. They go on 1, 3, 7, & 10.
@@darkstar1592 I really, probably should have said this earlier, but I was talking specifically about the F/A-26B and the T-55. I checked every hardpoint I could and I didn't see any jamming pods. Did I miss them somehow?
what are the different jamming modes?
The FA-26, F-45 and T-55 only have access to noise jam mode, which blasts extra static and radar noise to disrupt enemy radar. The EF-24G has access to more modes: SAS SPOOF and DRFM SPOOF/RGPO.
4 days ago, before update happend?
It was in the public testing branch at the time
Im not autistic enough to read the manual, so Im waiting for either a full comprehensive guide on the EF-24, or a video from Operator Drewski
I just posted tutorials on the EF-24’s jamming modules and decoy missiles. It’s not a full comprehensive guide on everything for the aircraft, but should help fill in the gaps.
how do the jammer rocket work that i dont understand
Are you asking how to jam incoming rockets? I could be wrong but I don’t know what a jammer rocket is.
@darkstar1592 yeah sorry for the bad english i mean the decoy/jammer rocket
I’ve posted a short video tutorial on it. Thanks for the question.
@@darkstar1592 thank you very much and Merry Christmas
So, uh. How to you jam aircraft? You showed how to jam Ground targets but how to you jam aircraft?
It’s the same. Find the aircraft on your ARAD or TGP and use that as the target to jam like you would a SAM site or anything else.
Your description of slow mode isn’t exactly correct. When you move the cursor around the screen, it’s not actually changing anything it’s displaying the maximum and minimum altitude at that distance from your aircraft that you can detect contacts when you use the left stick in order to slew up and down you’re actually moving the radar scan assembly up and down. Essentially the use of this mode would be to get a higher hit rate on a target, but without having to switch to a smaller, scan angle, essentially instead of processing the four vertical scan rows, you are eliminating that and only doing a single horizontal scan with a certain radar elevation
YOOO NEW F15 RADAR LETS GOOOOOOOOOO
It’s beautiful.
Isnt this a bit op for pvp? I mean you just jam the radar of the other player and shoot at him while he cant even get a lock
They can just lock on to your jamming signal and send one. It’s not as accurate as locking onto your plane but it can work.
I wish i could play this game. I always watch people, but I can’t because I’m on oculus.
You can play steam games using an oculus if you have a PC. I play on a quest 2.
I play also on oculus with steam. No Problem at All.
Looks like you’ll be joining us!
This is not nearly as complicated its seemed to be
jamming in vtol before gta 6💀
do you think a 13 year old can play this game?
Definitely
Don't say 'angels', no air-to-air comms on Earth in any military force says 'angels'. I know what the brevity manual says, that weird af brevity manual I see floating around is not the reference document for airborne telephony and is the reason why VTOL VR players have this subculture of incorrect phraseology (sometimes it bleeds into DCS too). The published FLIP in your respective country's defence force is the source document for this type of thing. In my country it's "[number] thousand" not "angels [number]", and in the USA its "thousand" too. It's the same for all civilian aviation around the world except for countries that say altitude in metres. Sorry for the rant, but in a video that's otherwise informative and knowledgeable, saying 'angels' nearly turned me away from the video.
Interesting. I thought it was at least a little common. It’s listed in the US military Multiservice Brevity Codes document. rdl.train.army.mil/catalog-ws/view/100.ATSC/5773E259-8F90-4694-97AD-81EFE6B73E63-1414757496033/atp1-02x1.pdf
@@darkstar1592as I said, that weird informal 'brevity doc' isn't a source document of air to air comms, the FLIP is, and each country has one. Only place on Earth I've anyone say 'angels' is navy pilots talking to deck crew on the radio. Using Winchester, Fox 3, and all those weapons related terms they're fine. But Altimetry is sacred for pilots for a very good reason and no one is going to say 'angels' instead of 'thousand' (or Flight Level when above the transition alt obviously)