Simviation Forums

by **Gringo6** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:06 pm

I was over at AvSim reading their review of Cloud9's new F-104 Starfighter, and in reviewing the avionics package it says "The navigation system is quite basic and consists of a VOR/NDB/TACAN receiver that can be slaved to the autopilot".

Is this correct ? TACAN? Is this accurate? - does F/S 2k4 support TACAN ?

I don't have F/S 2k4 but this might be an incentive to buy it, since I mainly fly military planes and most all military airfields have TACAN approach plates available, and this would add to the realism if TACAN receivers are available.

Bill A (aka Gringo6)

by **Gary R.** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:37 pm

I've seen a few military add-ons where they somehow use fs9's existing NDB's to simulate a tacan signal.

by C » Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:09 am

I'm not aware that TACANs exist in FS9. It's a shame because half the beacons I would like to use are TACANs but of course don't exist in FS. Surely it wouldn't be that difficult to create them for FS9 (FS10 too would be nice - despite being a "civvy" sim, there's no point denying the military exist - all the bases are there, so why not accurate navigation aids for them...)

by **Gary R.** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:18 pm

Well, there may be some civil aircraft equipped with tacan recievers as well anyway. It would be a handy nav option. And, while we are on the subject of nav aids that MS overlooked I might also mention that I know a few pilots that use LORAN as well. It would be swell to have that secondary nav aid available also, especially if flying "feet wet" as they say aboard carriers.

by **logjam** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:28 pm

TACAN in general can be described as the military version of the VOR/DME system. It operates in the frequency band 960-1215 MHz. The bearing unit of TACAN is more accurate than a standard VOR since it makes use of a two frequency principle, with 15 Hz and 135 Hz components. Theoretically a TACAN should provide a nine-fold increase in accuracy compared to a VOR but operational use has shown only a 1.5 to 2 fold increase. The distance measurement component of TACAN operates with the same specifications as do civil DMEs. Therefore to reduce the number of required stations TACAN stations are frequently co-located with VOR facilities. These co-located stations are known as VORTACs. This is a station composed of a DME range measurement unit (for civil and military use), a VOR (for civil bearing information) and the bearing part of a TACAN (for military bearing information).