Hey y’all!
I seem to be doing something wrong with NDBs.
- Simulation: X-Plane 11 current version
- Plane: Ddenn’s Challenger 300
Unfortunately I don’t have the manual on this particular glass cockpit. I am not even sure how it is called but it is one of the default ones of Xplane I think. I am not even sure there is a manual…
Here is a picture (ignore the frequencies, that’s from another flight):
I figured out most of the functionality by now but NDBs elude me.
I thought it would be similar to VORs, which are pretty easy:
I just dial them in in NAV1 or NAV2 (either using the FMC or by clicking on the frequency on the PFD screen).
Then I use the NAVSRC button to switch to them, and set the course using the FMC or the course knob.
Now, of course (pun intended) NDBs don’t transmit a distance or straight up tell me the direction like VOR/DMEs or TACAN, I can just home in on them. But they are supposed to have much greater range (unless they are marker beacons), which comes in handy. And Russia (where I am flying right now for the Christmas flight) doesn’t have a lot of VORs, but NDBs.
So here is what I tried:
I put in the frequencies, into ADF1 and ADF2.
There are some NDBs on the Skyvector map that I can input (for example IO, south of Murmansk, 1210 kHz), others don’t work (for example the ones near Naryan Mar, 680 kHz). The plane just adds a 1 so it changes the input to 1680.
But even for those that work, I couldn’t figure out how to let the plane use them. My available nav sources are just FMS, NAV1 and NAV2, which are GPS and VORs.
I figured that the plane maybe cannot use NDBs for the autopilot, so I tried this: set the AP to HDG and sync up the heading with the bearing to a beacon.
So I used the bearing source (BRGSRC) button and the menu button so put bearing source 1 and 2 to ADF.
I didn’t get a green bearing indicator though.
I do get the green bearing indicators when I use VORs.
That’s where I am basically stuck.
I was definitely close enough for the NDB and it does exist in Xplane. I could see it on the glass cockpit’s map, and I passed it at a slant range of approximately 15 miles, if which most was my altitude (FL420).
Any ideas what I could be doing wrong?
Edit: oh, and when I put in the frequency and activate it by clicking below it, I can choose between OFF, ON, STBY, TEST, ANT and BFO. What do those mean? When to use which?