Can you get AWACS to contact you when they find enemies?
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Well, I’ve actually done that once, listened to AWACS contact calls, but I’ve found it immensely frustrating. They will call a radar contact 120 miles out but won’t say its heading, so you literally don’t know if you’re going to run into that contact in the future. And on more than one occasion, I’ve been jumped by enemy bogies simply because I didn’t ask SENTRY or whatever what the picture was at that moment. Shouldn’t AI AWACS warn you of nearby contacts in general, instead of the current system they have now?
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I’ve tried checking in, but they AWACS says something like “I don’t have anything for you right now.” I’ll look at the manual.
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…. I didn’t ask SENTRY or whatever what the picture was at that moment. Shouldn’t AI AWACS warn you of nearby contacts in general, instead of the current system they have now?
You have to ask and mentally keep track. That’s how it works in BMS. If you’re smart, you ask a lot. Also distinguish between ‘Picture’ (Q-1) and ‘Threats’ (Q-Q-1). If I’m not mistaken, both work on a 60 mile bubble from your location …. i.e. no threats within 60 nm, you’ll get some kind of all clear reply.
One other note. Pay attention when other players call and/or when AI make calls. You should hear AWACS replies that are relative to your position.
Would it be ‘cool’ and/or more realistic for AWACS to give you informative calls on threats within some range? Sure, I guess. But that’s not what happens now.
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How do you “check in” and what does it do? I can’t find it in the manual.
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How do you “check in” and what does it do? I can’t find it in the manual.
AFAIK, “Check In” is (for the moment) only for FAC and BARCAP purposes. But IRL, any first contact made with AWACS is the Check In on a dedicated Check In freq to “AUTHENTICATE*”, identify players, ensure that all player are using the right bulls eye (“ALPHA CHECK*”) get the last “LOWDOWN**”, ensure that all players are there and if they are “AS FRAGGED*” or “LATE*”, get eventually a “ROLEX*” … etc … then AWACS ask you to switch to TACTICAL freq (also called Package freq).
- Can be found in the JOINT BREVITY WORDS PUBLICATION (APP-07E).pdf
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In BMS might sound something like this:
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You have to ask and mentally keep track. That’s how it works in BMS. If you’re smart, you ask a lot. Also distinguish between ‘Picture’ (Q-1) and ‘Threats’ (Q-Q-1). If I’m not mistaken, both work on a 60 mile bubble from your location …. i.e. no threats within 60 nm, you’ll get some kind of all clear reply.
One other note. Pay attention when other players call and/or when AI make calls. You should hear AWACS replies that are relative to your position.
Would it be ‘cool’ and/or more realistic for AWACS to give you informative calls on threats within some range? Sure, I guess. But that’s not what happens now.
While on Channel 13, I receive a warning message from the AWACS when a threat approaches within 25 miles. Whithout any request. Same kind of message as in this video, 25:00, except Shark 6 were in our package, but not our flight. It could have been us.
As you can see, this message was received while on package channel, by the way.
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Channel 13. VHF or UHF? I’m thinking UHF but I just want to be sure.
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Channel 13. VHF or UHF? I’m thinking UHF but I just want to be sure.
Both are valid, but AWACS usually prefer UHF. VHF is rather used for Inter-Plane.
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If I am on UHF-17 … I only hear AWACS reports for my package (when I request). Is there a config setting that makes AWACS report threats on a more real time basis?
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If I am on UHF-17 … I only hear AWACS reports for my package (when I request). Is there a config setting that makes AWACS report threats on a more real time basis?