Does it stop functioning when you fly above 13 km ?

Whenever i fly above 13 km the mig radar seems to come to a halt.
Awacs tells me plane is flying medium altitude say 25 km away, i search and search but nothing comes up .

Is this another of many bugs ?

Hi Game__On. No, the MiG radar does not stop working at 13km alt. The MiG has the weakest radar in the game to simulate the fact that a MiG in RL has a weaker radar than say, the F-15 or Su-27. You will pick up a head-on contact at a distance of about 50 KM at co-altitude, whereas a Su or F-15 might pick it up at twice that range.

Let’s take you at angels 13 and a bandit at angles 13, 50 km away. Since you are co-alt he will be pretty much 50 KM away. Now let’s take you at angels 13 and a bandit angles 1, 50 km away. Horizontally wise the bandit is 50 KM away but because of the vertical difference, your slant range is further. He may be 50 KM away in the horizontal, but because of the vertical difference, your slant range is actually further. Think of a triangle. One side is the horizontal distance 50 KM, one side is the vertical difference 12 KM and the slant range side is 51.4 KM. Not a huge difference, but can make a difference when just outside range.

The Lock On radars are all 10 degrees in elevation and in the MiG slewable to a maximum of +60 degrees and – 45 degrees. When you fly at co-alt to a bandit, it is very easy for the bandit to be in your radar beam, however, as the vertical separation is increased and the horizontal distance is decreased it is very easy for a contact to be lost. Think of a flash light beam and how it’s narrow at the start and widens out at the end. Very easy to lose someone near the narrow part as they get closer.

Also consider that if someone turns away from you and is not head on, you can lose them quite easy as they beam your radar. The closer they are the less this effect occurs.

You must know how to use radar elevation and expected range! Do you know these 2 functions?
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Know your radar PRF modes! With the English HUD option turned on in game these are...
ILV - Mix of High and Low
HIGH - Use for high aspect bandits. Your detection/lock range will increase roughly 25% over the standard ILV mode!
MED - Use for low aspect bandits. Your detection/lock range will increase roughly 25% over the standard ILV mode!
See the Lockon manual for more info

Adjust the radar elevation and expected range to target...
Radar Elevation indicated on the right side of the HUD is in KMs, so a +1 means you have raised the radar beam by 1KM or 1000M. The point along the radar beam that you raise is determined by the "Expected Range" setting which is indicated at the bottom of the HUD. It is in KMs as well and defaults to 10KM.

As an example you are formed up close with your Wingman and he calls out, "Bandit 12 O'clock for 40, Angels 5". Set your expected range to 40. If you are currently at Angels 4 then set the radar elevation for the difference in altitude to the bandit or +1. You now have the centre of the radar beam at the bandits location.

The following pictures taken from Teka Teka




And that concludes today’s lesson ha ha. Maybe you should consider joining a squad that can provide this kind of info 16... cough 9... cough

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Crunch_,

awesome thanks for this elaborate explanation

edit* ... Well i did some testing with this new knowledge and behold i am getting contacts at high altitude. :-)

Very few still escape my attention, but these are only the extremely low, and fast flying jets coming directly in my direction at mach 400.
I may see them , but if i lose them i cannot find them again.
The time from being able to spot them on radar, and firing at them is very short indeed.
If at all as usually i'm almost, or already in range (ER or R77) by the time my radar is able to pick them up.
If they move fast and very low , and i lose them for a couple of seconds they have already moved out of my 'seeing zone' .

Also reading the manual and finding out that a complete radar sweep takes 2 seconds (!). I used to wait about a second before changing setting. Sometimes when rushed i would just flick through them as fast as possible .

I was also scanning in the wrong place sometimes.
I did it just by feel, which was not the way to go obviously :-)
When target was 40km away, and i at say 13 km alt. i would be scanning at azimuth between -8 and -15 and estimated range at default 10km .

Thx again for the info , (PM)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Game__On,