Subscribe to download
0 meier VORTAC beacons 0

Don't enable more than one mission spawning these beacons. In order for them to emit a signal they need to be kept active, and that in turn keeps the terrain around it active. The more beacons spawned, the more terrain has to be loaded in, and therefore the slower the game will run.

Each beacon is made up of 3 separate radio antennas set to their own specific frequencies. All these antennas do is broadcast their altitude, their antenna's range and the spacing between the antennas on channels 1, 2 and 3. The main center antenna is tuned to the actual frequency of the beacon, for this example 112.4MHz, the X antenna is tuned to 112.4MHz plus 1000, and the Y antenna is tuned to 112.4MHz plus 2000. It is very important for there to be no rotation on the beacons when they are spawned. X must face directly +X of the main and Y must face directly +Y. The spacing between these antennas, measured in meters, is what is sent via channel 3 to the aircraft's receiver.

The most accurate way to build a receiver for an aircraft would be to have the largest spacing possible on the ground beacons, and 3 very close together antennas on the aircraft, each on their own frequency corresponding to the beacon's 3 antennas. Then you would need to do the math to figure out the ground distance between the antennas based on their signal strengths, ranges and relative altitudes. That distance info would then have to be fed into a function that spits out the angle from your aircraft to the beacon, based on those distances and the relative positions and spacings of the antennas on the ground beacon.

However, the more space saving way would be to use a single antenna, but cycle through radio channels very quickly, logging the data received while accounting for the delay between setting the channel and receiving the response from the beacon. This would have to account for both the delay of the signal (which luckily is constant irrespective of the distance) as well as the delay from the logic needed to set the frequency in the controller itself. Then once the data is received, it would have to calculate what the distances would've been if there wasn't the one or two tick delay between the responses from the beacon, and calculate the direction (same as before) but log that direction until it can be updated by the next interrogation cycle.


It's already built into the Beech Bonanza V35 uploaded in this same vehicle collection. The system is integrated with the transponder, as they share the same massive RX antenna due to space restrictions, but if you copy and paste the controller as well as the logic between it and the RX antenna, you should be able to re-purpose it for another aircraft.

Good luck with your night IFR flying in minimum visibility maximum precipitation and 70 knot crosswinds!

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask