Good question, there are several situations where monitoring and using GUARD is necessary. Take for instance a flight is on the tanker and has left our normal mission flight comms (266.000) so they can be on the tanker freq. Well, that leaves the mission commander and other flights no easy way to contact them in a pinch. Sure you can switch to the tanker freq and talk to them but in a hostile environment things happen fast and fooling with the radio while getting launched on is not the best. The same goes for flights on recovery, no easy way for other flights to warn them of danger or to ask for help.
Whats the solution?
We are going to start using/monitoring GUARD on all missions.
How will we use it?
It more than likely will not be used every mission, but in situations where flights are off of normal mission comms and you need to make contact use GUARD rather than trying to figure out what freq they are on.
Is there any thing I need to say differently when using GUARD?
Yes, you need to announce that you are speaking on GUARD, otherwise, the receivers will just think you are on their freq and respond on that not knowing that you cant hear them back.
Example ("Dealer 2, Dealer 1 on GUARD you have bandits inbound on your tanker advise you break off")
How do I monitor/transmit on GUARD?
F/A-18c
You have to setup your Comm 1 or Comm 2 radio to monitor GUARD.
On your UFC select Comm 1 or Comm 2 and then select OSB 1 for GRCV
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- F-18 G transmit switch.jpg (578.87 KiB) Viewed 1550 times
F-14B/A
You will make sure your radio switch (on the right) is set to "BOTH", this makes your radio receive your normal Comms and GUARD. To transmit you have to flip the selector switch on the left to "GUARD" and you will be transmitting on guard for that radio. (note while on GUARD you will only hear GUARD so when you are done transmitting switch it back to MANUAL or PRESET)
