F/A-18C TACAN channel & Datalink Functionality
Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:55 pm
in other words, white squares good, other colored squares bad. TACAN channel 1 is also good per Wags:NFM-000, 24.4
In MIDS-equipped aircraft, TACAN functionality is embedded in the MIDS terminal (...). Because the upper antenna filter is fixed, it filters A/A TACAN frequencies on channels 1-36 and 64-99 (X and Y). A/A TACAN channels should be chosen outside of these ranges. The upper filter makes the top antenna unusable for T/R (Air to Ground) TACAN channels 1-29 X and Y, 47X to 63X and 64Y to 92Y. For TACAN channels in these ranges, the bottom antenna is the only antenna for TACAN. [This] causes reduced ranges for DME at channels within the range of the filter when flying directly away from the TACAN station.
Per the previous post, we have changed the Link-16 frequency to 1092.5 MHz. As such, TCN channels 68 and 69 both X and Y should be avoided.
This will be for the next update and will allow the default TCN channel 1 to not interfere with Link-16.