This is a warning for anyone coding a COM radio.
Back in the good old FSX days COM frequencies would end in 00, 25, 50 or 75. Using the fraction inc or dec events would change the COM frequency by 0.025 increments.
Well, it's 2021 now and many European airports are now using COM frequencies between those gaps (instead of 25hz gaps they can now use 8.33Hz gaps). For example, Blagnac (LFBO) uses 123.130 as ATIS frequency. If you load the C152, it is impossible to tune into 123.130 using the knobs on the radio as they use 25Hz increments. You have to open the ATC panel and select the ATIS service to tune the radio. It then becomes impossible to tune into ground on 121.900 as the 25Hz increments are all messed up so it's back to the ATC panel to tune the radio.
This raises an interesting issue for developers. Do you faithfully model an older radio that tunes in 0.025 increments or do you tune it in 0.005 increments so you can access those newer in-between frequencies such as 123.130?
The radio I am working on at the moment has keypad entry. A faithful reproduction limits it to 0.025 increments but I think I will have to allow 0.005 increments to make it useable in MSFS Europe. This is not a huge problem for me as the keypad allows for accurate entry but if your radio has knobs only then you are limited by the 25Hz increment by the INC and DEC events.
Back in the good old FSX days COM frequencies would end in 00, 25, 50 or 75. Using the fraction inc or dec events would change the COM frequency by 0.025 increments.
Well, it's 2021 now and many European airports are now using COM frequencies between those gaps (instead of 25hz gaps they can now use 8.33Hz gaps). For example, Blagnac (LFBO) uses 123.130 as ATIS frequency. If you load the C152, it is impossible to tune into 123.130 using the knobs on the radio as they use 25Hz increments. You have to open the ATC panel and select the ATIS service to tune the radio. It then becomes impossible to tune into ground on 121.900 as the 25Hz increments are all messed up so it's back to the ATC panel to tune the radio.
This raises an interesting issue for developers. Do you faithfully model an older radio that tunes in 0.025 increments or do you tune it in 0.005 increments so you can access those newer in-between frequencies such as 123.130?
The radio I am working on at the moment has keypad entry. A faithful reproduction limits it to 0.025 increments but I think I will have to allow 0.005 increments to make it useable in MSFS Europe. This is not a huge problem for me as the keypad allows for accurate entry but if your radio has knobs only then you are limited by the 25Hz increment by the INC and DEC events.