Hello, Does anyone know if there is a third party WX Radar that can be intergrated into the PMDG 747-400 X software. My aim is to have a WX Radar overlay the ND display if possible. From what I can gather PMDG dont have plans to build in a WX radar.Many thanksJarrod ClowesAustralia

Jarrod-There are no currently available weather radar gauges for FS9/FSX that can be utilized effectively in the 400/400X.The issue isn't that we dont plan to implement weather radar. The issue is that the data required to realistically simulate radar are not available within FS9/FSX.We worked very closely with Microsoft in hopes of getting the type of data into the workflow plan for FSX- but alas it didn't happen.You really aren't missing a whole lot in terms of the weather radar implementations that are out there. I've logged a few thousand hours flying behind weather radar- and consider myself to be exceptionally proficient at using it effectively. These radar gauges that you see popping up all over the place are... well... not even close to the real thing. We continue to push the issue with our contacts at MS- and we hope that maybe with FS11 we'll finally have an opportunity to show you how radar REALLY works in an airplane!(I'm not holding my breath- so dont hold yours!)

HiActually there is a decent weather radar gauge that works very well both in LDS767 and PMDG747 in FSX.It is the X-Gauge that is bundelled with Activesky X.It displays Map, clouds, storms, wind direction and zoom in function. It is a little slow to load the various screens. But it is usseful. You have to have Activesky X running to run the weather gauge.(ActiveSky X is a standalone application by the HiFi folks)Bill

Thanks Bill, but not even the HiFi folks will aknowledge that the weather data is limited by MSFS. Sure, the gauge is nice eye candy but precep patterns are pure imagination extrapolated from surface observations.I think the best hope for the sim community to achieve airborne radar simulation in the US is to link to doppler (which is what the Garmin530 in my cockpit does). There is still a lot of difference between that and an airborne radar. Each has its merits and limitations. But at least the real data is out there and it is much much better than the MSFS WX engine.

"I think the best hope for the sim community to achieve airborne radar simulation in the US is to link to doppler"Except the 530 is showing the actual weather happening around you OTS: I have it in a couple of the r/w planes I fly, very nice. Linking to Doppler in FS will show real world weather, not the weather FS is generating and you are flying in. IMHO still always going to come down to MS ability to provide the correct data externally. I am going with Robert, not holding my breath. :-)

Exactly, nexrad is another source of wx data besides metars that could be tapped. Doesn't seem like a stretch but I'm not much of a programmer (remember assembly and fortran?). I agree with Robert as well, but there's so much weather data out there to harvest and barely any of it makes it in the simulation. Seems like a great potential if the MSFS team would recognize the opportunity instead of spending all thier development time on scenery that very few have the processing power to take advantage of. Okay, sorry, I'll get off that soap box now.Happy contrails.

>(I'm not holding my breath- so dont hold yours!)I am still trying to hold my breath that MS fixes many winds/temperature issues in the upper atmosphere. They have to fix those before we can even contemplating "graduating" to weather radar.Michael J.http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/9320/apollo17vf7.jpg