747-400 FMC Nav Radio Page

[sammach 0]

Hello I am new to this forum and this is my first post, since I bought the PMDG 747 CD I have realised what a challenge I have set myself, it really is a very realistic and complicated programme, but I have always thought that it is still not beyond the average flight sim enthusiast to master, I registered on your forum yesterday and within minutes I had the answer to a problem that as been baffleing me for weeks, that being tunning the ILS frequency manually, I read in the manual that it was ofcoures possible, but every time I tried to load the frequecy from the scratchpad to line 4L on the Nav Radio page I got an invalid message, I now know thanks to this forum that the frequency and airport heading must be added on the scratchpad before the it will be accepted on 4L. I have since done a near perfect ILS landing, I aim to get better, but your forum as allowed me a major step forward in mastering this facinating programme. This info is not in the manuals, I intend to take this up with Aerosoft, as while they cannot tell you every thing in their manuals, such a fundemental action as manually input for the ILS, should surly be covered in the FMC Manual. Many thanks to this forum from a grateful Flight Simmer

[sluggy 3]

Usually the FMC automatically tunes your nav radios (including ILS) when the relevant part of the active flight plan comes into play. I believe not too many 747-400 flights would occur with the FMC not in use. I figured out how to manually tune the radios myself, not without some heartache as you describe, but I'm glad you got there with help of the (much more proficent than I) forum members here.Chris Dalgarno

[sammach 0]

Thanks for your message Chris, I am sorry I did not give my name, I will buck up, yes I know what you mean,about the active flight plan, but i am not there yet, I just want to get the feel of the aircraft, I am not into long flights, the longest flight I will do is Prestwick to London Heathrow, I enjoy doing takeoff and landings with reduced fuel load ofcourse, from airports all over the world, I enjoy manual ILS approaches in foul weather, it might not suit some but its what I enjoy from all my aircraft both civil and military. I will get my head around the FMC eventually and I would welcome any suggestions for any Tutorials anyone might recommend. Thanks for your message I think you will agree its a facinating programme the PMDG 747. Stan Unwin

[tunnelcat 1]

Hi Stan. Manually tuning the ILS NAV Radio within the FMC is in the manual that came with your disk, but it's a little hard to find in all that information. It took some really detailed reading to find it.As for tutorials, there is a really good one right here at the AVSIM library. Just search on 'Holger Seilz PMDG 747 Advanced Tutorial' within the library, but you need to register and log in to access it.Also, there are four nice tutorials at the PMDG website available for download.Kim

[tunnelcat 1]

Stan, here's the file name for the tutorial after I did some searching.pmdg747_advancedtutorial.zipKim

[sammach 0]

Hello Kim, Thanks for your message Kim, I found references to manual tuning in the FMC Manual but I could`nt find any details I kept entering the ILS frequency, but all i got was an invalid message, until that is I also entered the runway heading a described on this Forum, I take your word for it and I will look again. Thanks for your reference for the Tutorial, i am registered with Avsim so I will download. Thanks for your time...........Stan Unwin

[Guest Capt.Keith]

>Hello Kim,> Thanks for your message Kim, I found references to>manual tuning in the FMC Manual but I could`nt find any>details I kept entering the ILS frequency, but all i got was>an invalid message, until that is I also entered the runway>heading a described on this Forum, I take your word for it and>I will look again. Thanks for your reference for the Tutorial,>i am registered with Avsim so I will download.> Thanks for your time...........Stan Unwin Same thing happens to me. I am a real-world pilot and have never run into this using a real FMS. You can ALWAYS overide the auto NAV radio tuning so what gives with the PMDG 747???

[Guest CharlesCrow]

>>Hello Kim,>> Thanks for your message Kim, I found references to>>manual tuning in the FMC Manual but I could`nt find any>>details I kept entering the ILS frequency, but all i got was>>an invalid message, until that is I also entered the runway>>heading a described on this Forum, I take your word for it>and>>I will look again. Thanks for your reference for the>Tutorial,>>i am registered with Avsim so I will download.>> Thanks for your time...........Stan Unwin >>Same thing happens to me. I am a real-world pilot and have>never run into this using a real FMS. You can ALWAYS overide>the auto NAV radio tuning so what gives with the PMDG 747???>Keith, don't feel bad. I am a retired 747 pilot (spent the last 10 years of my professional life in this girl) and I can't seem to get the manual tuning to work either. :) That says a great deal for the realism huh? I understand that some things have to be changed for the sim BUT they could at least let us know what is going on and how to turn off the blasted auto-tune feature. I KNOW how to do it in the real deal but can't figure it out in this simulator.

[sammach 0]

Thanks for your messages, I now feel much better knowing that I am not the only one to have been irritated by by this problem, now i know what to do I am really enjoying myself, all I can suggest is that the creators of this software, only want you fly it thier way I suppose they resent a complete novice like myself comming along and trying to keep things simple, after all the manhours that went into perfecting their creation. My answer is that i paid good money for their product, I have it on my sim and i will fly it anyway I want too. Thanks again for your comments and thanks again to this forum for helping me overcome, which for me was a frustrating problem, All the best Stan Unwin

[Guest CharlesCrow]

>Thanks for your messages, I now feel much better knowing that>I am not the only one to have been irritated by by this>problem, now i know what to do I am really enjoying myself,>all I can suggest is that the creators of this software, only>want you fly it thier way I suppose they resent a complete>novice like myself comming along and trying to keep things>simple, after all the manhours that went into perfecting their>creation.> My answer is that i paid good money for their>product, I have it on my sim and i will fly it anyway I want>too.> Thanks again for your comments and thanks again>to this forum for helping me overcome, which for me was a>frustrating problem,> All the best Stan Unwin Stan,Can you share your fix with us please? How do you get the navs to tune manually? Thanks,CharlesP.S. Take it from a real-world retired 747 pilot... despite what PMDG or other developers say you don't always use the FMS 100% of the time. In fact, it's less then 70% of the time and in some undeveloped countries you can't even use it at all. I have flown both hand-flown approaches and ILS approaches where nobody had even heard of a sid or star before. :) You ALWAYS have control over the radios and the auto-tune feature is a nice connivance but only that.

[tfm 169]

I'll tell you how to do it in the PMDG if you tell us all how it's done for real!For manual ILS: in the NAV RAD page of the FMC, enter the desired ILS and frontcourse into the scratchpad: eg, 110.10/269. Then press the 4th line select key from the top left (the one next to "PARK" assuming autotune has not supplied any frequency).For manual VOR: in the NAV RAD page of the FMC, enter the desired frequency into the scratchpad: eg, 116.20. Then press the 1st line select key on the top left (the one next to VOR L); or on the top right (the one next to VOR R). You can also enter a course by entering the desired course into the scratchpad then pressing the 2nd line select key on the left or the right.Tim

[sammach 0]

Hello Charles, Search for Topic 107878, RE:PMDG 747-400 FMC, help Sorry I could not copy for you but it goes like this, on Line 4L put in format fff.ff/hhh, thats Airport ILS frequecy and runway heading, on Line 4L on nav radio page in the FMC. When you read the topic all will be clearer. All the best Stan Unwin

[Krister 51]

"I understand that some things have to be changed for the sim BUT they could at least let us know what is going on and how to turn off the blasted auto-tune feature. I KNOW how to do it in the real deal but can't figure it out in this simulator."I'm a bit puzzled here... As far as I can tell from reading authentic documentation, the manual/auto tuning of NAV radios works exactly in real life as in the PMDG bird. The same goes for the ILS. What am I misunderstanding?

[sammach 0]

Hello Charles, Sorry for the delay but i thought I had posted a reply, to you either i pressed the wrong button or the site is not working properly, i found the answer on Topic No.107878 " Re. PMDG747-400 FMC help " All I do is go to the FMC Nav/radio page enter in scratch pad Airport ILS Frequency and the Runway heading in the format fff.ff/hhh and enter on L4 at the ILS Park sign. I hope that answers your question, again sorry for delay, All the best Stan Unwin

[sammach 0]

Hello Charles sorry for the delay, I replied on the link from an email but it does not register on the forum, I found my answer on Topic No 107878 Re: PMDG 747-400 FMC, help All I do is go to the Nav/radio page in the FMC and type in the scratch pad the ILS frequency and runway heading of the airport concerned in the format fff.ff/hhh and enter on L4 and thats it.I take off and do a few circiuts and land or go for a cross country trip, with the fuel load adjusted accordingly in PMDG options. I hope that is clear, again sorry for the delay, best of luck.............Stan Unwin