I did a test with Terminal and High VORs in the sim.

At about 6000 AGL:

The terminal VOR I used (Wiley Post 113.4) blinked out at 25.0 when flying away. Like a light switch.

The High VOR (Will Rogers IRW 114.1) was more subtle. Between 116 - 117nm, it started 'fading' in and out. It was gone beyond 117nm.

I didn't see any handy Low altitude one to try.

for info (probably you know already) but with the absolutely fantastic freeware LittleNavMap application by @albar965 you can get the info about the range of each VOR when planning your trip. Might be useful when trying to guide that mighty DC6 without LNAV/VNAV buttons 😛😂

The two examples given by @RichieFly seem to confirm with what i see in LittleNavMap (range might be different if you don't have navigraph navdata).

🍺

 

Edited June 22, 20214 yr by Bad_T

2 hours ago, Bad_T said:

The two examples given by @RichieFly seem to confirm with what i see in LittleNavMap

The actual range in actual aviation is still based on altitude and terrain, and any low level wx. Simulations should match closely.  Games?  Not so much!  Who then would care?

subLogic's Flight Assignment: ATP as an example, had it nailed in the early 1990's.  Not modeling it accurately 30 years later is a travesty!  

Edited June 22, 20214 yr by fppilot

6 hours ago, Andreas Stangenes said:

So do we have these three vor types in game, or only one?

Yes to VORs and NDBs of different types and ranges in the sim. Not totally accurate for sure, but representative of typical reliable ranges. If you're looking at a chart, here are a few rough tips...

If the VOR or NDB appears as part of an airway or typically anywhere in a High Altitude IFR chart they will be of the long range variety. On the chart if they're denoted with a T they are a terminal VOR, with a short range, about 40nn. If the VOR label has a D next to it, it has a DME colocated. If it's just a square symbol, with DD, it is DME only and will provide range but not direction. These are usually colocated or located near to an NDB, so that you can get both a directional indication and a distance to help find your location.

As for NDBs, like VORs if they're on an airway, they are typically of the high altitude/long range variety, otherwise not.

When flying long distances, over water or away from navaids, you need to do a little calculating while your navaids are in range. You can use an online E6B, or a real old school one if you're especially needy (I admit to having dug mine out from the 90s), to calculate your true airspeed and the winds aloft. This is made easier with the (more) modern DME indicator in the lower left panel on the captain side (of the DC6). You can select either Nav1 or 2 and if you're tracking directly to or from the navaids, and it has DME, you will get distance, ground speed and time to/from the station at the current GS. So....the E6B will want your indicated airspeed, pressure altitude (that's the altitude read on your altimeter if you set 29.92/1013 in the kohlsman window) and temp in C (read from the bottom row of the center panel of the DC6 - Free Air). This will produce your True Airspeed. From that you can get winds by entering heading, track and ground speed in a different part of the E6B. If you're tracking along a radial, then you have all the info you need and can plan a long leg away from nav aids and get, roughly, where you hope to. I flew from Norway to Iceland and then from Iceland to Ireland, both about 2-3 hr over water legs and ended up only about 10 miles off track, so easily picked up the navaids when I made it to the other end of the over water leg.

Give it a try without looking at the VFR map or any other cheats, it's a good thrill of you're into that kinda thing. 👍 Be sure to time it out so you know when you 'should' be to the next station...it can get quite anxious otherwise.

Oh, one last thing, on more east-west routes, you need to plan a great circle route, so sort out the change in heading between the outbound leg and the inbound leg. Even on N/S routes magnetic variation can throw you off course. For example flying from Norway to Iceland, my outbound heading from the last VOR in Norway was about 300 deg, but the inbound course to the first navaid in Iceland was 285 deg. Since it was about 130 minutes, I just divided by 3 (43 mins), I set a timer, then after 43 minutes turned 5 degrees left, then after 43 more minutes did it again. Navigraph charts doesn't do a good job for old school planning, so I use sky vector which shows you the outbound course between two VORs including magnetic variation and great circle. Getting the inbound requires reversing the flight plan, then taking the opposite value in the other direction, if that makes sense...

Oops, that was a novel, sorry. Old school navigation is good nerdy fun and I've barely scratched the surface here. I'm happy I learned to fly before GPS was common, otherwise I would surely know none of this. 

One last fun note. Pick VOR approaches with DME arcs in them, that'll get your anxiety levels up too. I use the AFE completely when navigating. A DC-6 needed 3-4 people to fly, navigate long range and run the systems. You're a hero of you can do it all yourself in real time while avoiding icing and flying a DME arc 😉. I'm not a hero, 😂.

8 hours ago, Will Fly For Cheese said:

Depends on the VOR - can be anything from 25 NM to 140 NM. It's in the AIRAC.

Don't try and use them as NAV Aids unless you've nailed their ranges before hand or you're an ignoramus.

They're you're best friends when you're not doing GNSS, GPS, (anything by Garmin) , etc...

This.. 

My memory is fuzzy but didn't FSX and P3D actually allow you to see the range of any particular VOR? I'm certain I remember it in some form or fashion. It's been awhile 

Edit: Or maybe it was Plan-G I'm thinking of

Edit #2: Yup. Plan-G

 

Edited June 22, 20214 yr by styckx

8 hours ago, Will Fly For Cheese said:

Depends on the VOR - can be anything from 25 NM to 140 NM. It's in the AIRAC.

Don't try and use them as NAV Aids unless you've nailed their ranges before hand or you're an ignoramus.

They're you're best friends when you're not doing GNSS, GPS, (anything by Garmin) , etc...

In the early days of flight simulator the only map I had was a USA street atlas that I marked the approximate locations of VORs on. Sometimes filled out my map with a guess at first, like I tune the STL VOR and guessed St Louis. Most of the time I would have to fly in the estimated direction of the next VOR until I picked it up and could correct course. It was always a thrill flying like this when I would arrive at an airport on the other side of the country. Lots of satisfaction flying without aviation maps or GPS, just compass and radios, and finding your airport. Also used some NDBs, but mostly VOR for the longer distances.

Edited June 22, 20214 yr by desbean

26 minutes ago, styckx said:

This.. 

My memory is fuzzy but didn't FSX and P3D actually allow you to see the range of any particular VOR? I'm certain I remember it in some form or fashion. It's been awhile 

Edit: Or maybe it was Plan-G I'm thinking of

Edit #2: Yup. Plan-G

 

I recall being able to get the VOR ranges in FSX also.