Is there an harcoded limit of 125NM for VOR in MSFS ?

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

Ever since I got the DC-6,. I've been flying VOr and I noticed that ever if a VOR is 250NM range according to the BGL, the game will never capture the VOR until it's at exactly 125NM. Can anyone confirm this is the case ?

[RichieFly 714]

I can say (have tested this) the Terminal VORs blink out / in at exactly 25.0mn.

[Bad_T 581]

Hello,

When you say range is 250 according to the BGL, how did you check that, did you use some specific tool showing what's really inside the BGL (i think there are some in the FSDeveloper forum) ? I say this because If you use LittleNavMap with Navigraph Navdata to check the VOR range, the data shown there does not always match with what is really inside the BGL and so you think it will be 250 (because it's what you see in LNM) but the sim will see only 125 because 125 is in the BGL.

Do you have maybe an example of VOR for which you have a doubt ?

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

2 minutes ago, Bad_T said:

Hello,

When you say range is 250 according to the BGL, how did you check that, did you use some specific tool showing what's really inside the BGL (i think there are some in the FSDeveloper forum) ? I say this because If you use LittleNavMap with Navigraph Navdata to check the VOR range, the data shown there does not always match with what is really inside the BGL and so you think it will be 250 (because it's what you see in LNM) but the sim will see only 125 because 125 is in the BGL.

Do you have maybe an example of VOR for which you have a doubt ?

yea. I was using LNM for the range. But so far. i never picked up any VOR beyond 125NM.

 

YAY and YQY are 2 VOR that are 250NM range according to LNM.

Edited July 3, 2021 by fogboundturtle

[Bad_T 581]

i just tested YAY with the tool from fsdeveloper using the navigraph BGL, this is the info inside the BGL

<Vor lat="51.393919587135315" lon="-56.08374997973442" alt="133.0F" type="LOW" frequency="113.700" magvar="21" range="231559.2M" region="CY" ident="YAY" name="SAINT ANTHONY" nav="TRUE" dmeOnly="FALSE" dme="TRUE">
    <Dme lat="51.393919587135315" lon="-56.08374997973442" alt="133.0F" range="231559.2M" />
  </Vor>

the sim sees only the BGL and 231559 meters is exactly 125 NM .. so that's why you are getting this. If you completely disable navigraph navadata (both BGL data and LMM data) you'll probably get a 195 NM in the sim and in LNM, but navigraph seems to introduce that difference, not sure why.

Edited July 3, 2021 by Bad_T

[fogboundturtle 2,708]

If I understood correctly, this is a navigraph imposed limit ?

[Bad_T 581]

I don't think it's a limitation, i just think it's how they decided to compile the BGL and they could fix by simply putting a different range in it if 125 is incorrect, i don't know exactly what the real range is in the real world.

My understanding is that the default BGL has a range of 195NM, the navigraph BGL (it replaces the default one if you have navigraph installed) has 125 NM, and LNM shows 250 NM because it uses the navigraph navdata database made only for LNM that has a different value than the BGL provided by Navigraph.

If you want to go over 125NM, you can test MLG VOR near LEMG, i think it goes as far as 130NM with Navigraph installed, not that much bigger but you should see that there is no 'hard limit' at 125. Or just disable temporarly navigraph navdata and you'll probably notice that most of them go all the way to 195NM.

 

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Bad_T

[PIC007 82]

Real world, VOR's have 3 types....short medium and long ranges....25 the shortest....125 the longest.....and all line of sight.

 

[fppilot 4,339]

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2000/december/flight-training-magazine/the-abcs-of-vors

At the Wiki page there is a table about half way down.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHF_omnidirectional_range

 

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by fppilot

[Andreas Stangenes 1,628]

Just to chime in, Ive had contact with H vor about 180nm out in good conditions. Other times, its a bit closer to a 100 nm ie in hilly terrain. 

[Redge 240]

8 hours ago, Andreas Stangenes said:

Just to chime in, Ive had contact with H vor about 180nm out in good conditions. Other times, its a bit closer to a 100 nm ie in hilly terrain. 

Is this with Navigraph data or are you using the stock MSFS navdata?

[Andreas Stangenes 1,628]

16 minutes ago, Redge said:

Is this with Navigraph data or are you using the stock MSFS navdata?

This is with Navigraph. Which shouldn't really matter. As long as a VOR is coded as H, it's max range should be the same. I dont think Navigraph increases the range of VORs, it just codes which VORs are T,L, MH and H differently based on Jeppesen. If a VOR is coded as H in both default and Navigraph, then pilots with either database should pick it up at the same distance. 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Andreas Stangenes

[Claudius_ 323]

Using LittleNavMap for flightplanning, with option of Navigraph data results in a VOR max range of 130nm, but in the sim is 195nm, so I decided to exclude the Navigraph data in favor of the sim data.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Claudius_

[Bad_T 581]

@Andreas Stangenes i might be wrong but i really think it matters. If you have navigraph navdata some default BGLS are not used anymore and the data is read from the navigraph's supplied BGL in which the VOR range is changed (even if both are H VOR). I'm also not sure if terrain is really taken into account for the VOR range in the sim. I can catch the Kathmandu VOR (sourrounded by high mountains) from 190+ NM with the default BGL while flying very low in the northern India plains (near VEGY). If i activate the Navigraph data i can still catch it but i need to be at around 130 NM. According to @PIC007 post above, this should be more accurante if real life VOR have that kind of range.

 

@Claudius_ When you look at the data in LNM it uses the data read in the file little_navmap_navigraph.sqlite that you have probably installed via the navigraph app. That file is absolutely not read by the sim, the sim uses only the BGL, so if you see a difference it's because the BGL does not contain the same data as the SQLITE file. If you have not installed the MSFS navdata then it's normal, if you have installed the MSFS navigraph navdata (navigraph-navdata folder in your community folder) then it's a bit more annoying because the data should match, but we noticed earlier that for some VOR it doesn't (see example above, the YAY VOR has a range of 250 NM in the Navigraph sqlite file but only 125 in the Navigraph supplied BGL).

oh well it's a bit too complicated for me to explain this clearly because i'm not a real specialist, and i'm not even sure if i'm 100% correct with my assumptions 🙊 😜

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Bad_T

[Andreas Stangenes 1,628]

I see, @Bad_T. I haven't gone under the hood as much as you have, so it is very possible that you might be right! 🙂