FSX-MS NDB and VOR - active at what height and/or distance?

[VeryBumpy 272]

Is there a chart or list of what FSX uses for a plane's altitude and distance reception limitations for NDB and VOR?

I tune into a 75mile Class NDB while on the ground at a distance of 27 miles away and it does not receive a signal.

[charliearon 3,017]

Keep in mind, that at these frequencies,  it will be, pretty much, line of sight.  You would have better luck picking up that NDB while in the air.

[RayHff 6]

From internet references:

VORs come with high, low, and terminal service volumes and dimensions.

High-altitude VORs can be used up to 60,000 feet and 130 nautical miles wide.

Low-altitude VORs service aircraft up to 18,000 feet and up to 40 nautical miles wide.

Terminal VORs go up to 12,000 feet and 25 nautical miles.

----

NDB stations are classified into four groups based on the beacon range in nautical miles.

Compass locator—15.
Medium Homing—25.
Homing—50.
High Homing—75.

 

[VeryBumpy 272]

I tried Slew and it worked so here is what I gathered. Seems its a rather complex calculation under the scene.

What	Freq	Range	Station Height	Distance nm	Altitude Active
NDB	320	75	78	27.5	350
NDB	326	100	98	83.9	950
VOR	113.9	195	229	122.9	2750
VOR	111.2	195	3149	194.6	2950
VOR	116.3	195	9	158.2	3950
NDB	232	75	111	78.2	nope
NDB	380	50	22	81.2	nope

Edited July 22, 2022 by VeryBumpy

[JonP01 104]

I created a spreadsheet for myself of all navaids in the stock FSX:SE edition which I use to assist with my flight planning given that like navigating using "old school" technologies such as VOR and NDB only. The data in the spreadsheet includes the effective reception range of the Navaids. I used a utility (Easynavs) from the website linked below to extract the data.

I suggest it is better though for any user to create their own spreadsheet from the above utility simply because there can be umpteen different variations of navaids in any version of the game and any new scenery at all or updates to any original data sources used by the game can effect the underlying source navaid data. So better to have an exact "match" for your own installation.

https://sors.fr/aero/navaids.html