"WANDERING" Stec50 AP in DEB..............

[Guest]

Geofa, just when I thought I had learned to operate all systems in the Wonderful Deb, up rears the hoary head of a Stec50 AP Problem...... I love my Deb, but the Stec50 is being 'ornery!! I have RTFM, and I set up the Stec50 AP as instructed. I align the VOR arrow to the HDG bug (after acquiring the VOR signal) and wait for the a/c to center on the heading. Then hit NAV. And the plane setttles into a "beeline" to the VOR. And for 50-60 NM the course is true as an arrow.Problem occurs about 30-35 miles out from VOR station. The course line begins to deteriorate, and the course drops off by about 20 to 25 degrees to the left (as seen on the GPS screen) of target as I near the VOR. And I will usually miss the VOR by about 10-20 NM to the left.I have tried going back to HDG setting and aligning with the GPS screen course-line. But the AP won't "allow" my switching from NAV to HDG. And the AP sounds that never-ending, nerve-rending, danged, "beep, beep, beep" once you switch from NAV to HDG. I even try turning OFF the AP at the "Off/On" switch and the "AP Master Switch". It will NOT turn off, and all the time that warning "beep" is still going. I have even switced off "Batt.Switch" and "Left Alternator Switch", and the BEEP goes on, and on.All I can do is "Exit" and start a flight all over to "turn off" the AP AND to stop that infernal "beeping."!!OK, that was long, but hard to explain any more brief. What am I doing wrong??? And, is there a way to cut off that aggravating "BEEP" (permanently!) when you change something on the AP?? I have tried other planes on this same VOR and they "hit" the VOR like a bullseye. And this situation of the missed VOR happens very often at many different VOR's both "High Alt" and "Low Alt" when navigating with the Deb. I might add, this occured most recently, in the mountains of Colorado. Could mountains have any bearing on this problem?. However I am approaching the VOR about 2500'-3500' AGL.That is my tale of woe with the Stec50. Can anybody help? (Yes, I have installed "theb33patch.zip")Regards,Nick :~P

[Geofa 108]

To be honest I haven't had time to try this myself so I can't provide and answer-I do know that the reports I got was it was working. In the meantime this might help-it is the actual manual:http://www.s-tec.com/pdf/40-50.PDFAs for the beeping-this is the one bug I was aware of that is caused by fs not liking two autopilots being used at the same time. For now, either flick the masters on and off or as someone suggested I think it is control Z.http://members.telocity.com/~geof43/geofanim2.gif

[Guest]

OK Geofa, thanks for the link to the Deb manual. I'll give that an eyeball and see if my answer is in there. And yeah, I forgot about trying "Z"....that might kill that maddening "BEEP".Cheers,Nick;)

[Geofa 108]

One other thing-I rarely if at all use the nav mode in the real plane. I have found by verifying tracking with the gps that the autopilot tends to weave a little. I usually use the heading mode-find a heading that keeps the aircraft on the gps track and use the heading bug/heading hold mode to keep it on the course line.http://members.telocity.com/~geof43/geofanim2.gif

[Guest]

Geofa, thanks again for the additional info on how you actually operate your B33.And thanks again also for this great aircraft. The Deb is about the only plane I have flown since you uploaded it for the sim community. I have about 50 planes gathering dust in my "hangar".Cheers,Nick