I want to emphasize that radars get VERY complicated and inconsistent at times, and without talking about individual radars it's impossible to cover all the little quirks. That means the only way to truly learn the ins and outs of a radar is just by using it and gaining experience; you get a feel for each radar with time. For example, the F-15's radar can switch between TRK PD and TRK PD HDN when locking from pulse-doppler or between TRK and TRK PD when locking from pulse. Or the MiG-21's radar doesn't show an asterisk next to scan area, but can still change it which affects the vertical area. I was trying to keep this video short, under 15 minutes, which was challenging. Or up until just a few days ago the APG-66 listed 19km ACM range when in reality it was 9.2km... There are little things like this that change over time, which is why I tried to focus on the big picture. I'm also not getting into real life stuff. Again, extremely complicated and mostly irrelevant to the average war thunder player. Apparently some of gaijin's naming and display symbology is wrong to real life, but discussing why that's the case would only add length to the video and brings nothing to a player just trying to figure out how to launch some sparrows. I didn't talk about radar band here since that's mostly relevant to RWRs, but the short version is that if you're playing a MiG-21 or MiG-23 or F-111 or Kurnass 2000 (and maybe a few others) your radar can not be detected by certain RWRs. And in sim, not only are there band restrictions but also specific radar restrictions that are done on a per-radar to RWR basis; to name one example, Su-27 can detect Mirage 2000's radar but not Mirage 4000's radar in sim. That's a story for another time. I also want to note that TWS is sort of an oddball; in a way it's kind of an acquisition mode and can possibly be grouped with SRC/ACM/TRK, but I didn't put it there because it's accessed with the "change radar mode" keybind. I think if you have a radar with TWS it's pretty intuitive to find.
@@ccclll987 Basically there's three types of RWR in sim: RWRs that can detect any radar within their band range (for example, most top tier digital RWRs, like the ones the F-16 or Gripen have). Radars that can be detected but not identified (? contacts) still get picked up. RWRs that can only detect a specific list of radars (like ALR-45 used by F-4S/F-14A). With the ALR-45 example that's a list of (usually) older pulse radars, like the ones on the Mirage 3 and F-4E, but pulse-doppler radars like the one on the Mirage 2000 and F-4EJ Kai aren't on the list so they don't get detected. Non-identified threats (the ? threats) that you would otherwise see in realistic battles do not get detected. And then there's RWRs that have a list of radars that they are specifically blocked from detecting in sim. For example, SPO-10 has a list 26 pulse-doppler radars that it isn't allowed to detect in sim. Which RWRs behave in which way (and which radars get blocked) varies from RWR to RWR which is why it probably deserves its own video.
Hey, great tutorial, got a question, thought it makes sense to ask here, maybe you know some details? So, I noticed that "Sight stabilisation"/"Activate target point" keybinds seem to let you force a radar in TWS mode to attempt a lock at where your camera is pointing, even if its outside the current scan area but still within the gimbal limit, so kinda like an HMD of sorts, (seems to work even on F-14A which doesnt have HMD nor the Bombcat's telescope thing) but it seems to require some specific circumstance since sometimes it works like that and sometimes those buttons do nothing
@@hstdrk I've noticed it as well, I think the goal was to let you lock from the F-14B's TCS but I honestly haven't figured out how to reliably get it to try to lock let alone actually succeed in locking. It seems to help if you just spam the button. I'm not a knower unfortunately
This video is the equivalent of teaching the basics of music theory on the guitar in 14 mins. Absolutely insane. I cannot thank you enough for making this, you found me just when I started getting into radar!
This video alone went from me sucking at high tier to knowing what I'm doing and succeeding. Thanks, so much man. I sat in Test Flight while watching this video to play with the controls and got most of it figured out. Now I can be useful in the JA37C and later planes.
This is by far the best radar guide I've seen so far. Others just talked to me with loads of information right from the start while I was still trying to figure out why my turn on/off toggle wasn't working in the test flight, which you answered right at the start :)
What i noticed with hdn modes is that they're also better against targets flying low. I highly recommend to use it whenever possible as it forces the target to fly lower than they're usually used to and can really catch people off guard.
Awesome video man! Thank you for schooling some people on the misconceptions that have gone on in this game about some of the features of radars in game. Great work!!
For those curious about how MTI/Pulse-Doppler from Wish works more technically, it sends a signal as if it was just searching normally, stores said signal for one broadcast, compares it to the next signal on the display and if it didn't change, filters it out so only the signals with a change compared to the last one show up. Obviously a very rough simplification, but that's the soviet wizardry that is the Sapphire-23 radar summed up.
6:00 slightly interesting fact, you CAN access ACM mode on any radar that has it with this keybind too. all you need to do is turn your radar off first
The best radar video I’ve ever seen, and I think I’ve seen them all. Congratulations on the video and thank you for the enormous research and pedagogy work you have done. You already have one more subscriber.
Very informative, thanks. I finally got to high enough BR where my radar is no longer useless and I had never used it before so this video came in clutch.
i already know alot about radar but getting into this again in 2024 it is just helpful in warthunder once i forget something or just want to understand . thanks jaek.
Great videa as always, really helps with WTs absolute mess of radars. PS, could you do video about minor missiles, like AAM-4, Python-3 and PL-5B, and funny missiles like Fireflash that dont have family to do video about so you could group them all in one video?
Love the video. Biggest tip i can give for using a radar is "just use the lock within visual range" its usually a waste of a missile trying to get a snipe." I use radar missiles for head ons, and all aspect for side/rear shots.
10:15 HDN mode has another advantage - as everyone is getting ready to enter the big furball at the beginning part of the match, you can filter out the clutter of your friendlies and the AI aircraft. HDN mode will hide aircraft with a relatively low closure rate. I’ve also found that it’s much more resistant to chaff, but more susceptible to notching since lower closure rates get filtered - not that PD is particularly susceptible to chaff anyhow though. I pretty much stick to using HDN mode in stuff like the MiG29 where I can throw an R27ER at quite a long range early on, and then start notching and bleed my own altitude to escape the swarm of missiles that inevitably come toward a high flying target.
As far as my experience stands, the main use to be had with RADAR Gunsights is with Cannons that have no tracers. So the Harrier GR-7, anything Swedish with a 30mm Cannon and a RADAR and so on
A fantastic guide, coming from someone using manual target queuing via TDC. The GTM mode on the Su-39 is a typo or error on Gaijin's part, it's supposed to say GMT or Ground Moving Target.
O7 m8 huge thanks for this video. I didn't know how to use PDV but thanks to you I finnaly understood how the damn thing works and tbh it's quite usefull imo.
I just accidently realised that I have a radar while flying my sea harrier frs1e in a custom battle by pressing he wrong buttons and activating ACM. Now that I know how to use it hopefully I will have less flare troubles! :D Cheers!
super helpful video. honestly been really disappointed with the war thunder community for a while now, because no one seems to want to answer questions. the specific information I end up looking for is buried in random reddit posts or on a YT video, however the actual hunt for which reddit post or which video is ridiculous at times to say the least. I've been playing for something like 2-3 years and essentially most of what I know about WT is self taught. And oh boy are those controls an annoyance. I spent like 6 months tweaking my scheme on PS5 and one day it reverted back to an old version of that save or something. talk about frustrating at times. I guess the point is I think you did a really great job here with your video. Super informative and actually understandable. It may take me watching a few times since theres so much info to deal with radar, but this is definitely gonna help step my game up in top tier air.
@@vecturiongreysteed9171 100% agree, this game is probably the absolute worst when it comes to the game itself telling you absolutely NOTHING. They'll happily sell players $70 premiums but they dont care about adding a robust tutorial system to teach players how to use it, or a ui that explains all the info in an easy to understand manner.
were you a fighter pilot IRL holy shit, great video . just picked up the f4s, i got a few other jets with radar, now i can use IFF to check for friendlys thank you, sim battles draining my account because of ff
I think you forgot to mention that ACM mode will locked on to your friendly even with a radar that have IFF ability, otherwise great info for beginner❤
To be completely honest, I only clicked on this video for the keybind recommendations, since I am incapable of doing that on my own 😅😂 But I stayed for the quality content. Good job my man.
man i just want to missile goes brrrt , why is that breaking my head so much jesus christ on a motorbike holy cow there so much stuff to learn about to simply play
I am new to WT. There's an ergonomic vertical mouse I found that has a built in joystick for $30~. I cant wait to get it in the mail and play the game that way.
I have had success in using the radar gunsight in tracking enemy planes through clouds so i have my nose somewhere near their tail when getting out of the cloud. Moslty on very early jets without missiles.
9:41 So youre saying that, inside of the blue box which says friendly, thats just 1 plane getting spotted by youre radar, and the horizontal line near the top is the IFF indicator not a 2nd plane?
What do you mean with "they mess with the missiles on the Swift F7" at the end? Those are beam riding missiles, they follow your radar beam by design (and that radar beam will guide them straight to a target when locked onto one, or keep them in front of your nose when not)
I don't know how it works in real life with the Swift F7 specifically, but in war thunder, the radar gunsight and the beam that the missiles follow are separate, but if you get a radar lock it will "aim" the beam at the target. With the radar off, the missiles follow your nose, effectively making them mouse guided. With a radar lock, I'm pretty sure it points the beam at the target, but this leads to worse missile performance and if the radar locks onto the missile itself (which happens) the missile will go haywire.
TWS modes are pulse-doppler. TWS is basically the TWS version of SRC PD, TWS HDN is the TWS version of SRC PD HDN. So yes, they can be notched, and in my experience TWS HDN modes in particular are very easy to notch.
I want to emphasize that radars get VERY complicated and inconsistent at times, and without talking about individual radars it's impossible to cover all the little quirks. That means the only way to truly learn the ins and outs of a radar is just by using it and gaining experience; you get a feel for each radar with time. For example, the F-15's radar can switch between TRK PD and TRK PD HDN when locking from pulse-doppler or between TRK and TRK PD when locking from pulse. Or the MiG-21's radar doesn't show an asterisk next to scan area, but can still change it which affects the vertical area. I was trying to keep this video short, under 15 minutes, which was challenging. Or up until just a few days ago the APG-66 listed 19km ACM range when in reality it was 9.2km... There are little things like this that change over time, which is why I tried to focus on the big picture.
I'm also not getting into real life stuff. Again, extremely complicated and mostly irrelevant to the average war thunder player. Apparently some of gaijin's naming and display symbology is wrong to real life, but discussing why that's the case would only add length to the video and brings nothing to a player just trying to figure out how to launch some sparrows.
I didn't talk about radar band here since that's mostly relevant to RWRs, but the short version is that if you're playing a MiG-21 or MiG-23 or F-111 or Kurnass 2000 (and maybe a few others) your radar can not be detected by certain RWRs. And in sim, not only are there band restrictions but also specific radar restrictions that are done on a per-radar to RWR basis; to name one example, Su-27 can detect Mirage 2000's radar but not Mirage 4000's radar in sim. That's a story for another time.
I also want to note that TWS is sort of an oddball; in a way it's kind of an acquisition mode and can possibly be grouped with SRC/ACM/TRK, but I didn't put it there because it's accessed with the "change radar mode" keybind. I think if you have a radar with TWS it's pretty intuitive to find.
Can you expand on that topic about SIM?
@@ccclll987 Basically there's three types of RWR in sim:
RWRs that can detect any radar within their band range (for example, most top tier digital RWRs, like the ones the F-16 or Gripen have). Radars that can be detected but not identified (? contacts) still get picked up.
RWRs that can only detect a specific list of radars (like ALR-45 used by F-4S/F-14A). With the ALR-45 example that's a list of (usually) older pulse radars, like the ones on the Mirage 3 and F-4E, but pulse-doppler radars like the one on the Mirage 2000 and F-4EJ Kai aren't on the list so they don't get detected. Non-identified threats (the ? threats) that you would otherwise see in realistic battles do not get detected.
And then there's RWRs that have a list of radars that they are specifically blocked from detecting in sim. For example, SPO-10 has a list 26 pulse-doppler radars that it isn't allowed to detect in sim.
Which RWRs behave in which way (and which radars get blocked) varies from RWR to RWR which is why it probably deserves its own video.
noted jaek
Hey, great tutorial, got a question, thought it makes sense to ask here, maybe you know some details? So, I noticed that "Sight stabilisation"/"Activate target point" keybinds seem to let you force a radar in TWS mode to attempt a lock at where your camera is pointing, even if its outside the current scan area but still within the gimbal limit, so kinda like an HMD of sorts, (seems to work even on F-14A which doesnt have HMD nor the Bombcat's telescope thing) but it seems to require some specific circumstance since sometimes it works like that and sometimes those buttons do nothing
@@hstdrk I've noticed it as well, I think the goal was to let you lock from the F-14B's TCS but I honestly haven't figured out how to reliably get it to try to lock let alone actually succeed in locking. It seems to help if you just spam the button.
I'm not a knower unfortunately
Being a fan of Jaek is like being a fan of the Mona Lisa before painting was invented
This is a masterpiece of a radar video
real shit
This video is the best thing since the BLACK+DECKER 8,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner up to 350 Sq. with Remote Control, White
so true
so true
4h early comment moment
Replying to this 14 minute video 14 minutes after it was released 🗿
Why white, huh Lee? What's wrong with a black AC? Huh, Lee?
This video is the equivalent of teaching the basics of music theory on the guitar in 14 mins. Absolutely insane. I cannot thank you enough for making this, you found me just when I started getting into radar!
the Ace combat music in the background "chef's kiss"
He took a breath... and did it.
the ace combat background music. I noticed!
I know its from AC7, but forget from where exactly.
@@Void_Dragon nah it's just one of those things I notice occasionally.
@@Void_Dragon Hangar music or the tech tree music
This video alone went from me sucking at high tier to knowing what I'm doing and succeeding. Thanks, so much man. I sat in Test Flight while watching this video to play with the controls and got most of it figured out. Now I can be useful in the JA37C and later planes.
Thank you for the info of the PDV IFF. That is very useful. 👍
Another JAEK banger, thanks jaek.
This is by far the best radar guide I've seen so far. Others just talked to me with loads of information right from the start while I was still trying to figure out why my turn on/off toggle wasn't working in the test flight, which you answered right at the start :)
This is one of the best War thunder videos ever made. Good job
What i noticed with hdn modes is that they're also better against targets flying low. I highly recommend to use it whenever possible as it forces the target to fly lower than they're usually used to and can really catch people off guard.
Awesome video man! Thank you for schooling some people on the misconceptions that have gone on in this game about some of the features of radars in game. Great work!!
Dude your thumbnail for this looks awesome, I already know about radar in WT but clicked because the picture looked cool - nice job
Jaek never fails to spread us open and fill us with tutorials
For those curious about how MTI/Pulse-Doppler from Wish works more technically, it sends a signal as if it was just searching normally, stores said signal for one broadcast, compares it to the next signal on the display and if it didn't change, filters it out so only the signals with a change compared to the last one show up.
Obviously a very rough simplification, but that's the soviet wizardry that is the Sapphire-23 radar summed up.
6:00 slightly interesting fact, you CAN access ACM mode on any radar that has it with this keybind too. all you need to do is turn your radar off first
The best radar video I’ve ever seen, and I think I’ve seen them all. Congratulations on the video and thank you for the enormous research and pedagogy work you have done. You already have one more subscriber.
Very informative, thanks. I finally got to high enough BR where my radar is no longer useless and I had never used it before so this video came in clutch.
beautifully in depth and simple Thank you Jaek
You legit taught me how to survuve in top tier battles, the satusfaction from getting a BVR kill is without comparison, thanks
i already know alot about radar but getting into this again in 2024 it is just helpful in warthunder once i forget something or just want to understand . thanks jaek.
Great videa as always, really helps with WTs absolute mess of radars.
PS, could you do video about minor missiles, like AAM-4, Python-3 and PL-5B, and funny missiles like Fireflash that dont have family to do video about so you could group them all in one video?
Yes, probably doing a "minor nation missile" video at some point.
Amazing tutorial. I learned SO MUCH. Thank you so much for providing easy to follow descriptions and showing everything we needed to see.
Nice and simple explanation of WT radars. Thanks a lot for all of your videos.
Thank you bro! This video is awesome! A few days ago I bought my first plane based on radar fight (F-4J) and you helped me.
Love the video. Biggest tip i can give for using a radar is "just use the lock within visual range" its usually a waste of a missile trying to get a snipe." I use radar missiles for head ons, and all aspect for side/rear shots.
just started sim so this was a good watch to better understand radars
Great overview! Thank you for taking the time to make this
10:15 HDN mode has another advantage - as everyone is getting ready to enter the big furball at the beginning part of the match, you can filter out the clutter of your friendlies and the AI aircraft. HDN mode will hide aircraft with a relatively low closure rate.
I’ve also found that it’s much more resistant to chaff, but more susceptible to notching since lower closure rates get filtered - not that PD is particularly susceptible to chaff anyhow though.
I pretty much stick to using HDN mode in stuff like the MiG29 where I can throw an R27ER at quite a long range early on, and then start notching and bleed my own altitude to escape the swarm of missiles that inevitably come toward a high flying target.
Best radar vid for WT on RUclips, thanks mate, really really helped me. Have an awesome day!
Your videos are always intuitive and super chill. That's what I love.
You're the god of the WT RUclips game, those videos are insanely cool, detailed and well animated !
I love that the Ace Combat music is playing.
I love vids that go into detail like this one! nice man thanks for the video
An excellent guide. Thank you for taking the time to explain the subject so well.
What an awesome video man you saved my life! I spent a year without knowing why my radar doesnt lock most of the times.THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
I think I'm going to need to watch that again
For keybinds on the PS5 I did L1 with square, circle, and X
Thank you for this! Insane to explain all the copmplications of radar in this game. wish i didnt already learned all this by trial and error hah!
thanks i bought f4s and didnt know how the radar missiles worked
The weirdest thing hearing the 444th theme war thunder radar video well bandog will be very proud
Imma do homework on this now, thanks man, always enjoy your videos
This was exactly what I needed! Thank you 😄
Short, easy to understand and informative video. Thanks
As far as my experience stands, the main use to be had with RADAR Gunsights is with Cannons that have no tracers. So the Harrier GR-7, anything Swedish with a 30mm Cannon and a RADAR and so on
A fantastic guide, coming from someone using manual target queuing via TDC.
The GTM mode on the Su-39 is a typo or error on Gaijin's part, it's supposed to say GMT or Ground Moving Target.
O7 m8 huge thanks for this video. I didn't know how to use PDV but thanks to you I finnaly understood how the damn thing works and tbh it's quite usefull imo.
I just gotta say, as someone who's just now getting to Jets, this video is a heaven send
Thank you for explaining everything brother. You're the Top-G
Thanks for a great video
great radar video! didnt really understand them but now i do!
worth the wait
thanks man didnt know how to grind with my f16 C well now i know thanks bud first round 4 kills in like 20 sek love you
Thank you so much for this video man! 🙏🏼❤
i have no idea what hes talking about im so lost
It's made super difficult. It's easier in dcs.
Ahem ahem
I just accidently realised that I have a radar while flying my sea harrier frs1e in a custom battle by pressing he wrong buttons and activating ACM. Now that I know how to use it hopefully I will have less flare troubles! :D Cheers!
super helpful video. honestly been really disappointed with the war thunder community for a while now, because no one seems to want to answer questions. the specific information I end up looking for is buried in random reddit posts or on a YT video, however the actual hunt for which reddit post or which video is ridiculous at times to say the least. I've been playing for something like 2-3 years and essentially most of what I know about WT is self taught. And oh boy are those controls an annoyance. I spent like 6 months tweaking my scheme on PS5 and one day it reverted back to an old version of that save or something. talk about frustrating at times. I guess the point is I think you did a really great job here with your video. Super informative and actually understandable. It may take me watching a few times since theres so much info to deal with radar, but this is definitely gonna help step my game up in top tier air.
@@vecturiongreysteed9171 100% agree, this game is probably the absolute worst when it comes to the game itself telling you absolutely NOTHING. They'll happily sell players $70 premiums but they dont care about adding a robust tutorial system to teach players how to use it, or a ui that explains all the info in an easy to understand manner.
Your so eloquent with your information instant like and sub
I just unlocked my first radar plane (kurnass) so this is very useful. Thanks
That opening took me by surprise
To think I’ve just been using the default bindings to turn radar on and off… and I’m only 2 planes away from researching the f-15 🗿
were you a fighter pilot IRL holy shit, great video . just picked up the f4s, i got a few other jets with radar, now i can use IFF to check for friendlys thank you, sim battles draining my account because of ff
Great video thanks!
I was starting to get depressed with not understanding the radar :D I hope this helps me understand how to do it thanks bro
This is the best intro on youtube
I respect the ace combat music
I think you forgot to mention that ACM mode will locked on to your friendly even with a radar that have IFF ability, otherwise great info for beginner❤
Yeah, missed that as well as the missile range estimation marks
This helped a lot thanks bro
Cant wait for the yak-3 vid my king
F4S PDV has iff?? This whole time I've been struggling with src in sim, thanks!
Yep. Got added a few months ago.
Whats iff?
Amazing tut thanks
Went from getting destroyed every match to instantly getting 4 kills after watching this. Thank you kind sir.
In air sim i use the numpad to select between radar modes and i use the directional keys to move the radar cursor.
To be completely honest, I only clicked on this video for the keybind recommendations, since I am incapable of doing that on my own 😅😂
But I stayed for the quality content. Good job my man.
man i just want to missile goes brrrt , why is that breaking my head so much jesus christ on a motorbike holy cow there so much stuff to learn about to simply play
Great video
I am new to WT. There's an ergonomic vertical mouse I found that has a built in joystick for $30~. I cant wait to get it in the mail and play the game that way.
Good video, thank you!
I just unlocked the Do 217 N-1.
I just went from "Oh a radar! I should learn to use it!" to "oh my god where did I stepped into?!!"
Thanks!
I have had success in using the radar gunsight in tracking enemy planes through clouds so i have my nose somewhere near their tail when getting out of the cloud. Moslty on very early jets without missiles.
I wish stuff like early radar gunsights applied to the UI like bomb aiming computers do. Like it tells you where to lead.
9:41 So youre saying that, inside of the blue box which says friendly, thats just 1 plane getting spotted by youre radar, and the horizontal line near the top is the IFF indicator not a 2nd plane?
Yes, thats right.
This makes PD on the F4 in Sim so much more valuable. I just went into a battle just to try out the newly discovered feature.
LEGEND
13:20 J-7E Cockpit Radar Lock Sight still works in SIM, i dont know about the Kfir though
I think the kfir still does too and I want to say there's another plane that does it as well but I can't remember off the top of my head
Long awaited.
Love the AC7 music
Thank you!
How to fix FPS next please
Thx this helped very much👍
amazing video 🙏
Thanks. War thunder reset my keys and my radar absolutely killed itself so had to go back through from the start
You got a sub out of me this was the best radar vid I've seen going to watch your other stuff
Well done
What do you mean with "they mess with the missiles on the Swift F7" at the end? Those are beam riding missiles, they follow your radar beam by design (and that radar beam will guide them straight to a target when locked onto one, or keep them in front of your nose when not)
I don't know how it works in real life with the Swift F7 specifically, but in war thunder, the radar gunsight and the beam that the missiles follow are separate, but if you get a radar lock it will "aim" the beam at the target. With the radar off, the missiles follow your nose, effectively making them mouse guided. With a radar lock, I'm pretty sure it points the beam at the target, but this leads to worse missile performance and if the radar locks onto the missile itself (which happens) the missile will go haywire.
Does TWS works in PD style or normal src style, like can a enemy notch and become invisible in TWS radar?
TWS modes are pulse-doppler. TWS is basically the TWS version of SRC PD, TWS HDN is the TWS version of SRC PD HDN. So yes, they can be notched, and in my experience TWS HDN modes in particular are very easy to notch.
i like how most wt plane youtubers use ace combat ost, continue this trend 👍
Esto fue bastante útil, muchísimas gracias