PDM VOR not working

[Frank Pate]

I am practicing for my I5 and flew the SID from Burbank to KLAS 2 times, the first filed at 15000 and the second at FL210 both in a King Air 350. It seems FSX or at least on my setup, is not finding PMD at 114.5. So each time, I get to LANG, turn to 038 degrees, and whamo, in the blind trying to find Palmdale. I contact LAS Angeles Center and tell them nada on Palmdale, they send me to a heading direct Dagget and I wait patiently for the Dagget VOR to come alive. Real world I would be getting pretty anxious not having a clue where I was on the route for that segmentespecially if I lost comms. So two questions;

1) is anyone else having this issue FSX or X-Plane and if so, what do you do?

2) If I can't resolve the problem in my sim, will the call to LA Center indicating negative Palmdale VOR still get me thru the rating? If not, then how can I get from LANGE heading 038 degrees, know when I am at PMD, then make the turn to ETHER. From Ether I can head in the general direction of DAGGET until it comes alive. If I was doing this in the blind, I would hope to get Victorville VOR, find the radial I was on, and turn to 058 degrees at VCV R269. But that could get me on a parallel course entering the restricted area, or somewhere south of DAGGET R238. Real world, this would have a pretty big pucker factor if I lost comms with ATC.

Thanks in advance...

Frank
King Air 199Y / Baron 71FS

[Nuno Santos]

According to the PMD remarks found on Airnav this is a high altitude VORTAC, unusable below certain altitudes and radials. See here. I'm not sure if FSX models such limitations that accurately but this could be it. Try doing an experiment offline, pause your flight, go to the FS map and manually change to an altitude above 16,000ft, if you get the signal then you've found your answer.

[Donovan]

Hi Frank,

... in a King Air 350. It seems FSX or at least on my setup, is not finding PMD at 114.5. So each time, I get to LANG, turn to 038 degrees, and whamo, in the blind trying to find Palmdale.

I got interested in your post, so flew around PMD in a couple of stock FSX planes and couldn't reproduce the problem you describe. I did not have any problem picking up PMD, from any direction or altitude, even down to ground level at nearby KWJF. (But in my limited trials I remained at or above the posted MEAs except for landing.)

From what I can find regarding VORTAC data compiled in FSX's *.BGL files the specific real-life unusable regions (e.g. "TACAN AZIMUTH AND DME UNUSBL 120-145 BYD 20 NM BLO 15500 FT; 145-150 BYD 20 NM BLO 14500 FT" are not reflected in the simulator modeling. The data FSX does use are: Name, Ident, Type (VOR/DME, VOR only, DME only) Type of VOR (terminal, low, high, and VOT), frequency, range, magnetic variation, region, and location.

Just curious if you have the same problem with the PMD VORTAC in other planes?
What addon scenery do you have? Which version of FSX are you using? (I tested this on FSX Acceleration from the FSX Gold release.) Other addons that update or modify the navaid data such as certain flight planners or navigation packages?

Not sure if you may have a corrupted BGL file for the region around PMD, or it is more along the lines of a specific aircraft that is acting strangely.
It isn't an "intrinsic feature" of FSX anyway.

Don

[Ryan B]

And you were on NAV mode and not GPS?

[Frank Pate]

Hi Ryan, Yes, I was in NAV mode. The other VORs worked just fine. Last nights flight had me fly direct LANGE and I tracked the LAX R342 till I reached the Ventura R046 without any problem. The Idents came in on Nav 1 and 2 as well.

Thanks Donovan, I have the acceleration pack installed as well. I'll play with your suggestions this evening and see if I can narrow it down a bit. I havent had any problems with other navaids in the area. PMD seems to be the only glitch so I'll dig into it a bit. The aircraft I used is an addon so I'll start with trying a different aircraft. I'll post my findings later on. It mostly will be an FSX issue so I'll bring the post down there. However, I'd be interested to hear in this forum what my options would be if PMD was offline and I had to make a decision without ATC comms.

Thanks for the tips fellas!

[hoser70]

Direct PMD now and receiving just fine on 114.5 (FSX / P3D).

[Frank Pate]

Resolved the issue. It was FSX as expected. I belong to the vUSN on VATSIM and their TACAN package caused a conflict with the PMD VOR. On to the I5 Rating!!!

[Donovan]

Good to hear you resolved it!