Radio Panel

[jsfboat]

I swear I saw a tutorial on flightsim.com of how to build a radio panel, now I can't seem to find it. I've also tried to find a thread on here, but no dice. Can someone point me in the right direction? I'm not an electronics guru, but would like to build one myself (modeled after a 747) and can't afford to purchase one of the rack. Thanks

[Kennair]

Do you mean a radio head with rotary encoders, 7 segment displays and all pushbuttons replicating the 747 version precisely? If so it really depends on your skill at electronics and panel building. I built a very simple radio without displays and just home made rotary encoders as I was originally happy to have the radio frequency displayed in FS itself. Then I moved on to buying the full Boeing kit to replicate the 737 avionics with full displays. Obviously cost varies accordingly. No matter how far you go with the replication you will need some sort of interface card so your hardware can talk to flightsim. Depending on which system you choose will depend how the rest of the build goes. Your many choices are Opencockpits, FDS Sys Boards, FDT Simboards, Phidgets, Engravity etc. etc.

Here's a link to my site with tutorials on how to build the Opencockpits radios http://www.kennair.com.au/avionics.html. You will also find a tutorial on how to build simple homemade panels (look down the right side of any page) and in the download section you'll find a tutorial on how to build a simulated rotary encoder.

Hope that helps and sorry I can't help you with the flightsim.com tutorial,

Ken.