AM Radio Gauge

First of all this is not so much of a review as an announcement of a great add-on. Since MS Flight Simulator ported over to the newer Windows 95 and above, numerous unique and innovative ideas have appeared in the area of that magical word that prompts us to drop what we're doing and head to the Internet depositories and sit for hours and start downloading. Add-ons is the word I was looking for. Anyway, among all the commercial and freeware add-ons that seem to pop up overnight everywhere, there comes along occasionally a new and unique idea that seems to make everyone go ooooohhhh and aaaaahhhhh.

One of the newest and most innovative add-ons comes from a fellow named R. L. Clark in the form of an add-on type gauge that you can add to your favorite panel, be it Combat Flight Simulator, FS98 or FS2000. What it does is keep you company while you're flying along (or driving--I put it in my Ferrari for FS98) in your favorite aircraft. It is a radio in the form of a gauge. The gauge will actually play a selection of four song segments preprogramed into the gauge. Just like a real radio you can raise and lower the volume, select the different song selections via the push button controls and turn it off and on in case you're in a dogfight at the time. You might want to go back into your FS preferences and raise or lower the individual control to accommodate the radio volume for balance. Now granted, playing only four songs and only a portion of them doesn't seem like such a big deal, but it's the drop-dead novelity of the idea that is so cool and unique. The first version was originally programmed to go in Rob's WW2 Marauder panel for Combat Flight Simulator. So the four songs were selected from the 1940s swing era. Glenn Miller selections blare out at you as you go flying thru the wild blue yonder making you forget your troubles as some FW190 sneaks up on your six.

The second version has a selection of different songs. You will be able to toggle on and off looping segments from Marelene Dietrich's "Lilli Marlene," Duke Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train", Artie Shaw's "Moon Glow" and Woody Herman's "At the Woodchoppers Ball". By the way, you can hear it in and outside of the cockpit of the plane you are flying at the time. The second version is a bit larger than the first one topping in at a hefty 5.7 meg zip file. The first one weighed in at around 4.2 meg zip file. Also supplied with each file are installation instructions and accompanying panel config files for easy implementation. The bitmap of the second version is also changed in the way of the visual bitmap. It resembles more of an old push button radio that came with the cars of the 30s and 40s although it will look perfectly fine in any panel.

As a third choice, Rob's diligence has paid off with non-stop search for improvement in the gauge. This time the choice is a smaller gauge but with the choice of the end user being able to use his or her own selection of WAV files. They have to be numbered song0.wav through song3.wav and the WAV files have to be put in the FS2000/CFS/FS98 Main sound folder. You may have to experiment with the size of the WAV files for if they are too large it may effect the performance level. You can use the default sound recorder that comes with Windows to edit your sound files for use. You can also find some music convertors on the Internet to convert MIDI files to WAV files for use also although it has been my experience that not too many of the freeware kind are available. There are a few commercial and shareware versions around such as the "Total Recorder" at the site at www.highcriteria.com

On another note you may also want to have the latest version of Direct X loaded to avoid error problems before they arise. Rob has included a night pink version of the gauge for FS2000 and different configuration files to help you get started. Rob has stated he is looking into the prospect of trying to program the gauge to use MIDI files because of the size constraints.

So if you are looking for a very fun and unique add-on for all three simulators, you might check out the radio gauges of R.L. Clark. All three are in the FlightSim.Com depository. R.L. Clark has also done several repaints and don't forget his WW2 Marauder panel. If you have any problem finding them just do a search on his name and you'll find all his creations. You might also want to check out his site on the internet for updates and news at:

http://home.netcom.com/~rlclark/

Seeya in the clouds...

Roger "Maddog" Gaylor
maddog@evansville.net

Download B26AUD2.ZIP

Download WW2RADIO.ZIP

Download AMRADIO.ZIP