[Regent]

Is the unidentified signal supposed to appear on the radar map? It fails to appear when I play and finding the escape pod without radar is nigh-impossible.

[-Norbert-]

Yes it should.
Did you put your radar range to maximum? It should be a small infinity symbol in one corner of the radar.

[Regent]

Ok, thanks for your help. I must have cycled the radar range by accident- its at 2000km.

[Dragon]

You propably meant 2000m.
2000km would have been more than enough.

[Regent]

Oops- silly me.

I did mean 2000m.

[Jeff Vader]

Ok, thanks for your help. I must have cycled the radar range by accident

It happens. I think that, by default, the key bindings are close to weapon cycling or something.

[SpardaSon21]

Default key for radar range cycling is "apostrophe", so yeah, it is close to the weapon cycle keys.

[Logistics]

I've always wondered a bit about the radar range control. I can understand it potentially being used to limit clutter in large-scale engagements, but the general design of the maps in vanilla FS1/2 never seemed to possess the 'map size' or number of ships needed to really justify it's existence.

[Destiny]

It's there for when you need it. Better have something than nothing, no? If someone makes a mission in an asteroid field with lots and lots of purple radar contacts...perhaps.

[Mars]

It's useful in close range dogfights sometimes.

[-Norbert-]

It certainly was a great feature to have for the first few missions of "the unification wars" (the mod that was part of TVWP) were you didn't have sensors, only the radar.
And better they add features that they didn't use themselfs, but that open up new possibilities for the fans, than just having the bare necessities for their own campaign.