Communotron 88-88 Relay Capabilities

[bazinga733]

(This is my first time posting here, so I don't even know if I'm in the right place)

So,

I have a probe orbiting Jool with 4 smaller probes attached that I intend to send to some of Jool's moons. One problem: I'm not sure if my relay system will work, after reviewing some parts.

On the probe "mothership" of sorts, I have a communitron 88-88, which can get signal back to KSC without a hitch. BUT on my 4 smaller probes, I have smaller antennas that I was going to use to relay to the mothership probe, and then back to KSC. However, I have noticed that the communitron 88-88 is a "Direct" antenna rather than a "Relay" antenna as some of the other dishes are. Does this mean that I won't be able to relay using the antenna? Or can I still establish a connection?

Thanks for any help!

[Aegolius13]

You're correct.  The 88-88 can only talk back to KSC; it cannot talk to other spacecraft.  Also note that even if you had a small relay antenna onboard to talk to the probes, the 88-88 would still be no help in getting their signal back to Kerbin.  To do anything involving relayed signals, you'll need a relay antenna like the RA-100.

[Sharpy]

On 4.02.2017 at 7:01 AM, Aegolius13 said:

 To do anything involving relayed signals, you'll need a relay antenna like the RA-100.

But having a pilot and one of the advanced probe cores (RGU) or two pilots and a Mk1-2 cockpit on your "mothership" would allow you to control these satellites from it - using the small relay antenna.