1.9.1 groundstations blindspot?

[2epicpanda]

Dunno if im being dumb but i dont remember this ever happening before. Basically there seems to be a blindspot when in orbit of kerbin with extra groundstations enabled. I know because my space station and probe are currently without single. Its only brief but i thought extra groundstations made this problem go away? 

[jimmymcgoochie]

Depending on the settings you use for the DSN, it's actually quite common to find blind spots on Kerbin even with all the extra ground stations enabled. It's an incentive to put some communications satellites up there, which you'll probably need to do for the Mun and Minmus too and definitely need to do for other planets. A few relays in a Keosynchronous orbit (orbiting every 6 hours so they stay at the same longitude) inclined anywhere from 0 to 45 degrees and a couple doing Molniya orbits (or Kolniya, as they're known in KSC) with very high inclination and eccentricity to cover high latitudes both north and south should be enough to cover pretty much every point on or above Kerbin for most of the time.

[Curveball Anders]

The resonant orbit calculator is a wonderful tool to setup a fully covering relay network.

Including how to launch all 3 (or 4) in one launch.

 

[jimmymcgoochie]

31 minutes ago, Curveball Anders said:

The resonant orbit calculator is a wonderful tool to setup a fully covering relay network.

Including how to launch all 3 (or 4) in one launch.

 

There's a mod for that too, called KSP Resonant Orbit Calculator. It does exactly what it says in the name, and I think it works with planet packs too e.g. JNSQ or real solar system. Alternatively there's a resonant orbit option in MechJeb, or if you're absolutely against using any form of computer assistance, you can do it yourself:

1- Launch your payload into orbit. Works best with several satellites on one rocket, use the interstage nodes option on fairings to stack them up inside the same fairing and remember you'll need engines and decouplers for each satellite; set the decouplers to minimum force to release the satellites gently. The number of satellites is n; remember that for later.

2- Once you're in orbit at the desired inclination, boost outwards until your apoapsis is at synchronous orbit height. This varies depending on what planet you're orbiting, but for stock Kerbin it's 2863.33km or so.

3- When you reach apoapsis, burn prograde until your orbital period is n-1/n of 6 hours; for a set of 3 satellites, this would be 2/3 of 6 hours = 4 hours, for a set of 4, 3/4 = 4.5 hours, etc. Once complete, IMMEDIATELY release the first satellite and burn prograde until the orbital period reaches 6 hours exactly.

4- Switch back to the deployment ship, go around one orbit until you reach apoapsis again. Deploy the second satellite and burn prograde until its orbital period is 6 hours. 

5- Repeat until you run out of satellites, then point retrograde a bit before or after apoapsis and burn until you run out of fuel or periapsis goes below about 45km. If you run out of fuel, the rocket will be safely out of the way of your satellites, and if you get the periapsis down low enough it will hit the atmosphere and either burn up or deorbit. It's always a good idea to get rid of unwanted debris or spent rockets if you can, they can affect the game's performance if you let them build up.

 

A number of planets and moons can have geostationary orbits, here's a simple guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=627744131

[MechBFP]

On 3/13/2020 at 9:10 AM, 2epicpanda said:

Dunno if im being dumb but i dont remember this ever happening before. Basically there seems to be a blindspot when in orbit of kerbin with extra groundstations enabled. I know because my space station and probe are currently without single. Its only brief but i thought extra groundstations made this problem go away? 

It’s because you have the atmospheric occlusion set to higher than the default. If it is set to “1” that means the signal doesn’t “bounce” in the atmosphere and reach your ship if you don’t have a line of sight to the ground station.

By default this setting is set lower enough that there isn’t any blind spots.