Satellite Network

[Dr Foxxy]

Coming back to this game after a long hiatus. I had last played after the 1.2 update but there are still things I don't understand.
I want to set up a triple satellite network in a geostationary equatorial orbit. I can do all that just fine. I have the commsat network or whatever it's called turned on, and the additional ground stations turned off because why not.
My questions are as follows: How many antennae and relay dishes does one of the satellite need if the furthest I plan on going out right now is Minmus? Do I need to have all the relay dishes pointed at KSC? Do I need to have any relay dishes pointed at the vessel headed towards Minmus or at Mun/Minmus itself? Should I leave any dishes unpointed? Should I have any relay dishes on my Minmus bound vessel? Where do I point those dishes if I need any at all? Do I need antennae on that vessel as well? None of this is explained anywhere that I could find, no tutorials online cover it, no YouTube videos. I'm totally stuck here.

Edited September 25, 2020 by Dr Foxxy

[Spricigo]

53 minutes ago, Dr Foxxy said:

 

 I have the commsat network or whatever it's called turned on...

None of this is explained anywhere that I could find, no tutorials online cover it, no YouTube videos. I'm totally stuck here.

It's not called whatever, its called CommNet. 

 

[Dr Foxxy]

Welp, I just answered my own question! I had RemoteTech installed.

Uninstalled it and all my problems with pointing dishes went away. Hooray for me.

[domendemo]

By the way, how do you guys build the satellite?

Do you need to put multiple "dishes" to face all directions or actually 1 is sufficient?

[Grogs]

2 hours ago, domendemo said:

By the way, how do you guys build the satellite?

Do you need to put multiple "dishes" to face all directions or actually 1 is sufficient?

For stock, if you want it to be a relay you just need power, line of sight, and one of the three relay antennas. Most of the time, I use an RA-100 so I don't ever have to worry about range, but that's overkill for the Kerbin SOI. You don't have to worry about which way it's pointing. For a basic relay satellite, I put a relay dish, probe core, battery, and something to generate power - usually solar panels, but for outer planets I would add a PB-NUK generator. Then add whatever you need to get it into position - fuel, engine, maybe a reaction wheel, etc.

[DerekL1963]

17 hours ago, Grogs said:

one of the three relay antennas.

Four.  HG-5, RA-2, RA-15, RA-100

[Grogs]

5 hours ago, DerekL1963 said:

Four.  HG-5, RA-2, RA-15, RA-100

Huh, thanks. Never realized the HG-5 was a relay too.

[DerekL1963]

5 hours ago, Grogs said:

Huh, thanks. Never realized the HG-5 was a relay too.

It's handy in the early game for establishing relay networks within Kerbin's SOI.