Remote Tech 2 how to connect beyond Minmus?

[otso]

I'm having a pretty newbie issue with connecting beyond Minmus. Everything works fine on the moon though. Ive got a network setup and a Rover on KSC with the best dish i have (Reflectron KR-7) pointed towards the Active Vessel. The Probes in Orbit have 2x Comms DTS-M1, one pointed towards Kerbin and the other towards the Active Vessel. Electric Charge is not an issue. My Space Probe has a Reflectron KR-7 also pointed towards Kerbin.

My issue: Everything works fine until i pass Minmus orbit. The Connection is lost some hours before going into Sun orbit. I don't really understand why, maybe its something to do with the Rover? I cant target him with my dish in the menu.

Here is my Setup: http://imgur.com/r56m1nJ its a bit messy but it does the job.

Thanks a lot!

Otso

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Two-Way communications is required.

The Comms DTS-M1 doesn't have the range to talk to the stuff past minmus. It's range is 50 Mm. Minmus has an orbit at 46 Mm.

[otso]

So i need to update the satellites every time i get a new dish and want to travel further?

I see, but still the rover should be able to connect at least when KSC is pointing towards the probe shouldn't it?

[dewin]

Mission Control at the Kerbal Space Center delivers a vast omnidirectional antenna that will reach your vessels up to and slightly beyond Minmus.

If your rover is "slightly beyond Minmus", it's out of KSC's range without some relays.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

So i need to update the satellites every time i get a new dish and want to travel further?

I see, but still the rover should be able to connect at least when KSC is pointing towards the probe shouldn't it?

Like I said. TWO-WAY communications.

Your KSC having all the range in the system is completely useless if the probe/rover doesn't have the range to talk back. For me, and for most communications and network science types, this would be clear as day. But I realize that as simple as the principle here is, this pushes into adv. telecommunications territory and a lot of the interconnectivity people take for granted these days doesn't necessarily impart unto them the knowledge of what's going on.

In this case, any given computer communications connection can only take place if both parts can communicate across the medium. In the case of probes, the problem you have is not that KSC or your satellite rings don't have the range to talk to your probe, but because your probe's transmitter doesn't have the range to talk back. It's return signal is too weak and whatever data it's sending has deteriorated to background static by the time it reaches KSC. KSC sees nothing but static, so the computer connection handshakes required can't proceed.

Realistically, one could create a probe that would still work under these conditions. However, it would be no more than a multi-million dollar RC car with a rocket engine strapped to it. You can tell it what to do, but you can't actually see what it's doing because it can't talk back to tell you what it's doing. What good is a science probe you can tell to do whatever if it can't talk back?

[Sunsparc]

I've only done this in Sandbox mode so far, haven't gotten far enough up the tech tree to do it in Career mode.

I sent up 4 sats with 4 dishes and 2 antenna on them. The antennas are the Reflectron DP-10 to get me out of the atmosphere and the Communotron 32 as an omni. The dishes are TWO Comms DTS-M1, one pointed at Kerbin and one pointed at Mun/Minmus, depending on the mission. The other two dishes are a Communotron 88-88 for Duna and a Reflectron KR-14 for Jool. Obviously these can be adjusted also. I've also contemplated sending up at least one more with a CommTech-1 if I ever decide to go to Eeloo.

[draeath]

Alternatively get 6 kerbals in a craft and use them as a controller.

You did read the mod documentation right?

Signal Processors

Signal Processors come in three flavors: passive, normal, and command. All stock probes now feature a signal processor.

Normal signal processors allow a vehicle to be part of a satellite network and be controllable as long as an uplink to any control station is maintained.

Passive signal processors are included on every antenna and allow them to interact with the network during science transmissions, however they do not provide control.

Lastly, there is the command one. Currently only provided on the large probe stack by default, it allows a vehicle consisting of 6 or more kerbals to act as their very own Mission Control. While science transmissions need to route back to the Kerbal Space Center at all times, these do allow you to give control to any vehicle connected to them.