For you problem solvers who are good with RemoteTech2

[Eric Fox]

Howdy,

I have spent God-knows-how-long working on this problem, with my primary fear being that I have overlooked something so mind-blowingly stupid that even a chimp with a lobotomy could figure it out.

First things first, I have remote tech 2 updated to 1.5.1.

Here's the mission: I have a 2-part spacecraft orbiting Eve in a 740km x 750km orbit. The plan is to separate the two parts (one is a lander, one is an orbiter) and send the lander down to the surface after putting the joined craft in a sub-orbital trajectory. The orbiter has 2 DTS-M1's and a Comm 88. The lander has a KR-7, Comm 32, and a DP-10 on the outside of the fairing to maintain link through entry . The lander is in a procedural fairings casing for aerodynamic protection during entry. Once the lander is on the surface , it will relay the telemetry back to the orbiter, once it has re-established a safe orbit and the orbiter with its Comm 88 will send the data back to my Satnet around Kerbin and then to KSP. Simple enough right?

Well here's the problem: I disconnect the lander from the orbiter (which has a green link to KSP) and when I switch to the lander it shows a red link. I thought that the DP-10 would automatically connect the lander to the orbiter? Now, keep in mind that the orbiter does NOT have a dedicated omni, but the probe core should have a 3km omni right? All I need is enough time after separation of the two craft to activate the lander's KR-7 to one of the orbiters DTS-M1's. However I still do not have a connection despite the omni's being within range of one another and unobstructed by a fairing or anything.

If you made it this far, thank you so much. Please give me suggestions, comments, or if you're in the mood, make a fool of me. Whatever floats you're boat. If you have any questions about particulars or details, please let me know. Thanks!

, Eric

[Zeenobit]

You never mentioned anything about how the Orbiter is connected to KSC. So I assume you got that part figured out. But be sure that your orbiter has a two-way connection to KSC.

Beyond that, you need to ensure a two-way connection between each relay in the path to KSC.

So in your case, your Orbiter must connect one of its dish antennas directly to the Lander or to "Active Vessel". Another dish on the Orbiter must be pointing at KSC/Kerbin/Kerbin Relay. If you do that, the Omnidirectional antenna on the lander should suffice.

Keep in mind though:

If you're not directly connecting from the Orbiter to KSC, I'm betting you have a relay network around Kerbin. What are those relays pointing to? If you say "Active Vessel", that'd be your problem. To explain this more, imagine you have this connection:

Outgoing: KSC <-> Kerbin Relay Network <-> Active Vessel

Incoming: Lander (Active Vessel) <-> Orbiter (Not Active Vessel) <-> Kerbin Relay Network <-> KSC

Notice how in your incoming connection, the orbiter is no longer the active vessel when you separate the lander. If your Lander cannot reach the Kerbin Relay Network on its own, you cannot control it after separating it from the Orbiter. An easy way to fix this is to go in and temporarily point your Kerbin Relay Network specifically to your Orbiter (not Active Vessel), or to the body your Orbiter is orbiting.

I hope this solves your issue.

Edited December 3, 2014 by Zeenobit
Lots of typos. Wow.

[Eric Fox]

You sir, are a great human being. I had my sat net all targeting the active vessel, so when I switched to the lander which didn't have any long range dishes on it, the signal never made it. When I switched the sat net to the orbiter only, the two-way link was established.

Thank you for the help!

, Eric

[eddiew]

You can also point your Kerbin satellites at Eve itself, rather than the specific craft. The cones of reception should be plenty wide enough to cover anything orbiting Eve, even when you're on the near side of the sun. Results in a lot less connection management when you launch new craft, as they'll automatically pick up comms as they arrive, just in time to get into a stable orbit

[John FX]

When you detach the lander it changes the name (maybe ID) of the vessel you just undocked from so this can make it lose signal until you point antenna at it.

I would also advise a dedicated omni on all vessels. It has saved my bacon many a time.

You can also change settings in the .cfg to extend the antenna range depending on the antenna used and how many there are (there is a chart to calculate the benefit in the FAQ IIRC)

I didn`t know you could point at `active vessel`, I`ve never used that.

[Hodo]

I have sent ONE unmanned lander down to Eve, I pre-programmed all of its re-entry profile before it lost link with the KSC. I had 10min to do it in, and had to plan out a 35min decent profile to land at a spacific point on Eve for a challenge, I did it.... there was much swearing a few hundred quick save reloads but I did it. The probe landed on Eve with in 200m of the target coords but it failed to deploy the landing gear so it rolled down a hill knocking its solar panels off and its long range antenna but it still had its long range omni which transmitted data up to the mother ship. It was a success, mostly.

But you can just pre-program all of the flight data into the RT2 console and the lander will do it automatically. Just remember the signal delay.

[Eric Fox]

Thank you all for you're help. Lots of great idea's floating around. I appreciate the help.

, Eric

[WuphonsReach]

You can also point your Kerbin satellites at Eve itself, rather than the specific craft. The cones of reception should be plenty wide enough to cover anything orbiting Eve, even when you're on the near side of the sun. Results in a lot less connection management when you launch new craft, as they'll automatically pick up comms as they arrive, just in time to get into a stable orbit

ooooohhhhh - there's an interesting concept, using the "cone of reception"

That would give me a way to easily setup (2) satellites around planet X and have them link back to (2) sats around Kerbin, while using only a single antenna dedicated to that link? Just set the sats around planet X to point at Kerbin, and the relays at Kerbin to point at Planet X?

[Streetwind]

That's how it works, yes.

Do note that the RemoteTech manual cautions that cone mode only works across SoI boundaries for some reason. Meaning, if you had two craft in solar orbit, you'd have to point the antennas at each other at all times - even if one craft in an orbit as high as Jool's aims a dish at the sun, and another craft passes through that cone in an orbit as low as Moho's, it won't work because there is no SoI transition along the way.

But from one planet to another - or one planet to one of its moons - always works, because there's always a SoI transition along the way. You just need enough distance to get a suitable cone size (which is why the shorter range dishes have wider cones).