Why don't I have connection in Remote Tech?

[ToukieToucan]

So I set up a few relay sats (in this case the "Huron") with 6 DTS-M1s at 25 000 km in orbit of Kerbin

1 pointed at previous sat

1 pointed at  next sat

1 pointed at Mun

1 pointed at Minmus

1 pointed at Kerbin

1 pointed at Active Vessel

 

Now I have a ´small´ problem.

 

I have 2 future relay sat at 30 000 km (they're still attatched to the launch vehicle) with 1 DTS M1 and one Comm 88-88 for interstellar travel for each future sat.

When I set Kerbin as target for the DTS I wont have a connection, but if I set the "Huron" relay sat as target I do have connection. How come? The Huron sats are in high orbit around Kerbin so I don't get why it doesn't work. And how I can fix this (because I dont want to change the target every few days)

[Snark]

If you set Kerbin as the target for the DTS you don't have a connection, because there's nothing at Kerbin pointing at your relay sat.

Note that "Active Vessel" may be useful for directly targeting a "prime actor" ship (i.e. the probe that you're flying around, collecting science, etc.), but it's terrible for relay networks, because it only targets the current vessel.

Your "Huron" sats are very inconveniently and awkardly placed.  They're orbiting way too high.  Move them down-- like way down, like "1800 miles instead of 25,000 miles" down.  That way, they're clustered together closely enough that a ship in high orbit can just point at Kerbin and they'll be inside its cone.  Plus you get the added bonus that those Hurons can then each have a Communotron-32 with its nice long omni range, providing you with painless, total coverage of near-Kerbin space out to several thousand miles.

Also, at that orbital height, the Hurons don't each need to dedicate a pair of DTS-M1's to staying linked with neighbors.  The Communotron-32 omni will do the trick.

This will leave you with a couple of spare DTS-M1 antennas on each of the Hurons, so you can aim one of those from each Huron at your future relay satellite.

Thus, your formation will look like this:

• Six Hurons in 1800-km altitude orbit
• Each one has:  an active Communotron-32; and a set of DTS-M1s, with one pointing at Kerbin, one at Mun, one at Minmus, one at future relay satellite, one at Active Vessel
• Future relay satellite just points its dish at Kerbin
• Any ship within Kerbin SoI that needs a link and isn't being used as a relay to somewhere else just points a dish at Kerbin, and gets the "Active Vessel" connection from the Hurons.

 

Edited January 30, 2016 by Snark

[ToukieToucan]

2 hours ago, Snark said:

If you set Kerbin as the target for the DTS you don't have a connection, because there's nothing at Kerbin pointing at your relay sat.

Note that "Active Vessel" may be useful for directly targeting a "prime actor" ship (i.e. the probe that you're flying around, collecting science, etc.), but it's terrible for relay networks, because it only targets the current vessel.

Your "Huron" sats are very inconveniently and awkardly placed.  They're orbiting way too high.  Move them down-- like way down, like "1800 miles instead of 25,000 miles" down.  That way, they're clustered together closely enough that a ship in high orbit can just point at Kerbin and they'll be inside its cone.  Plus you get the added bonus that those Hurons can then each have a Communotron-32 with its nice long omni range, providing you with painless, total coverage of near-Kerbin space out to several thousand miles.

Also, at that orbital height, the Hurons don't each need to dedicate a pair of DTS-M1's to staying linked with neighbors.  The Communotron-32 omni will do the trick.

This will leave you with a couple of spare DTS-M1 antennas on each of the Hurons, so you can aim one of those from each Huron at your future relay satellite.

Thus, your formation will look like this:

• Six Hurons in 1800-km altitude orbit
• Each one has:  an active Communotron-32; and a set of DTS-M1s, with one pointing at Kerbin, one at Mun, one at Minmus, one at future relay satellite, one at Active Vessel
• Future relay satellite just points its dish at Kerbin
• Any ship within Kerbin SoI that needs a link and isn't being used as a relay to somewhere else just points a dish at Kerbin, and gets the "Active Vessel" connection from the Hurons.

 

I'm in career so I dont have the comm 32 yet but putting a new relay system in a lower orbit like you suggested should do the trick right?

 

One more question: how many antennas should I need on my sat to communicate with future relay sats? I'm guessing 1 wouldnt be enough because then you need to switch target all the time...

 

Ahhh! Remote Tech can be so confusing! 

 

Also, how do I 'fix' old sats which dont have antennas for future relay systems?

And should I redo my whole relay system? I can messsage you all the my sat positions if you would like to look at it.

Edited January 30, 2016 by ToukieToucan

[Snark]

15 minutes ago, ToukieToucan said:

I'm in career so I dont have the comm 32 yet but putting a new relay system in a lower orbit like you suggested should do the trick right?

Yah, it ought to.  You could make it work with the Communotron-16, too... just put the sats in a lower orbit, like 600 km or whatever.

15 minutes ago, ToukieToucan said:

One more question: how many antennas should I need on my sat to communicate with future relay sats? I'm guessing 1 wouldnt be enough because then you need to switch target all the time...

Totally depends on your setup.  What I like to do is to have my ring of low satellites, and then a single great big interplanetary relay satellite in a high polar circular orbit of 30,000 km or so.  The low-altitude ring and the high interplanetary relay talk to each other.  Then I just festoon the high interplanetary relay with lots and lots of antennas, so it's all I need for the rest of my career.

I'll typically give it a dozen of the 88-88's (they're small and light, why not just go nuts with 'em),  around six of the DTS-M1's, and three of the giant folding Reflectrons.  Overkill, really, but better to have too many than too few, and it's just one satellite, and anyway it looks cool. 

 

15 minutes ago, ToukieToucan said:

Also, how do I 'fix' old sats which dont have antennas for future relay systems?

For that, your best bet would be Kerbal Inventory System.  You can send up a "repair" ship with some extra antennas stored as cargo, and an engineer with a power drill.  Engineer goes EVA, unloads the new antenna from cargo, bolts it onto the satellite.

Great fun, and really feels "astronauty". 

Edited January 30, 2016 by Snark

[ToukieToucan]

6 minutes ago, Snark said:

Yah, it ought to.  You could make it work with the Communotron-16, too... just put the sats in a lower orbit, like 600 km or whatever.

Totally depends on your setup.  What I like to do is to have my ring of low satellites, and then a single great big interplanetary relay satellite in a high polar circular orbit of 30,000 km or so.  The low-altitude ring and the high interplanetary relay talk to each other.  Then I just festoon the high interplanetary relay with lots and lots of antennas, so it's all I need for the rest of my career.

I'll typically give it a dozen of the 88-88's (they're small and light, why not just go nuts with 'em),  around six of the DTS-M1's, and three of the giant folding Reflectrons.  Overkill, really, but better to have too many than too few, and it's just one satellite, and anyway it looks cool. 

 

For that, your best bet would be Kerbal Inventory System.  You can send up a "repair" ship with some extra antennas stored as cargo, and an engineer with a power drill.  Engineer goes EVA, unloads the new antenna from cargo, bolts it onto the satellite.

Great fun, and really feels "astronauty". 

I'll check KIS out, though the whole Remote Tech is still a bit confusing.

[Vanamonde]

Mod-use question moved to the mod-use subforum.