Antenna question

[cephalo]

So I'm trying to figure out how the new CommNet works. It's early in my new career game, and I have the HG-5 antenna that says it can be used for short range relays. So I set up a satellite in polar orbit around Kerbin and another in polar orbit around Mun, but when ever I send a ship out to Mun, it doesn't seem to use the relay even though the signal strength to Kerbin is weak, and the satellites have a direct line of sight to each other.

I'm not sure I understand how this is supposed to work. Did I start my career with the wrong options? I'm using 'Normal' difficulty.

[bewing]

The HG-5 antennas only have a range of 5Mm between each other. Mun to LKO is 9.4Mm minimum, so that particular relay connection will never work. But there is some confusing logic as to when a direct connection is preferred over a single hop. It sounds like a single hop in your case should always give a much better signal -- but AFAIK, a hopped connection loses Remote Piloting capability -- so a direct connection is better, except for science transmissions. So it gets confusing.

[cephalo]

Ok, so when they say short range, they mean less than the Mun lol. The very closest body to Kerbin.

So if you are using relay antennas, you can't do remote piloting? It's only for data transmission? That's kindof a bummer. Does that mean you can't do remote piloting unless you have a direct connection to Kerbin? That would seem to largely defeat the purpose of building a communication network.

EDIT: The wiki says the the HG-5 has a 500Mm range with a level 2 tracking station. Also, the sats themselves have a 100 percent signal strength with Kerbin. When I have other craft around Mun, I have a low signal strength. I don't actually have antennas on those other manned craft however, maybe that's why they don't relay. Even without the antenna, they have a strong signal in LKO that gets weak around Mun.

Edited October 17, 2016 by cephalo

[Aegolius13]

Did you try extending the antenna by right clicking?  

[cephalo]

Ok, I get it now, the range for the HG-5 and the DSN is large, but between two such antennas is low. I figured out how to use the google sheet linked in the wiki.

EDIT: Also, the range between the HG-5 and the command module built in radio is extremely low. So unless I was right next to the sat in orbit around Mun, I would not expect a relay hop.

Edited October 17, 2016 by cephalo

[Aegolius13]

3 hours ago, bewing said:

It sounds like a single hop in your case should always give a much better signal -- but AFAIK, a hopped connection loses Remote Piloting capability

Allegedly the 2.5m probe core can do "multihop" remote piloting, but I haven't tried it personally.  Also not sure if that means only one relay is allowed between, or any number as long as signal is adequate.

[RX2000]

I had this issue too when I first started playing 1.2 in the prerelease. Turns out that the HG-5 just has an EXTREMELY short relay range. I've found out that they are pretty much useless for relay sats. They can barely relay around Kerbin itself, & cant really relay at all from Kerbin out to the Mun or Minmus.

[bewing]

They are stackable, though. So three HG5's working as a relay might get you enough oomph to make them worthwhile. That might be the point of them -- to teach you that stacking relay antennas is a thing.

[Clipperride]

They are also a cheap and cheerful option for when you have a constellation of more powerful relays around another body (at least with small bodies like Minmus anyway).  They pass there low powered signal onto a better relay for transmission back to KSC

Edited October 18, 2016 by Clipperride

[JohnnyPanzer]

I feel it should be clarified that "no remote control through multihop" is not an actual thing. As long as a probe can trace a signal back to KSP it can be controlled.

The "one hop only" rule is for using a control point other than Kerbin to gain remote control, and even then it only applies for control points using the 1.25m probe. But tracing a connection back to KSP will always give you direct control of your probe.

[cephalo]

12 hours ago, JohnnyPanzer said:

I feel it should be clarified that "no remote control through multihop" is not an actual thing. As long as a probe can trace a signal back to KSP it can be controlled.

Thank goodness! I also have a question about relay 'stacking'. I can't imagine what that means. Can anyone explain?

[bewing]

3 hours ago, cephalo said:

Thank goodness! I also have a question about relay 'stacking'. I can't imagine what that means. Can anyone explain?

Putting more than one on a ship and using all of them at the same time.