Red line between two close probes with good antenas??

[Anonymmm]

Hey,

first of all, this is my first post here, so (pretty) please do not kill me for any spelling/other mistakes. 

 

So, basicly, why is the "communication line" or how do you call it between two of my satelites red? I know that the red colour means the signal is weak, but the troble is that both satelites have fairly good antenas and are very close to each other. Here are the screenshots of the line and the satelites - the satelites are in hibernation mode, could that be the reason?

 

Red line:

 

Satelite 1:

 

Satelite 2:

 

 

I do not use any mods.

Thanks for any help,

Anonymmm

[Snark]

Hello, and welcome to the forums! 

This is mainly a question about how to play the game, so moving it to Gameplay Questions where it's more likely to get answers.

 

22 hours ago, Anonymmm said:

So, basicly, why is the "communication line" or how do you call it between two of my satelites red? I know that the red colour means the signal is weak, but the troble is that both satelites have fairly good antenas and are very close to each other. Here are the screenshots of the line and the satelites - the satelites are in hibernation mode, could that be the reason?

I'd say it's because you're near the limit of their range, since the satellites are so far apart.  (Nice screenshots, by the way-- great idea for a post like this, really helps us to see what your problem is.)

The antenna you're using there is the HG-5.  That antenna has a rated antenna power of 5000 km.  That's the range that two of these antennas talking to each other would have.  (You get green lines from them back to KSC because KSC is so enormously more powerful than the HG-5 that it extends the range a lot.)

You do have a few extra antennas, which boosts the range a bit, but not a super large amount (it's nonlinear).  If your two satellites had one HG-5 each, they'd have a max communications range of 5000 km to each other.  With two HG-5's on one satellite, and four on the other, I believe your max range between the two should be a shade under 11,000 km, if I'm doing my math right.

I don't know exactly how far apart your two satellites are, but given that the Mun's orbital altitude above Kerbin is 12,000 km, it looks to me from your screenshot that they're probably 8000ish kilometers apart, which would be on the order of 75% of their max range.  So, not surprising that they're not getting a super-strong signal strength.

If you want to make the signal stronger, you could pile on more antennas, though that's subject to diminishing returns (it's nonlinear).  Best way is to unlock the next step up of relay antennas, the RA-2, which will have plenty of power to communicate to each other from anywhere in Kerbin's SoI.

[Kryxal]

Truth be told, I don't think the lower satellite is worth the bother as a relay.  It doesn't have much range, and doesn't really get much of an alternate angle on anything but maybe Mun.

[Anonymmm]

1 hour ago, Snark said:

Hello, and welcome to the forums! 

 

This is mainly a question about how to play the game, so moving it to Gameplay Questions where it's more likely to get answers.

 

 

I'd say it's because you're near the limit of their range, since the satellites are so far apart.  (Nice screenshots, by the way-- great idea for a post like this, really helps us to see what your problem is.)

 

The antenna you're using there is the HG-5.  That antenna has a rated antenna power of 5000 km.  That's the range that two of these antennas talking to each other would have.  (You get green lines from them back to KSC because KSC is so enormously more powerful than the HG-5 that it extends the range a lot.)

 

You do have a few extra antennas, which boosts the range a bit, but not a super large amount (it's nonlinear).  If your two satellites had one HG-5 each, they'd have a max communications range of 5000 km to each other.  With two HG-5's on one satellite, and four on the other, I believe your max range between the two should be a shade under 11,000 km, if I'm doing my math right.

 

I don't know exactly how far apart your two satellites are, but given that the Mun's orbital altitude above Kerbin is 12,000 km, it looks to me from your screenshot that they're probably 8000ish kilometers apart, which would be on the order of 75% of their max range.  So, not surprising that they're not getting a super-strong signal strength.

 

If you want to make the signal stronger, you could pile on more antennas, though that's subject to diminishing returns (it's nonlinear).  Best way is to unlock the next step up of relay antennas, the RA-2, which will have plenty of power to communicate to each other from anywhere in Kerbin's SoI.

 

Thanks so much for the answer! Somwhere deep in my mind, I knew that the problem could be with the range of the antennas, but I just couldnt belive that the range of the star game antenas is actualy so bad... well, now I know, thanks!

 

Btw, just got the RA-2, so