[1.11] CommNet Constellation v1.5.7 [10 January 2021] - Beta 4 of CNC+CNM for KSP 1.12.2!

[Shadriss]

@TaxiService - Been working on this more, and the results I'm getting are confusing. On a quick aside, your understanding of how the system works matches what I have in my head, so as a test, I did the following:

Situation: A single probe in 150 Km 80 degree inclination orbit of Minmus (ScanSat mission). One HG-5, set to channel 2. There are four commsats in 1855 Km 0 Inclination orbit of Kerbin with 4 HG-5s on each relay. Only two of these were turned on (the ones needed for the active channel, see below).

Comm Setup: All groundstations with the exception of KSC have been shut down completely, with no comm frequencies assigned. KSC, the relays, and the Minmus probe are all set to channel two.

Expected Results: There is enough transmission power for the probe to connect directly to KSC when it is in LOS from the probe. When out of LOS, the probe should connect to the relay sats for signal relay around to where KSC is.

Actual Results: When in direct LOS, the probe connects to KSC as expected. When out of LOS, there is no connection at all, and the probe does not relay to KSC via the commsats. Interestingly, the commsats DO relay thier signals around to another commsat with LOS to KSC.

Conclusion: Either I am completely misunderstanding how this system should be working, or there is an issue somewhere. I'm more inclined to think the former, simply because I'm trying to figure out this system anyhow, so it's more likely. The results are somewhat mixed in the situation above, as the commsats are behaving as I expect, but the Minmus probe is not. Given that I don't THINK there is a problem with the comms logic in the game or the mod itself, what am I not understanding about how comms work?

Edited February 2, 2019 by Shadriss
Re-wording for clarity

[FirroSeranel]

8 hours ago, Shadriss said:

@TaxiService - Been working on this more, and the results I'm getting are confusing. On a quick aside, your understanding of how the system works matches what I have in my head, so as a test, I did the following:

Situation: A single probe in 150 Km 80 degree inclination orbit of Minmus (ScanSat mission). One HG-5, set to channel 2. There are four commsats in 1855 Km 0 Inclination orbit of Kerbin with 4 HG-5s on each relay. Only two of these were turned on (the ones needed for the active channel, see below).

Comm Setup: All groundstations with the exception of KSC have been shut down completely, with no comm frequencies assigned. KSC, the relays, and the Minmus probe are all set to channel two.

Expected Results: There is enough transmission power for the probe to connect directly to KSC when it is in LOS from the probe. When out of LOS, the probe should connect to the relay sats for signal relay around to where KSC is.

Actual Results: When in direct LOS, the probe connects to KSC as expected. When out of LOS, there is no connection at all, and the probe does not relay to KSC via the commsats. Interestingly, the commsats DO relay thier signals around to another commsat with LOS to KSC.

Conclusion: Either I am completely misunderstanding how this system should be working, or there is an issue somewhere. I'm more inclined to think the former, simply because I'm trying to figure out this system anyhow, so it's more likely. The results are somewhat mixed in the situation above, as the commsats are behaving as I expect, but the Minmus probe is not. Given that I don't THINK there is a problem with the comms logic in the game or the mod itself, what am I not understanding about how comms work?

I second this. I recently discovered this mod, and while it's a really neat idea, it isn't working anything like I would expect. I'm having the exact same issues. Sometimes a satellite with a dedicated antenna will relay through the comm network satellites (with relay antennae). Sometimes not so much. Built-in antennae never seem to relay through comsats at all. This is definitely *not* the same behavior as stock, as in stock, even a built-in antenna in a pod or probe core will relay through any relay antenna in range just fine.

Also, the first post and the tutorial seem to imply that you can set a single antenna to multiple channels to form a relay link. I don't see any way to do that either. In fact, it's exceedingly difficult to do anything but set all antennae to the same channel on a given craft, from the Tracking Station. I end up having to switch to each ship one at a time and use the right-click menu for each antenna individually... and even then it doesn't end up working much of the time.

I do also have Kerbalism installed... could that be changing how the communication system logic is working somehow?

[Shadriss]

Just for clarity - I do not use Kerbalism, nor am I relying on built-in antennae in the pod/probe core. I am using only antenna attached to the craft in question for my testing at this point.

[Tallinu]

This mod sounds interesting and the pictures with all the different colored lines look neat, but I don't know if I'm understanding everything properly. It sounds like the changes it makes act purely as restrictions, disallowing a vessel which is assigned to one frequency from using any relays that are not on the same frequency. Does doing this have some kind of gameplay benefit over the stock behavior of automatically finding the relay(s) that get the best signal strength? (Or does stock NOT always get the best signal strength?)

Is there some actual benefit to having multiple different sets of relays on different channels, and having different vessels use those different relay networks? Does this mod somehow make it necessary to do that, reward you for doing it, or penalize you in some way if you just leave all your ships set to the same channel?Because it sounds like the only reward for spending more time and money putting up those extra satellites is to have really cool looking comm-net diagrams.

To put it another way, I'm not sure if this this is intended for realistic gameplay / difficulty increase purposes, or cosmetic / "cool factor" purposes. I'm sure the new RemoteTech is going to be the former, of course, but for this mod I'm not certain if it's the latter or if I've missed something.

 

[DStaal]

2 hours ago, Tallinu said:

This mod sounds interesting and the pictures with all the different colored lines look neat, but I don't know if I'm understanding everything properly. It sounds like the changes it makes act purely as restrictions, disallowing a vessel which is assigned to one frequency from using any relays that are not on the same frequency. Does doing this have some kind of gameplay benefit over the stock behavior of automatically finding the relay(s) that get the best signal strength? (Or does stock NOT always get the best signal strength?)

Is there some actual benefit to having multiple different sets of relays on different channels, and having different vessels use those different relay networks? Does this mod somehow make it necessary to do that, reward you for doing it, or penalize you in some way if you just leave all your ships set to the same channel?Because it sounds like the only reward for spending more time and money putting up those extra satellites is to have really cool looking comm-net diagrams.

To put it another way, I'm not sure if this this is intended for realistic gameplay / difficulty increase purposes, or cosmetic / "cool factor" purposes. I'm sure the new RemoteTech is going to be the former, of course, but for this mod I'm not certain if it's the latter or if I've missed something.

I'd say there's a *bit* of semi-realistic gameplay reasons - but mostly cosmetic, in my opinion.  There is some realism involved in that not all antennas work equally well on all frequencies, and radios will typically be tuned to transmit/receive on specific frequencies.  So it makes some sense to have that level of restriction.  Of course, you could just say Kerbals build everything on one frequency - which you can do with this mod as well, and it would work just like stock.  But using this mod is a tad more realistic than stock, though not as realistic as RemoteTech.

But yeah, there's no reward other than your personal satisfaction for putting up a good com network.  It makes seeing what's going on with your com network far easier to see, and you can typically see issues a bit easier, in that you've actually designed the network to work a specific way, but none of those are major benefits really.  It's just nice to be able to say 'yes, I can put up a com network that works.'

[Shadriss]

I feel compelled to point out, as well, that the same question was asked and answered earlier in the thread.

[TaxiService]

On 2/2/2019 at 6:02 AM, Shadriss said:

@TaxiService - Been working on this more, and the results I'm getting are confusing. On a quick aside, your understanding of how the system works matches what I have in my head, so as a test, I did the following:

Situation: A single probe in 150 Km 80 degree inclination orbit of Minmus (ScanSat mission). One HG-5, set to channel 2. There are four commsats in 1855 Km 0 Inclination orbit of Kerbin with 4 HG-5s on each relay. Only two of these were turned on (the ones needed for the active channel, see below).

Comm Setup: All groundstations with the exception of KSC have been shut down completely, with no comm frequencies assigned. KSC, the relays, and the Minmus probe are all set to channel two.

Expected Results: There is enough transmission power for the probe to connect directly to KSC when it is in LOS from the probe. When out of LOS, the probe should connect to the relay sats for signal relay around to where KSC is.

Actual Results: When in direct LOS, the probe connects to KSC as expected. When out of LOS, there is no connection at all, and the probe does not relay to KSC via the commsats. Interestingly, the commsats DO relay thier signals around to another commsat with LOS to KSC.

Conclusion: Either I am completely misunderstanding how this system should be working, or there is an issue somewhere. I'm more inclined to think the former, simply because I'm trying to figure out this system anyhow, so it's more likely. The results are somewhat mixed in the situation above, as the commsats are behaving as I expect, but the Minmus probe is not. Given that I don't THINK there is a problem with the comms logic in the game or the mod itself, what am I not understanding about how comms work?

Based on my gameplay sandbox test, I found the root cause in your explanation - Direct Antenna doesn't connect to Direct Antenna, per stock behaviour. It can only connect to Relay Antenna (ground stations are classified as Relay Antenna by stock cfg).

The stock formula for max range is square root of antenna one's power multiplied by antenna two's power. For example, two HG-5 antennas has 15G max range. So the combined power of the sat with 4 HG-5 is 42.43G (best antenna power * (total power / best power) ^ (sum(expo*power)/total power)).

The maximum range between Minmus probe and relay sat is sqrt(15*42.43) = 25.227G. Clearly, it has more than enough range to connect but you can see that the stock behaviour is not allowing this.

If I put up another sat with 4 RA-15 each with same 15G power, the moon probe can connect to this relay sat.

So yah, KSPedia never mentioned the distinction between Direct and Relay Type. It never uses our real-life concept where two antennas with sufficient power can connect regardless of KSP's "relay or direct thingy".

Edited February 4, 2019 by TaxiService

[Shadriss]

So... if I get what you are trying to say... the reason it won't connect to the relay is because the HG5s don't have enough power to talk to each other, but they do for the ground station? The direct - direct and direct - relay thing I get (and makes more sense knowing that ground stations are treated as relays), so that established, it's a power issue? Note that I said there were 4 HG5 on board, but only two were in use for that channel (and the others were turned off via the CommNet UI), so if even FOUR of them aren't enough for Minmus...

Or are you thinking HG5s are direct? They aren't - they are relay as you stated earlier. So... again, I'm still unsure what the problem is then. You seem to say that the setup has all the range it needs, the HG5s on the probe and the relays are both relay type... so what's the problem?

Edited February 4, 2019 by Shadriss

[TaxiService]

Your sat with 4 HGs has more than enough radio power to connect with Minmus probe. But the problem is both vessels' antennas (HG-5) are Direct Type. Direct Antennas can't connect to each other and can only connect to Relay Antennas. Your sat with 4 HG-5 is not Relay.

Direct to Direct = Not allowed

Direct to Relay = Allowed

Relay to Direct = Allowed

This is the stock behaviour.

[Shadriss]

HG5s ARE relay. I checked for that specifically. Note that I also mentioned that those satellites with the 4 HG5s ARE relaying to each other around to KSC. Unless the ingame description is completely wrong, they are relay type, and that's what's causing my confusion.

[Jacke]

HG-5 antenna are weird.  In the file structure, they're in the directory "GameData/Squad/Parts/Utility/DirectAntennas/" along with the 16S.  But in the part config file they're marked as relay.  So they are relay antennas.

[Shadriss]

OKay, just to make sure I'm not insane, I went back in and took some screenies as well. First, the HG-5:

Note the type, highlighted, is most definately Relay. This is further evidenced in this picture, showing the CommNet around Kerbin, as previously described:

The four around Kerbin are, you will note, relaying to each other to talk with KSC. The one heading off into nowhere is the Minmus probe, which currently has LOS with KSC. Time accelerated to a few hours later, though:

Again, the satts around Kerbin have shifted to maintain comms. At this point, the probe should have done the same thing, via the commsats. For T/S purposes, I set all availiable antennae to the proper channel, to remove any possibility of it trying to do something funky. I moved the probe into a 150 Km polar orbit of Minmus to prevent the possibility of occlusion by Minmus as well, just to be extra certain. Despite all of this, the probe is not making use of the relay as it should be... which is to say, it is not relaying to KSC.

So... again... what simple, obvious thing am I missing that explains the differing behavior between the relays (which function as I expect) and the probe (which doesn't)? The ONLY communications difference between the two at this point is the probe is a single antenna and the relays have four set to this channel.

Edited February 6, 2019 by Shadriss
Clarification

[TaxiService]

@Shadriss So sorry, I was looking at the other antenna with the similar name. There are two antennas with similar names: HG-5 HGA (Relay) and Comm HG-55 (Direct). In your initial post, you referred to HG-5 HGA.

In this case, the maximum range between your moon probe and relay sat (4 HG-5 HGA) is sqrt(15G*14.14M) = 460.5Mm. So your relay sat should definitely work as expected, as shown on my side below.

 

It seems the root cause on your side is somewhere else. But please correct me if you see any other wrong details taken into my account.

Can I have your log for further investigation, please? 

[Shadriss]

Which log from where? I didn't see one that seemed specific to this mod, and I don't know where the game keeps it's general log. I used to, but it's been a while. But once I can find it, sure - not a problem. I'd LOVE to know what's going on. Would you like the save as well?

[cyberKerb]

On 2/6/2019 at 12:20 PM, Shadriss said:

So... again... what simple, obvious thing am I missing that explains the differing behavior between the relays (which function as I expect) and the probe (which doesn't)? The ONLY communications difference between the two at this point is the probe is a single antenna and the relays have four set to this channel.

Okies - let me have a crack at this range issue.   

Something to note: Antenna Power does not equal Antenna Range.
Your issue isn't with the Commnet-Constellation Mod. I believe you're understanding of what you were trying to do was sound, I think you just misunderstood the bit about calculating ranges between antennas.
What level DSN are you at? For this I'll assume new game at Level DSN1, anything else should be better than what I calculate (although you'll see it doesn't really matter for what you're asking...)

On 2/6/2019 at 5:05 PM, TaxiService said:

In this case, the maximum range between your moon probe and relay sat (4 HG-5 HGA) is sqrt(15G*14.14M) = 460.5Mm. So your relay sat should definitely work as expected, as shown on my side below.

@TaxiService Made a slight error in taking the calculation for max range just a 'smidge' too far (Only a 'few' powers of magnitude too many) He used 15G (HG-55) and not 5M (for the originally stated HG-5 relay antenna in question) I usually blame lack of sleep or not enough coffee for this, as is the usual symptoms of KSP modders that do this work of love on their personal time 

The combined 4 x HG-5 antenna power is correct @ 14.142M.
and of course your Minmus Probe only has a single HG-5 @ 5.0M power

Maximum range between two Antennas calc is:  sqrt(totalpower point1 * totalpower point2), so... sqrt(14.142 * 5) = 8.4Mm

The news gets worse unfortunately, you said you were initially only using two of the HG-5 antennas for this test...
 - 2 x HG-5 antenna power is 8.408M.
 - Minmus Probe still only 1x HG-5 @ 5.0M
A quick calculation later: sqrt(8.4M *5M) = 6.4Mm or 6,484km

For reference:
Mun range: 11.4Mm (11,400km)
Minmus range: 46.4Mm (46,400km)
.
.
.
You're going to need a bigger antenna. 

I checked out a full 16x HG-5 trying to communicate to craft a with a single HG-5 and it'll only reach 15Mm at best, so adding more doesn't help. This is due to the combination exponent being 0.75

The reason you are seeing a successful link back to Kerbin from the Minmus probe is due to the link employing direct LOS to the DSN at KSC.
I'll assume DSN level 1 (which should be more than enough) which has a power range of 2,000M
The max range with those two antennas:
 - KSC Lvl1 DSN 2,000M
 - Minmus Probe still only 1x HG-5 @ 5.0M
Hey Presto:  sqrt(2000 * 5) = 100Mm (100,000km) and that's more than enough to cover all of the Minmus orbit and then some

Last tidbit:  If you decommission you existing 4x HG-5 CommSats and launch new ones with the next level in Relay sat tech (i.e. a single RA-2 Relay Antenna) you'll get the same-ish range as the KSC DSN level 1 out to 100Mm. Image below shows that exact setup with the controlling craft being the Minmus probe.  (Note the antenna signal strength is yellow.) If you want green (>75%), you'll need at least 3xRa-2 Relay antennas per commsat to cover Minmus with a 76% strength. (4x would be 81%)

 

For calculating ranges, I'd recommend checking out the Range Signal Strength Calculator spreadsheet by @Poodmund.

For calculating how far a single / combination of a type of Antenna will go when combined with a DSN back home, check the below thread by @Kergarin to get rough indications. Just note in your particular issue, you were looking at Sat to Sat comm range with no DSN. So the graphic may not be that useful for you as all calcs assume a DNS is there somewhere. (But that does give me an idea for another graphic)

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by wile1411
details details details

[Shadriss]

Now THAT makes sense - I was thrown by the range calculations and the like. In my case, the tracking station is already at level 3, but as you point out, that's immaterial. Thanks for the explanation and corrections to my assumptions... and for the record I was always pretty sure the mod wasn't the issue - it's just what brought my lack of understanding to the forefront. As I posted at one point, I was sure it was my own lack of understanding.

So on that note, if that's how it came across to you, Taxi, I'll apologize here, as that certainly wasn't the intent. Thanks to you for your attempts at helping me understand, and to you, Wile, a big thanks for explaining where I had missed the mark.

[Tallinu]

@Shadriss I didn't see such a question or answer when I glanced through the last few pages or the first page, and there's only so much time you can spend looking for things that may not exist.

Also, since it doesn't look like anyone responded to that part: "KSP.log" is the one you'd want, found right in the main folder where the executable is.

@wile1411 Thanks for linking those! That spreadsheet makes it so much easier to figure out how far you can reach with various setups -- I had no idea that you could get more signal strength than the level 3 DSN with four stock RA-100 relays! A set of relay satellites spread out in a solar orbit could extend your reach quite a bit...

Edited February 8, 2019 by Tallinu

[Shadriss]

@Tallinu No worries - I have a habit of reading an entire thread before I start commenting... especially when it's as short as this one is. I sometimes forget that not everybody does that. Thanks, also, for the Log file answer - as I mentioned it's been a while since I had to go to that level of T/S, though of course, this time, it wasn't really needed.

[VenDei]

Hello @TaxiService! First of all, thank you for this mod. While, in truth, it probably makes more for selfimposed CommNet-problems than anything else, I'm really pleased to have planetary communication nets and interplanetary distribution nets seperate from each other instead of having everything connect to everything else in one big ball of EM-spagetthi.

That being said, there is one tiny cosmetic thing I'd love to ask: Is it possible to have in addition to the rather imprecise colorpicker the possibility to enter a specific hex triplet for the colour of a frequency? Or whatever is simplest to handle, just a possibility to type in specifically the colour I want instead of approximating it on the colour picker. I'd really love to have the Kerbin net in bada55, among other things.

[TaxiService]

On 2/10/2019 at 10:23 PM, VenDei said:

Hello @TaxiService! First of all, thank you for this mod. While, in truth, it probably makes more for selfimposed CommNet-problems than anything else, I'm really pleased to have planetary communication nets and interplanetary distribution nets seperate from each other instead of having everything connect to everything else in one big ball of EM-spagetthi.

That being said, there is one tiny cosmetic thing I'd love to ask: Is it possible to have in addition to the rather imprecise colorpicker the possibility to enter a specific hex triplet for the colour of a frequency? Or whatever is simplest to handle, just a possibility to type in specifically the colour I want instead of approximating it on the colour picker. I'd really love to have the Kerbin net in bada55, among other things.

Enjoy latest develop build!

[VenDei]

49 minutes ago, TaxiService said:

Enjoy latest develop build!

That's great! I love it, thank you for implementing it, and so quickly!

[BurnsFlat]

Hey!

So first off just wanted to let you know that it doesn't appear that your mod follows the range modifier set in the difficult menu. Regardless of changes set in the range rating multiplier, the same rating is shown in the menu.

Second I just wanted to drop some tips for those of us looking for the most realistic network in a KSP sandbox save, where you are aiming for realistic satellites and comms network instead of just the greatest range possible.

1.) Set DSN Strength to 0.01

2.) Enable additional ground stations

3.) Set occlusion modifiers to 1.0

4.) Set range modifiers to 0.87

5.) Change all antennas to be relay antennas (go into the GameData/Squad folder and change the antenna types to RELAY)

Finally, you need two antennas to do everything on satellites. In the real world the ISS communicates with TDRS (Tracking Data Relay Satellites) over the EHF Ku band using two different antennas, a transmitter and receiver, and the satellite does the same, using one dedicated antenna to receive and one dedicated antenna to transmit. Though all of my antennas are communication antennas, I have my network setup in a way where each antenna is either a TX or RX, with the exception of the high gain antenna, which I have actually changed to be a direct antenna.

For example, let's say we are setting up a 5-Satellite communication satellite network in LKO. The satellite needs to be able to communicate to the ground over high bandwidth and low bandwidth, communicate with other spacecraft over high bandwidth and low bandwidth, and with other satellites in the network to provide relay services in low and high bandwidth. We need two antennas for each of these purposes, with the exception of low bandwidth (in real life we would refer to this as S band) connections to ground, which I just use the high-gain antenna for.

In total we need 11 antennas. One for low bandwidth TX and RX to the ground from the satellite. Two for TX and RX high bandwidth to the ground. Two for low bandwidth TX and RX to other space craft. Two for high bandwidth TX and RX to other space craft. Two for low bandwidth TX and RX between satellites in the network. Two for high bandwidth TX and RX between satellites in the network. 

All TX and RX capabilities to the ground use per-vehicle frequencies, so we can control which DSN stations ingest and transmit data to the network. So the low-bandwidth antenna and both high-bandwidth antennas would have their own CommNet frequency unique to their satellite. The other eight antennas would use different but non-unique frequencies. 

The result of all this is a satisfyingly realistic communication system. My two LKO space stations are entirely dependent on my satellite network for communication. And like in the real world, there are hostile nations on Kerbin, so only a handful of DSN stations are allowed to communicate with the Satellite network. My two LKO stations also have high bandwidth and low bandwidth TX and RX capabilities, and automatically communicates with the closest satellite. The satellites then either use their high or low bandwidth relay antennas to relay the data, which eventually is sent to the DSN over different antennas.

Stupid complicated I know, but I am having a lot of fun managing satellites and setting up communication windows, etc. In the real world the largest problem we have to deal with for remote vehicle operations IS communication, and I want to thank @TaxiService for making a mod that really takes KSP to the next level, and makes realistic and satisfying satellite management a possibility.

[TaxiService]

8 hours ago, BurnsFlat said:

Hey!

So first off just wanted to let you know that it doesn't appear that your mod follows the range modifier set in the difficult menu. Regardless of changes set in the range rating multiplier, the same rating is shown in the menu.

My bad, thanks for finding this issue. It is fixed in the develop branch now.

 

8 hours ago, BurnsFlat said:

Second I just wanted to drop some tips for those of us looking for the most realistic network in a KSP sandbox save, where you are aiming for realistic satellites and comms network instead of just the greatest range possible.

1.) Set DSN Strength to 0.01

2.) Enable additional ground stations

3.) Set occlusion modifiers to 1.0

4.) Set range modifiers to 0.87

5.) Change all antennas to be relay antennas (go into the GameData/Squad folder and change the antenna types to RELAY)

Finally, you need two antennas to do everything on satellites. In the real world the ISS communicates with TDRS (Tracking Data Relay Satellites) over the EHF Ku band using two different antennas, a transmitter and receiver, and the satellite does the same, using one dedicated antenna to receive and one dedicated antenna to transmit. Though all of my antennas are communication antennas, I have my network setup in a way where each antenna is either a TX or RX, with the exception of the high gain antenna, which I have actually changed to be a direct antenna.

For example, let's say we are setting up a 5-Satellite communication satellite network in LKO. The satellite needs to be able to communicate to the ground over high bandwidth and low bandwidth, communicate with other spacecraft over high bandwidth and low bandwidth, and with other satellites in the network to provide relay services in low and high bandwidth. We need two antennas for each of these purposes, with the exception of low bandwidth (in real life we would refer to this as S band) connections to ground, which I just use the high-gain antenna for.

In total we need 11 antennas. One for low bandwidth TX and RX to the ground from the satellite. Two for TX and RX high bandwidth to the ground. Two for low bandwidth TX and RX to other space craft. Two for high bandwidth TX and RX to other space craft. Two for low bandwidth TX and RX between satellites in the network. Two for high bandwidth TX and RX between satellites in the network. 

All TX and RX capabilities to the ground use per-vehicle frequencies, so we can control which DSN stations ingest and transmit data to the network. So the low-bandwidth antenna and both high-bandwidth antennas would have their own CommNet frequency unique to their satellite. The other eight antennas would use different but non-unique frequencies. 

The result of all this is a satisfyingly realistic communication system. My two LKO space stations are entirely dependent on my satellite network for communication. And like in the real world, there are hostile nations on Kerbin, so only a handful of DSN stations are allowed to communicate with the Satellite network. My two LKO stations also have high bandwidth and low bandwidth TX and RX capabilities, and automatically communicates with the closest satellite. The satellites then either use their high or low bandwidth relay antennas to relay the data, which eventually is sent to the DSN over different antennas.

Stupid complicated I know, but I am having a lot of fun managing satellites and setting up communication windows, etc. In the real world the largest problem we have to deal with for remote vehicle operations IS communication, and I want to thank @TaxiService for making a mod that really takes KSP to the next level, and makes realistic and satisfying satellite management a possibility.

I am sorry but I will not migrate this mod to a realistic comm model. I am working on the new RemoteTech codebase's comm model, loosely based on our real-world reality.

As of now, this mod is complementary to the stock CommNet's current difficulty level.

 

[DStaal]

9 minutes ago, TaxiService said:

I am sorry but I will not migrate this mod to a realistic comm model. I am working on the new RemoteTech codebase's comm model, loosely based on our real-world reality.

As of now, this mod is complementary to the stock CommNet's current difficulty level.

I don't necessarily think he was arguing that the mod itself should change model (and I'd argue against it, personally) - more he was writing a how-to if a player wanted to use the mod to create something more difficult for themselves.  It's a sign of a good mod that it can be used this way, even if it's not the main focus/configuration of the mod.

[Raccoon]

A few questions! Can you set specific antennas to specific frequencies from the tracking station? I can see there's the radio buttons to select and deselect them but there's no way to change their frequency from the menu other than master frequency which isn't helpful. Would be extremely useful since switching to my satellites to do it manually screws up their perfect orbits achieved using StationKeeping.

Second question, as I'm quite a noob at this, if I set my Mun and Minmus networks to their respective frequencies and make them only talk to their members, how do I connect them back to KSC? I assume that I have to allow them to communicate with a second frequency to do that, thus the above question, but maybe I'm doing something stupid and not realising it. Setting them to allow talking to the Public constellation makes them just scream at every vessel in range and that's not what I'm looking for, so I'm assuming I need direct antennas set to 0 or whatever my Kerbin network is, then the relay antennas to whatever the Mun/Minmus network is?