Rover connectivity on Duna

[JEB'S DESTINY]

This isn't really a problem of reaching Duna, but having connection problems. I am trying to land a Curiosity replica on Duna, but the small antennas are never strong enough. Are there any mods with small but strong antennas?

[Snark]

Hi @JEB'S DESTINY, I've taken the liberty of splitting your question into a thread of its own, because it is a completely separate question from the other thread where someone was asking a different question.

3 minutes ago, JEB'S DESTINY said:

I am trying to land a Curiosity replica on Duna, but the small antennas are never strong enough.

Really?  The DTS-M1 and RA-2 have a 10G range if you have the tracking station upgraded to level 2, or a 22G range if you've got tracking station level 3, which is pretty good coverage of Duna-- plus you can put multiple antennas on to boost it, if you like.  If you put the HG-55 or Communotron 88-88 on there, then they'll connect to Kerbin with absolutely no trouble at all.  Or, of course, you could put a small antenna on the rover and then just leave a relay satellite in Duna orbit with a larger relay antenna on it.

10 minutes ago, JEB'S DESTINY said:

Are there any mods with small but strong antennas?

Yes, there are mods out there with powerful antennas (for example, JX2Antenna has a deployable stack-mounted 1.25m antenna with 300G power, in a form factor suitable for rovers), but that feels like massive overkill-- honestly, you really don't need them.  Stock antennas work just fine here.

[JEB'S DESTINY]

I only get partial control, so I mostly crash and can't control my rover even if it is landed.

With the small antennaes

 

I want a small antennae for my rover because It is supposed to be like Curiosity, not a bulky CD on a small rover.

[Tex_NL]

4 minutes ago, JEB'S DESTINY said:

...

I want a small antennae for my rover because It is supposed to be like Curiosity, not a bulky CD on a small rover.

As @Snark said: relays. Leave your delivery vehicle in orbit and put a strong relay on it.
And in case you're worried it will move out of range or goes over the horizon have it carry a few simple relay satellites and set up a network.

[JEB'S DESTINY]

But the Communication 16 is not a relay antenna, and that is the one I want to use unless it is a relay antenna.

[Tex_NL]

Yes, that's what you want on your rover. But what's preventing you from leaving a RA-2/15/100 in orbit?

The communotron 16 talks to the RA-x. The RA-x talks to KSC.

Edited February 12, 2018 by Tex_NL

[Capt. Hunt]

the little whip antenna is really only useful at planetary ranges, ie. talking to ships in the same SOI.  Your best bet is to launch a relay into Dunian orbit.  Perhaps, to save payload, the relay can carry a mapping antenna too.

[Snark]

1 hour ago, JEB'S DESTINY said:

But the Communication 16 is not a relay antenna, and that is the one I want to use unless it is a relay antenna.

Bear in mind that, as Tex_NL points out above, you don't need a relay antenna on the rover.  Any old antenna will do.  Why is that?  It's because your rover is the "end of the road", in communications terms.  Think of your control path as a "road" that has your rover at one end and KSC at the other end.  It might be direct (i.e. your rover talking directly to KSC), or it might be a series of "hops" passing through some relays in between.

The endpoint of the chain doesn't need to be a relay antenna.  Only the in-between ones have to be relays.  So if you put a dinky little Communotron-16 or Communotron-16S on your rover, and leave a reasonably powerful relay antenna in orbit, then you'll be able to drive your rover just fine as long as it can see the relay and the relay can see Kerbin.

[JEB'S DESTINY]

SO the Communotron 18 is a relay antennae?

 

[Spricigo]

32 minutes ago, JEB'S DESTINY said:

SO the Communotron 18 is a relay antennae?

NO. And it don't matter.

 

Direct antennas do only one thing: connect your active ship to the nearest node of the CommNet.

Your problem is that lack of a node that your weak direct antenna can reach, IOW a relay satellite in Low Duna Orbit.

 

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, JEB'S DESTINY said:

SO the Communotron 18 is a relay antennae?

No, it's a normal antenna. Put that on your rover, and then put a relay antenna on a probe which is in orbit around Duna. If the rover can see the probe, and the probe can see Kerbin, you've got control.

I'd suggest the RA-15 (or RA-100 if you have it).

(Note that you can always switch CommNet off if you want to play it like it used to be before it was introduced.)