Ugh, another antenna question. Range.

[CrashyMcCrashFace]

A 500K 16-S in low Kerbin orbit (85Km'ish) with direct line-of-sight to a 2G satellite around the Mun. The rest of the comm network can reach back to Kerbin and this has worked reliably. I did the math for the range and 500K to 2G is actually in the wiki "31.62Mm (67% way to Minmus)". Since the Mun orbits at 11Mm the distance has to be that or less. My satellite with the 500K goes offline. Does it matter where on the vessel it's mounted? Below the heat shield/decoupler with the probe core above is still OK? Normally I'd see the batteries dead when a probe goes down but this is not the case.

Edited May 7, 2018 by CrashyMcCrashFace
Added the image

[michal.don]

16 minutes ago, CrashyMcCrashFace said:

Does it matter where on the vessel it's mounted?

No, that does not matter - signal from antennas doesn't follow the crosfeed rules.

A question about the sat at the Mun though - which type of antenna does it have? If it doesn't have the "relay" type (the dish-looking ones), it can not relay the signal from your sat in LKO. Is it possible that this is your issue?

Michal.don

[CrashyMcCrashFace]

30 minutes ago, michal.don said:

A question about the sat at the Mun though - which type of antenna does it have?

RA-2. This relay and the rest of the relay net work great and all the links are green. I've also used this 500K antenna many times. I just can't figure out why this probe goes offline unless it's over KSC (extra Kerbin stations turned off) or near the 1 relay I have in Kerbin orbit. The behavior seems like it's only using the probe's built-in 5K antenna.

Oh and I'm only running MechJeb and KER mods.

Edited May 7, 2018 by CrashyMcCrashFace

[invision]

you will lose connection any time a moon or planet is crossing over the antenna line, so in order to have near 100% connection you will need about 2-3 sat's in orbit around the moon. i use 2 and one goes in polar orbit and the other normal orbit.  this gives me antenna range to the back side of the moon  about 95%of the time.

[4x4cheesecake]

Are you sure that you have a stable connection between KSC and the mun relays? Sounds pretty unstable to me with just one relay in Kerbin orbit.

 

edit: Just another thought: Have you increased the "Occlusion Modifier Atm" in your difficulty settings? A value above 1 allows the atmosphere to block your signal (a least if the line of sight got a very long way through the atmosphere). Lower the value just to check if you can get a connection.

Edited May 7, 2018 by 4x4cheesecake

[bewing]

Hmmm. I dunno. My Comm16S antennas are bouncing through relays when I try to repro.

 

Edited May 7, 2018 by bewing

[CrashyMcCrashFace]

4 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

Are you sure that you have a stable connection between KSC and the mun relays? Sounds pretty unstable to me with just one relay in Kerbin orbit.

3x evenly around Mun + 2 more at 11Mm Kerbin orbit to finish the triangle config. So 5x total RA-2s for Mun and kerbin coverage. I can't see why it's not 100 coverage to at least Minmus (there's 3x RA-2s there too) for a probe with a 500K antenna. Except for maybe the poles which I'm not currently orbiting. The 1 in low Kerbin orbit is not necessary. I just noticed this flaky probe will work when it's near.

[4x4cheesecake]

1 minute ago, CrashyMcCrashFace said:

3x evenly around Mun + 2 more at 11Mm Kerbin orbit to finish the triangle config. So 5x total RA-2s for Mun and kerbin coverage. I can't see why it's not 100 coverage to at least Minmus (there's 3x RA-2s there too) for a probe with a 500K antenna. Except for maybe the poles which I'm not currently orbiting. The 1 in low Kerbin orbit is not necessary. I just noticed this flaky probe will work when it's near.

Ok, sounds like you had only one relay in Kerbin orbit Read my edit for another idea ^^

[CrashyMcCrashFace]

Good idea but nope. I was hoping I accidentally moved it but all options under CommNet are 1.0.

[Capt. Hunt]

are you sure that all of the relays have line of sight on each other?  It sounds like one or more of the links in the chain may be broken.  Ideally, what you need is 2 or 3 relays in keosynchronous orbit, with at least that is in constant line of sight to KSC and one other relay.  That should just about cover anything in Kerbin's SOI.

[bewing]

Alternately, you may really want to try removing first KER, and then trying it again. And then MJ, and trying it again. You may not want to believe it, but those mods can make your game act funny.

 

[4x4cheesecake]

Well, I'm out of ideas then. I've recreated your situation as good as I can, following your description but my probe is getting an connection. Hopefully someone else can help you.

[CrashyMcCrashFace]

I've added an image to the top post just in case I wasn't accurate in describing the setup.

I'll try removing the MJ and KER mods.

[4x4cheesecake]

Even on the screenshot, it looks fine for me. If removing the mods does not help and if you haven't done already, you may want to check the antenna state via right click. Same for the batteries and the probe core, just to be sure everything is actually operational. Honestly running out of ideas (must be something so obvious, nobody thinks about xD)

edit: Maybe try to launch the very same probe again and check if this one is working?

Edited May 8, 2018 by 4x4cheesecake

[bewing]

Did anybody mention the Difficulty Options and the CommNet Range Modifier yet? What's your Range Modifier?

[4x4cheesecake]

34 minutes ago, bewing said:

Did anybody mention the Difficulty Options and the CommNet Range Modifier yet? What's your Range Modifier?

I guess thats covered:

4 hours ago, CrashyMcCrashFace said:

Good idea but nope. I was hoping I accidentally moved it but all options under CommNet are 1.0.