I think I have less control of some satellites than I should. Is it fixable?

[FinalFan]

I've begun to notice that some of my older satellites were partially unresponsive.  (I can still command it to turn prograde/retrograde, but not elsewhere, nor can I set up maneuver nodes or control the throttle.)  I was suspicious because it seemed like they should have been in range for full control, but all they had was the probe antenna, so I chalked it up to that, even though I noticed that the probe icon was not orange or red but completely absent.  However, now I have found one that seems to have no excuse:  It's only orbiting the Mun, and it has line-of-sight to Kerbin, and I have finally set up a relay network, and it's packing an S-16 antenna!  And yes, it has power. 

I'm at a loss as to what reason could rightly exist for me to have less than full control of these satellites.  Does anyone know?  Do you think that it would be fixed if I went out there with a Klaw to wake them up? 

[edit:  TinyPic is dead; long live Flickr.  Original link for insanity posterity:  http://i68.tinypic.com/xlguo0.jpg ]

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by FinalFan
Tinypic is dead; long live Flickr

[Geonovast]

What do your signal lines look like in the map view?

[FinalFan]

2 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

What do your signal lines look like in the map view?

If I set it to show full network, there's a crazy quilt going all over the place but not touching the satellites in question. 

[themonk]

34 minutes ago, FinalFan said:

If I set it to show full network, there's a crazy quilt going all over the place but not touching the satellites in question. 

I think you just answered your own question....

Your satellite needs an antenna of suitable range and a line of site back to Kerbin or a communication relay satellite.  Remember planetary bodies can block Line of Site...

[FinalFan]

3 minutes ago, themonk said:

I think you just answered your own question....

Your satellite needs an antenna of suitable range and a line of site back to Kerbin or a communication relay satellite.  Remember planetary bodies can block Line of Site...

I think you need to reread the OP.  Kerbin is controlling probes with only the probe antenna at greater distances than the satellite in the picture that has a real antenna and you can see the planet in the background. 

P.S.  "Line of Sight"

Edited October 4, 2018 by FinalFan
postscript

[themonk]

I see the antenna now....  but wouldnt the fact that the uncontrollable satellites are not in the communications network indicate a comm problem?

[FinalFan]

Just now, themonk said:

I see the antenna now....  but wouldnt the fact that the uncontrollable satellites are not in the communications network indicate a comm problem?

Ordinarily, yes.  That's why it took so long for me to decide that it was actually a game problem.  Only now have I got to the point where it's completely unbelievable that the weakness of the antenna is at fault. 

Or to put it another way, it is a comm problem in that the satellites can't talk to the network.  However, I believe it's wrong that the game won't let them talk to the network. 

[Gargamel]

Just as a test, cause this strikes me as a bug or some procedural thing, not an antenna issue....

Create a save point.

Build a really strong relay sat.  Get it into a nice orbit near the uncontrollable sat, HyperEdit FTW here. 

See if you regain connection.  

If not, there's something fishy going on.

Revert to the save so you don't muddle with your career. 

[themonk]

If the tracking station is updated, and it must be... because you have a comm network showing.... I am at a loss to explain why the satellite icon is Missing on the comm display...

Was it missing during the entire flight?

[FinalFan]

1 minute ago, themonk said:

If the tracking station is updated, and it must be... because you have a comm network showing.... I am at a loss to explain why the satellite icon is Missing on the comm display...

Was it missing during the entire flight?

No:  all of these vehicles operated normally until their initial mission was done; then, when I came back to them later in my career for various reasons, this issue was present. 

2 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

Just as a test, cause this strikes me as a bug or some procedural thing, not an antenna issue....

Create a save point.

Build a really strong relay sat.  Get it into a nice orbit near the uncontrollable sat, HyperEdit FTW here. 

See if you regain connection.  

If not, there's something fishy going on.

Revert to the save so you don't muddle with your career. 

This actually sounds kind of fun.  BRB

[bewing]

Are you running mods?

 

[FinalFan]

2 minutes ago, bewing said:

Are you running mods?

No, pure stock.  At the moment, not even the expansion. 

[FinalFan]

On 10/3/2018 at 9:49 PM, Gargamel said:

Just as a test, cause this strikes me as a bug or some procedural thing, not an antenna issue....

Create a save point.

Build a really strong relay sat.  Get it into a nice orbit near the uncontrollable sat, HyperEdit FTW here. 

See if you regain connection.  

If not, there's something fishy going on.

Revert to the save so you don't muddle with your career. 

Now, this may just be my personal opinion, but I feel that eight RA-100s ought to be enough signal when 9 meters from the vessel, but maybe not

[edit:  TinyPic is dead; long live Flickr.  Original link for insanity posterity:  http://i67.tinypic.com/r73uh4.jpg ]

Operation Catch and Release was a success, so I guess I can reboot the ones I actually care about.  There's one I put in an orbit roughly as far out as Minmus (non-intersecting) that I don't think I care about that much. 

Edited September 22, 2019 by FinalFan
TinyPic is dead; long live Flickr.

[bewing]

Hmmm. Glad your operation was a success. But as Gargamel said -- definitely something fishy. I've never seen such an error before, though.

 

[Gargamel]

18 hours ago, FinalFan said:

Now, this may just be my personal opinion, but I feel that eight RA-100s ought to be enough signal when 9 meters from the vessel, but maybe not

I was assuming you'd throw together something simple, then just edit it into orbit..... not build Satellite Five!    Holy over kill batman! 

[Cavscout74]

21 hours ago, FinalFan said:

I noticed that the probe icon was not orange or red but completely absent. 

Last night I was experimenting with building a remote science station (something along the lines of the ALSEP experiments) using KIS/KAS.  Initially, my assembled station was ok, but after flipping back to the engineer assembling it (at KSC) to have him reboard the rover, then back to the remote station, I also lost all probe icons.  No red, orange or anything.  And this was on the KSC grounds, with a 1.0M antenna (specifically the combined antenna/solar panel from Probes Plus).  Also, it would collect the science experiments, but not review or transmit them.  But I got credit for them when I recovered it.

Finished product