Antenna Direction

[HMW]

Hello guys, I have played this game for quite a long time but am still confused with the antenna.  I started a new game with single ground station (KSC) and launched 3 relay sats equipped with 2 HG-01 antenna to Kerbin 6-hour orbit (about 2860000m height). The three relays separate from each other with 120 degree difference, so the distance separates the three relays is around 5000000m which is within the max distance of my antenna—8000000m, but the three relays only have extremely weak connection with each other, which confuses me very much. Since the two HG-01 on my relay are pointing in opposite direction, I doubt seriously the antenna pointing direction has something to do with connection (though indicated in Wiki it doesn’t). Say, if considering only one HG-01 antenna of two relays, then the max distance would be 5000000m, which accounts for the weak connection.  Am I making some mistakes here?

P.S. I don’t think the connection is weaken by Kerbin atmosphere; the line connecting two relays at orbit 2860000m is far from Kerbin atmosphere.

[bewing]

Signal strength goes as 1/r^2.

So if the range where your signal goes from 1% to 0% is 8Mm, then at 5Mm the signal should be 64/25ths bigger -- ie. not quite 3% I would expect.

(And the antennas are called HG-5s, not -01  )

Edited December 6, 2018 by bewing

[Dark Lion]

Depending on which probe core you choose, you might slightly amplify the signal or enable multi-hop relaying.
No, the direction your antennae are facing does not matter, as you could deploy them inside a cargo bay and they would still work.
Also of note: the distance between your relays is greater than the distance to the nearest ground station... If you intend to use this network to stay in contact with other worldly exploration, I highly recommend beefing up the entire relay system. Either use more of the same, or redesign them with greater ranges in mind than you need. You'll want to go farther out later on, right? No harm in preparing for that now and save yourself a few launches.

[HMW]

12 hours ago, Dark Lion said:

Depending on which probe core you choose, you might slightly amplify the signal or enable multi-hop relaying.
No, the direction your antennae are facing does not matter, as you could deploy them inside a cargo bay and they would still work.
Also of note: the distance between your relays is greater than the distance to the nearest ground station... If you intend to use this network to stay in contact with other worldly exploration, I highly recommend beefing up the entire relay system. Either use more of the same, or redesign them with greater ranges in mind than you need. You'll want to go farther out later on, right? No harm in preparing for that now and save yourself a few launches.

Thank you for reply! I re-launched the three sats today and they are all right now. I'm not sure what happened yesterday; perhaps Slartibartfast happened to be in my way-lol. Anyway now the signal strength is 26%, exactly what I expected. I'm only building this simple commu-net to ensure my probe on Mun under control when KSC is on far side of Mun-Kerbin. Happy launching!

[Dark Lion]

18 hours ago, HMW said:

I'm only building this simple commu-net to ensure my probe on Mun under control when KSC is on far side of Mun-Kerbin.

Well just be sure to land on Mun's surface where it's facing Kerbin!  

[Duck McFuddle]

The HG- whatever is not a relay antenna (As far as I know) If you want to make a relay network, use the other ones that are designed for relay. I actually don't know if this will really help, but maybe.

[Snark]

On 12/9/2018 at 6:08 AM, Duck McFuddle said:

The HG- whatever is not a relay antenna (As far as I know)

Careful, I believe you're incorrect here, at least as far as the OP's question is concerned.

The game actually contains two antennas that have "HG" in their name:  the HG-5 and the HG-55.  The former is a relay antenna; the latter is not.

The antenna shown below, the HG-5, is a relay antenna that's suitable for near-Kerbin communications, but its 5M power is nowhere near strong enough for interplanetary:

Whereas this antenna shown below, the HG-55, is a direct antenna with literally 3000 times as much power as the HG-5:

The OP gets the name wrong (he refers to the "HG-01", and there exists no such antenna).  However, from the OP's original message (about antennas whose power gives low signal strength when they're in orbit a few thousand km above Kerbin), it's pretty clear that he's talking about the HG-5, not the HG-55.

So, yes, it is a relay antenna, and that's not the problem here.

On 12/6/2018 at 11:11 PM, HMW said:

Anyway now the signal strength is 26%, exactly what I expected.

Great, glad it's working out for you! 

(Incidentally:  in case you're not aware, you can boost your comsat's signal strength by stacking a lot of those antennas on it.  The more antennas, the more power.  It's subject to diminishing returns, though, so it would be impractical to boost the strength up to what you'd need for an interplanetary mission-- for that, you'd need a better antenna.)

[Duck McFuddle]

Whoops...