Laythe/Jool relay satellite - how many antennas do I need?

[The_8_Bit_Zombie]

I'm going to build a geostationary satellite array above Laythe, but I'm not sure how many 100G antennas each RelaySat should have. Would one work?

[bewing]

In your Advanced Difficulty Options: what's your Range Modifier, your DSN Modifier, do you have the Extra Ground Stations turned on, did you set Require Signal for Control, do you have relay sats around Kerbin (and what is their power rating), and what level is your Tracking Station?

[Snark]

8 hours ago, The_8_Bit_Zombie said:

I'm going to build a geostationary satellite array above Laythe, but I'm not sure how many 100G antennas each RelaySat should have. Would one work?

The farthest that Jool ever gets from Kerbin is about 81G meters.  Details in spoiler, but it boils down to this:

• One RA-100 is plenty, if you're talking directly to level-3 tracking station.  It's also plenty if you're talking to a Kerbin-orbiting satellite that has one RA-100 on it.
• Two RA-100s are required if you're talking to a level-2 tracking station at Kerbin.

 

Spoiler

• Talking to a relay satellite at Kerbin:
  • If your relay satellite has a single RA-100 on it, then it can talk to your satellite at Jool if you've got one RA-100 on it, since the range between two RA-100s can be up to 100G meters, and you're only 81 at most.
• Talking directly to KSC (or other ground stations, if you have them enabled):
  • If your tracking station is level 2, it has 50G power, so to talk to something at Jool, you'd need 131G antenna power on your Jool satellite.  So, you would need two RA-100s on it (since that would give you 168G power).
  • If your tracking station is level 3 (or you're playing sandbox), then you've got plenty of transmission power to spare, and you only need one RA-100 on your Jool ship.

 

 

[The_8_Bit_Zombie]

7 hours ago, bewing said:

In your Advanced Difficulty Options: what's your Range Modifier, your DSN Modifier, do you have the Extra Ground Stations turned on, did you set Require Signal for Control, do you have relay sats around Kerbin (and what is their power rating), and what level is your Tracking Station?

I should have the default Range and DSN modifiers. (I'm in a Normal difficulty Career save) Require Signal for Control is not on, although I might want to turn it on in the future. I do not have any relay sats around Kerbin though; I haven't really needed them because I have extra ground stations turned on. My Tracking Station is level 3.

 

30 minutes ago, Snark said:

The farthest that Jool ever gets from Kerbin is about 81G meters.  Details in spoiler, but it boils down to this:

• One RA-100 is plenty, if you're talking directly to level-3 tracking station.  It's also plenty if you're talking to a Kerbin-orbiting satellite that has one RA-100 on it.
• Two RA-100s are required if you're talking to a level-2 tracking station at Kerbin.

Great thanks! My Tracking Station is level 3, so I'll give one antenna a go then.

[Kryxal]

Honestly, I'd probably set up a pair of long-range relay-sats in eccentric polar Jool orbits, then use something shorter-range for the moons on an as-needed basis...

[The_8_Bit_Zombie]

On 12/28/2018 at 12:43 PM, Kryxal said:

Honestly, I'd probably set up a pair of long-range relay-sats in eccentric polar Jool orbits, then use something shorter-range for the moons on an as-needed basis...

That's a really good idea. I'll do that.

[4x4cheesecake]

Since no one did it so far, I'll leave a link to the antenna range diagram here:

It contains the min/max distance to other planets and which antenna can cover the distance in respect to the level your your tracking station. The grey numbers will tell you, how many antennas of the previous type will be required to cover the distance as well. For example: With a level 3 tracking station, a 100G antenna can cover the distance to Eeloo all the time, even at max distance. But you can also use 8 15G antennas instead and pretty much get the same result.

Edited December 29, 2018 by 4x4cheesecake