CommSat orientation

[paul.ko]

I'm completely new to KSP and currently trying to set up a CommNet. Is it necessary for the relay antenna on a communication satellite to point at Kerbin? Also, do you need two (relay) antennae, one on each side? (the 1st one aligned to Kerbin, the 2nd one to e.g. a probe)

Edited June 19, 2019 by paul.ko

[James Kerman]

Welcome to the forum @paul.ko.

No antennae need to point at Kerbin, your vessel just needs line of sight to a receiver on the home world. You only need one relay antenna for it to be a functional part of your network..

[Geonovast]

Keeping antenna orientation for every satellite would be a nightmare! 

[Loskene]

37 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

Keeping antenna orientation for every satellite would be a nightmare! 

Even realism overhaul with all the modpacks (which has persistent rotation under timewarp and other things you'd need to achieve this) doesn't ask you to physically point your dish at Earth to simulate a connection. It's more hassle than it's worth.

[Snark]

5 hours ago, paul.ko said:

Is it necessary for the relay antenna on a communication satellite to point at Kerbin?

So, as folks have pointed out, the physical orientation of any antenna is completely irrelevant. Yes, they're modeled to look like IRL dish antennas and such, which visibly "point" in some direction, but that's just a cosmetic detail. In gameplay terms, all KSP antennas are completely omnidirectional.

All that matters is range (i.e. can the antenna reach far enough) and line of sight (i.e. is something getting in the way of the signal, such as a planet or Kerbin's horizon).

5 hours ago, paul.ko said:

Also, do you need two (relay) antennae, one on each side? (the 1st one aligned to Kerbin, the 2nd one to e.g. a probe)

Nope. One relay antenna can manage any number of connections.

Having multiple antennas *does* boost the antenna power of the vessel (i.e. give it a longer communication range), because they "stack". However, for most antennas it isn't linear-- there's diminishing returns-- so spamming large numbers of them is of limited effectiveness.

[Geschosskopf]

On 6/19/2019 at 4:23 AM, paul.ko said:

I'm completely new to KSP and currently trying to set up a CommNet. Is it necessary for the relay antenna on a communication satellite to point at Kerbin? Also, do you need two (relay) antennae, one on each side? (the 1st one aligned to Kerbin, the 2nd one to e.g. a probe)

Welcome to the madness!

Anyway, some years ago when KSP 1st got a communications system, I wrote a tutorial on setting up a network.  It's really very simple once you realize that, for gameplay purposes, you can get by with a fairly minimalist system.  While I wrote that guide in 1.2 and this is now 1.7, the info is still largely applicable today.  The linnk is in my sig.