what is the difference between the antennas?

[majorwraith]

im just playing around with the new .22 update and i can not really get the difference between the antennas?

the only thing I noticed was that the first you get is the best one and i think it is kind of backwards in the tech-tree.

does anybody else have an idea about this?

[Derpy Pigs]

The better antennae lose less science when transmitting.

[TheReaper]

it is currenly mostly about faster transmisison and less energy per transmission, its mechanics arent exacly explained nor understood

[Dunbaratu]

It makes no sense to me why the antennae higher up the tech tree have LESS science retention percentages.

[lajoswinkler]

Better antennas consume a lot of charge. I do not recommend using the big dish on probes you throw on other planets. You'll go mad even if you use tons of batteries. It just isn't worth it. The dish is best used around Kerbin.

[Eric S]

The better antennae lose less science when transmitting.

This is not true, they all have the same rate of loss.

Relative to the starter Communotron 16, the medium dish takes 80% as much time and 150% as much power for the same amount of data. The large dish takes 60% as much time and 200% of the power. Because of the power increases for transmitting the same amount of data, unless your craft has enough power to keep an antenna transmitting 80% of the time, you'll actually be able to transmit faster using a lower antenna.

[Dunbaratu]

This is not true, they all have the same rate of loss.

I don't think that's true. It's actually worse than that - the higher antennae up the tech tree are listed as having LOWER percentages of science retention. If you transmit with a low antenna, it retains 0.6 of the science, but the higher ones have values of 0.4.

[3mon]

This is not true, they all have the same rate of loss.

Relative to the starter Communotron 16, the medium dish takes 80% as much time and 150% as much power for the same amount of data. The large dish takes 60% as much time and 200% of the power. Because of the power increases for transmitting the same amount of data, unless your craft has enough power to keep an antenna transmitting 80% of the time, you'll actually be able to transmit faster using a lower antenna.

Given the increases in transmission time and power required, i think the "better" antennae really should have accordingly reduced loss rate when transmitting... As it is there is no real reason to use other than Communotrons, right?

[Psycix]

The power consumption drawbacks are simply too big for the minor transmission bonuses.

Perhaps an antenna's data rate should diminish at long ranges, making the dish a much better option there.

[MadHorse]

Just time warp 50x when you transmit your data > *tadaa* enough battery power

Maybe it is a little bugusing ... i don't know.