Is there a general guide to communications?

[maestro]

I'm a older player in that I quit playing for a year or so and am not familiar with how communications with unmanned craft work. I know each antenna has different ranges and about line of sight etc., but is there some basic rules to go by like certain antennas for farther planets?

[maculator]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWFHiLUE2Ig

[Jupiter3927]

The game gives a handy guide for antenna ranges somewhere.
Find the relay range page in the in-game wiki (found in the bottom right corner I think) and it shows you a cheat sheet for how far 2 relays can go before losing connection.

[Venusgate]

Antenna range rules are pretty simple. Range is equal to the the square of the product of the two antennae on each side of the range.

So if a 10Mm range antenna is on one side, and a 5Mm antenna range is on the other side: √(10*5)=7.07Mm

When you're connecting straight to the tracking station, or a ground station, you use the DSN strength on one side, but to have a commsat inbetween, the commsat needs a relay.

Signal strength, however, is a little more complicated...

[maculator]

Originally posted by Venusgate:

Signal strength, however, is a little more complicated...

- Green: Good
- Orange: Fine
- Red: Not so Good
-None: Bad

[Jupiter3927]

You still have full control at red signals.

[Mightylink]

Most people put relays over kerbin but thats useless because it has ground stations. Relays work better at the target, not the source, you put your biggest relay in orbit of whatever body you want communications at then you can use smaller antennas around it and on the surface.

If you want full "24"-hour coverage on a planet you need at least 3 big relays in orbit in a triangle shape.

[AoD_lexandro]

Originally posted by Mightylink:

Most people put relays over kerbin but thats useless because it has ground stations. Relays work better at the target, not the source, you put your biggest relay in orbit of whatever body you want communications at then you can use smaller antennas around it and on the surface.

If you want full "24"-hour coverage on a planet you need at least 3 big relays in orbit in a triangle shape.

You only get the groundstations if you enable them. Many people like myself dont use them, and we are required to have a constelation around kerbin to relay back to KSC when the planets out of alignment for coms.

[Mightylink]

Originally posted by AoD_lexandro:

Originally posted by Mightylink:

Most people put relays over kerbin but thats useless because it has ground stations. Relays work better at the target, not the source, you put your biggest relay in orbit of whatever body you want communications at then you can use smaller antennas around it and on the surface.

If you want full "24"-hour coverage on a planet you need at least 3 big relays in orbit in a triangle shape.

You only get the groundstations if you enable them. Many people like myself dont use them, and we are required to have a constelation around kerbin to relay back to KSC when the planets out of alignment for coms.

Your right, if you have then turned off then you need relays around kerbin also, not sure what most people do since they are on by default.

[Chibbity]

Originally posted by Mightylink:

Originally posted by AoD_lexandro:

You only get the groundstations if you enable them. Many people like myself dont use them, and we are required to have a constelation around kerbin to relay back to KSC when the planets out of alignment for coms.

Your right, if you have then turned off then you need relays around kerbin also, not sure what most people do since they are on by default.

I have them turned off, but I built my own.

Designing and flying ground relays out via plane can be a really fun self imposed task!

[AoD_lexandro]

Originally posted by Chibbity:

Originally posted by Mightylink:

Your right, if you have then turned off then you need relays around kerbin also, not sure what most people do since they are on by default.

I have them turned off, but I built my own.

Designing and flying ground relays out via plane can be a really fun self imposed task!

Dang it dude. Now you made me want to do ground stations. :p

[Chibbity]

Originally posted by AoD_lexandro:

Originally posted by Chibbity:

I have them turned off, but I built my own.

Designing and flying ground relays out via plane can be a really fun self imposed task!

Dang it dude. Now you made me want to do ground stations. :p

Don't fight the urge lol.

I have a ring going around the equator roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of the way, at some point though I had a stroke of inspiration and decided that two relay towers at the poles would work just as well as a belt. I may still finish the ring though, just for the sake of completeness lol.

[maculator]

Originally posted by Chibbity:

I have a ring going around the equator roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of the way, at some point though I had a stroke of inspiration and decided that two relay towers at the poles would work just as well as a belt. I may still finish the ring though, just for the sake of completeness lol.

With the settings at default this might work, but with higher occlusion you can't do that.

[agrimes]

All craft, especially probes, need coms with either a ground station or a nearby relay sattelite. So therefore antennas are either rated DIRECT or RELAY. D-magic orbital science mod has many parts that also offer relay functionality, these are extremely useful. =P A basic relay configuration is a relay with at least a few few hundred km range and a long range direct link to Kerbin...

[maculator]

The best way (also lategame way...) is to just put a triangle of sats at the edge of kerbins soi.
Put 4 of the biggest dishes on each sat and you got your kerbin-constillation AND you DSN all together in 3 "little" sats. Done. forever.

[Semaj]

YES! A little tedious sometimes, but fun.

Originally posted by Chibbity:

Originally posted by Mightylink:

Your right, if you have then turned off then you need relays around kerbin also, not sure what most people do since they are on by default.

I have them turned off, but I built my own.

Designing and flying ground relays out via plane can be a really fun self imposed task!