RealAntennas Beta 8 for 1.7.3

This release is superseded by 0.8.1. Leaving this here for the release notes.

UI features!

Obligatory warning: There are ongoing changes to channel/band properties and the configured encoders per TL.

The data rates achieved between a pair of antennas at a given distance may change between RA versions. A link that was good previously may now not be, or vice-versa. Most of these definitions are configurable in the .cfg files!

No significant gameplay changes. This is an early look at some new UI features.
Requires 1.7.3
Map Icons for ground stations. Toggle off/on by (de-)selecting "sites" in the vessel types.
Map UI feature tuning accessible via the overall RealAntennas GUI in Map View
Multi-color links depict signal strength from either transmit or receive perspective. Toggle perspective via the feature tuning. (Receive perspective means the link color close to the node represents how well the node hears the distant peer. Transmit perspective represents how well the distant peer hears the nearby node.)
3-D antenna cone display. Toggle between None, 2-D and 3-D via the feature tuning
Telemetry GUI updates in the Flight Scene. RealAntennas now adjusts the icons & tooltips in the upper left section of the UI representing CommNet status. Green/red arrow representing if science can transmit is removed (as RA does not have a distinction between "control-only" links and data links). Mouse-over tooltip of the signal icon gives more detailed view of the data rates at each part of the link, and the top-level view is of the maximum data rate across all hops.
Bugfix: Log spam from distance calculations going to 0 when multiple vessels were very far from the current origin.

RealAntennas Beta 7 for 1.7.3

Obligatory warning: There are ongoing changes to channel/band properties and the configured encoders per TL.

The data rates achieved between a pair of antennas at a given distance may change between RA versions. A link that was good previously may now not be, or vice-versa. Most of these definitions are configurable in the .cfg files!

REQUIRES 1.7.3
PAW: Added PAW grouping features.
Performance Improvement: Optimized link checking involving a directional antenna. This can be very significant when you have a large number of vessels.
Antenna parts now add mass and cost based on the transmit power and the rules specified by the tech level.
Antennas now charge a fixed idle draw specified by the tech level, instead of 10% of active draw. Update to the PAW fields to make this more clear.
Planner bugfix: In-flight planner sometimes tried to test link to another vessel instead of the DSN.
Planner bugfix: In-Editor planner for vessel-vessel links didn't properly account for the receiver's noise [configured by tech level] when planning links. Resulted in a large over-estimate of range.
Performance UI: Added a very basic UI where RealAntennas will report self-generated performance metrics. This UI is accessible in most game scenes via MOD+I. There is also a stock toolbar icon that can be enabled via the RealAntennas difficulty settings.

RealAntennas Beta 7 for 1.6.1

Obligatory warning: There are ongoing changes to channel/band properties and the configured encoders per TL.

The data rates achieved between a pair of antennas at a given distance may change between RA versions. A link that was good previously may now not be, or vice-versa. Most of these definitions are configurable in the .cfg files!

Performance Improvement: Optimized link checking involving a directional antenna. This can be very significant when you have a large number of vessels.
Antenna parts now add mass and cost based on the transmit power and the rules specified by the tech level.
Antennas now charge a fixed idle draw specified by the tech level, instead of 10% of active draw. Update to the PAW fields to make this more clear.
Planner bugfix: In-flight planner sometimes tried to test link to another vessel instead of the DSN.
Planner bugfix: In-Editor planner for vessel-vessel links didn't properly account for the receiver's noise [configured by tech level] when planning links. Resulted in a large over-estimate of range.
Performance UI: Added a very basic UI where RealAntennas will report self-generated performance metrics. This UI is accessible in most game scenes via MOD+I. There is also a stock toolbar icon that can be enabled via the RealAntennas difficulty settings.

RealAntennas Beta 6.2

Supports Kerbalism displaying Idle and Active power draw. Requires Kerbalism build 7277+.

RealAntennas Beta 6.1

Bugfix Release for Beta 6, plus a few QoL improvements.

Bugfixes:
Actually enforce TL-3 ("Interplanetary Comms") as S-band requirement in RealismOverhaul
Change default (override) band to UHF in RealismOverhaul
Change default band to first one defined if none specified
Don't consume idle power in active (loaded) vessel when antenna is disabled
Correctly hide antenna fields in Editor when disabled

QoL:
Reduce default TxPower from 40dBm (10W) to 30dBm (1W)
Immediately apply difficulty settings changes instead of only on scene transition
Add difficulty options to enable/disable state logging and configure its interval

RealAntennas Beta 6

Obligatory warning: There are ongoing changes to channel/band properties and the configured encoders per TL.
The data rates achieved between a pair of antennas at a given distance may change between RA versions. A link that was good previously may now not be, or vice-versa. Most of these definitions are configurable in the .cfg files!

The antenna can now be disabled in the Editor only. Antennas disabled this way will not function and cannot be re-enabled in flight. This allows aesthetic parts without consuming any power, or to disable an integrated antenna if you prefer.
S-band is now only available at TL-3 in RO (Interplanetary Comms)! This is a change from earlier, where S-band is available from the start.
Separated out stock from RO configurations. The previous configs were very RO-centric, and started to make no sense in the stock environment. (12bps in VHF is not a good idea in stock.)

• The stock configs are largely untested from a balance perspective! But that's why there are a couple tweakable sliders in the difficulty settings.
  Boosted the transmit power of the DSN ground stations at UHF and VHF. The 3 major DSN stations also have more directional UHF/VHF antennas.
  Added a handful of Vens/Coatl/SXT configs. (Other suitable configs can be found in RO.) Thanks to neph and Gordon Dry.
  Fixes to the planner, in particular for vessel-vessel link planning.
  Planning data using a directional antenna is now consistent.
  Warning when you try to use the planner on a deployable-but-not-deployed antenna.
  Now displays transmit and receive data rates for a pair of antennas.
  Limitation: It is technically possible in RA to have a link between two points using two different antennas on one or both endpoints. For instance, from a probe you can potentially transmit from antenna A and receive on antenna B. The use cases are questionable, and showing this is beyond the scope of the planner.

Added another transmission rate rescaler in the difficulty options for stock (not-Kerbalism) usage. This is to help address #9 -- feedback appreciated. This can be found in the difficulty settings. Applying it likely requires a scene change (ie jump to SPACECENTER and back to the vessel)

As of this pre-release, Kerbalism is not yet ready to handle separating active and idle transmitter power consumption. Hopefully next release.

RealAntennas Beta 5

Obligatory warning: There are ongoing changes to channel/band properties and the configured encoders per TL.
The data rates achieved between a pair of antennas at a given distance may change between RA versions. A link that was good previously may now not be, or vice-versa. Most of these definitions are configurable in the .cfg files!

New planner features, to support vessel-vessel link planning. You can select any antenna on any existing vessel, or any antenna on the current vessel, as the peer antenna and then set the distance (in Mm) in the slider.
Bugfix: Better handling of unloaded vessels requiring power to act as a relay. (Previously unloaded vessels could have their antennas active and function as relays even when out of power)
Bugfix: Similar treatment for deployable antennas in unloaded vessels. (They acted as if always deployed before.)
Reduced max VHF bandwidth to 25% of previous. Practically, this means lower max data rate, but also a lower minimum rate, which allows a greater distance.
TechLevel is now 0-based instead of 1-based.
Massively reduced TL0-1 data rates (pre-Digital Comms tech node). Much work left to reconciling historical data rates and RA's modeling.
Bugfix: Vessels no longer have extreme RF sensitivity when unloaded.

Known issues:

The peer antenna selection GUI is definitely WIP. The band info displayed on the selector button for unloaded vessels (ie everything when in the Editor) is not reliable. It displays the default band (usually UHF or S) instead of the configured band.

The antenna planner models the current part's antenna exactly as it is. Make sure you extend it (if it is deployable)! The same is true of the peer antenna on any other vessel. (Non-deployed antennas may no longer appear as selectable, TBD)

Because TL is now 0-based, existing craft are 1 TL higher than they should be. Developer error in your favor, collect some free capacity.

RealAntennas Beta 4

Various bugfixes, particularly related to Principia and Kerbalism integration
Some attempted fixes to RP-1/KCT integration
Configurable Encoders

RealAntennas Beta 3

Some bugfixes and UI QOL improvements.

Beta-2 Pre-release

Bugfixes and improvements to the planner features
Some balance changes regarding physics that wasn't applied to probe receivers (probe relays were OP)
Reduced number of data rate halvings per tech level, to be more in line with early technology limits
Removed multi-channel ganging at higher tech levels (WIP, will probably return later)

Download, unzip, and place in your GameData folder.