A Stargate has two sides...

[Womble]

... but only one is safe to enter, right? If you enter from the wrong side, you're toast.

So suppose you unearth a buried Stargate. The DHD or the original pedestal are nowhere to be seen. You want to install it in your very special military compound inside a mountain and "Mcgyver" a dialing system- but how do you know which side of the gate should be facing you and which one should be facing the wall before you actually dial the thing?

[Coronach]

... but only one is safe to enter, right? If you enter from the wrong side, you're toast.

So suppose you unearth a buried Stargate. The DHD or the original pedestal are nowhere to be seen. You want to install it in your very special military compound inside a mountain and "Mcgyver" a dialing system- but how do you know which side of the gate should be facing you and which one should be facing the wall before you actually dial the thing?

I thought this was a recurring joke in which people would ask "What happens when you go through the back of the Stargate instead?". The fact that the question was being asked leads me to believe that we don't know if one side or the other is safe to enter, as it's never been shown on the show.

Or maybe I missed something recently?

[tjoflojt]

i'm not sure, but i think the symbols are only on one side.

[strods]

the light are only on one side... the front... go towards the light
Plus the Whoosh vs the spinning vortex would give you a clue...

[Quadhelix]

So suppose you unearth a buried Stargate. The DHD or the original pedestal are nowhere to be seen. You want to install it in your very special military compound inside a mountain and "Mcgyver" a dialing system- but how do you know which side of the gate should be facing you and which one should be facing the wall before you actually dial the thing?

It's the side with the symbols. As can be seen below, the back of the 'Gate looks nothing like the front.


Front:

Spoiler:

(From here)


Back:

Spoiler:

(From here)

[_Famrir_]

i like to think that the back is just a huge wall of water that u can't go through

[Puddle-Jumper]

Well the symbols for dialing are probably only visable on the side you enter, as would the chevrons be, not to mention the kawoosh, even though the back of the gate has its own thing too... Still its wouldn't be difficult to work out..

[snave21]

Heres an idea what if when the DHD is on the wrong side of the gate it acts as some sort of safeguard and wont allow you to establish a connection even if everything is working at the other end.

Quick question are the DHD's wireless or connected by cables to the gate?

[Guest750]

If it vworks how I think it works, that is it turns you into a energy signature and then transmits you, if you step through the back you will be transported fine but you would be reconstructed with a momentum carrying you towards the event horizon. So if you don't stop soon enough you step back into the gate a die.

[XxX_Kavan Smith_is_Mine_XxX]

Heres an idea what if when the DHD is on the wrong side of the gate it acts as some sort of safeguard and wont allow you to establish a connection even if everything is working at the other end.

Quick question are the DHD's wireless or connected by cables to the gate?

Wireless would be my best educated guess

[oniel193]

The kawoosh duh!!!

[Discodave2009]

Wireless would be my best educated guess

No they must be wired as in the episode 48 hours where teal'c is trapped in the gate when they establish the event horizen and he stepps out the Gate overloads and then sends energy down cables that overloads the gate.

Also in the eppisode Solitudes where Carter and O'neil and up in antartica because the departure gate was struck by lighting Carter mentions that the movement of the ice has severed the connection with the DHD, if it were wireless that would not be a problem

The gates in the Pegasus galaxy were an improvement on the milky way gates in there digital style and these however must have been wireless so puddle Jumpers could dial them like space gates.

There are no space gates in the milky way but half the gates used for the intergalactic bridge were milkey way gates suggesting that the milkey way gates could be modified to accept remote commands.

[Quadhelix]

Heres an idea what if when the DHD is on the wrong side of the gate it acts as some sort of safeguard and wont allow you to establish a connection even if everything is working at the other end.

What purpose would that serve when, as I have already noted, the back of the 'Gate looks almost nothing like the front?

No they must be wired as in the episode 48 hours where teal'c is trapped in the gate when they establish the event horizen and he stepps out the Gate overloads and then sends energy down cables that overloads the gate.

Also in the eppisode Solitudes where Carter and O'neil and up in antartica because the departure gate was struck by lighting Carter mentions that the movement of the ice has severed the connection with the DHD, if it were wireless that would not be a problem

Conversely, in the episode "Touchstone," the rogue NID operatives dialed the 'Gate using a DHD in a truck, with no physical connection to the 'Gate whatsoever. See this and this.

[Discodave2009]

What purpose would that serve when, as I have already noted, the back of the 'Gate looks almost nothing like the front?




Conversely, in the episode "Touchstone," the rogue NID operatives dialed the 'Gate using a DHD in a truck, with no physical connection to the 'Gate whatsoever. See this and this.

Yeah but this could be another instance of Humans modifying the gates to accept remote commands, There is evidence for either case I suppose maybe its just bad continuity or the anchients originaly designed them wireless and then improved them or the Gould did who knows.

[knowles2]

Yeah but this could be another instance of Humans modifying the gates to accept remote commands, There is evidence for either case I suppose maybe its just bad continuity or the anchients originaly designed them wireless and then improved them or the Gould did who knows.

More likely Carter never new how the gate was connected to the DHD and presume it was physical connection, as it was the way they connected there home made dialling computers to the gate. We know from the Teall'c getting stuck episode that Carter was not really involve in further study of how the gates and DHD function together, she focus more the practical matter of making sure SGC gate stayed operational and upgrading earth dialing program.

The episode where they get stuck Antarctica was in the first season and before she became all knowing and could figure out any technology just by looking at or plugging her ultra universal pc tablet 2000 into it.

When tealc got stuck in gate they more than likely use a physical connection so that they could analyse the signal being sent to the gate from the DHD, to make sure the Gould did not double cross us again and also further enhance there knowledge of how the DHD and the Gate work togeather, this is the first time as far as we know the SGC had a chance to play around with both connected devices.

My guess would be physical connection is the human way of doing it and wireless connection is the ancient way of doing it, they probably built the stargate to be able to do both as primitive civilisation would find it easier to access the Stargate systems using wired transmission rather wireless. Wired way is a safe guard if the DHD is disable or destroyed. Plus the Stargate can also be activated remotely by ship, which we have seen the milky way gates do several times, without modification.