Offworld Activation

[Tibit]

OK, I did a search, didn't notice anything that dealth with this issue directly. Someone told me, and I have read on Stargate fansites(including one that lists inconsistencies, and they list this as an inconsistency for LOTS of episodes) that when someone dials to a planet, the stargate activates instantly(all chevrons at once) which makes sense, because the signal is coming in. However, I recently bought the first 3 seasons and have noticed in MOST occasions that the chevrons light up one by one. Examples are at the SGC, usually it says offworld activation, everyone runs to gate room, and then it initializes. Also in episodes like Secrets(season 2) you see people see the gate begin dialing in, and then people going quick Apophis is coming. Or in Tokra Part 2(season 2) someone is dialing in and Sam beats them dialing out. Due to the fact that it is seen so often, I'm inclined to believe it activates one by one, but how is this possible? Once the chevrons are engaged from the dialing side the wormhole goes to the recieving end and, kawoosh. Also, I'm pretty sure the stargate can't/doesn't send a signal to the recieving gate saying to initialize one by one, and besides, how could it send that to every gate that starts with the same symbol? Anyhow, I hope someone can clear this up for me.

[TechnoWraith]

It could be part of an error prevention protocol, employed to prevent mis-dials or what-have-you. (Computer modems use a form of error correction called parity. Parity checks the number of 1's or 0's sent from the transmitting modem to the receiving modem. If the receiving modem finds that the transmitting modem sent "too many 1's or 0's", it asks the transmitting modem to resend the data).

In a similar manner, the chevrons lighting up one-by-one on the destination gate could serve a similar purpose. The dialing system checks to make sure the chevron on the destination gate is locked before having the origin gate dial the next chevron.

That's my theory, at least. Add or subtract whatever you'd like to it.

[Lee]

Greetings! I'm kinda new, but I strongly believe myself to be a Shipper . I hope they have Sam and Jack's wedding in the next season. I really don't know how I'll be able to stand MONTHS with out new StarGate episodes .

[Zed.P.M.]

It could be part of an error prevention protocol, employed to prevent mis-dials or what-have-you. (Computer modems use a form of error correction called parity. Parity checks the number of 1's or 0's sent from the transmitting modem to the receiving modem. If the receiving modem finds that the transmitting modem sent "too many 1's or 0's", it asks the transmitting modem to resend the data).

In a similar manner, the chevrons lighting up one-by-one on the destination gate could serve a similar purpose. The dialing system checks to make sure the chevron on the destination gate is locked before having the origin gate dial the next chevron.

That's my theory, at least. Add or subtract whatever you'd like to it.

I too have wondered why sometimes all the chevrons would come on at the same time, and then sometimes they would come on one by one. I think that your theory could be the most plausible. Also, it may be worth noting that the Pegasus chevrons come on one by one (just a bit faster).

[Wandering Tamer]

Greetings! I'm kinda new, but I strongly believe myself to be a Shipper . I hope they have Sam and Jack's wedding in the next season. I really don't know how I'll be able to stand MONTHS with out new StarGate episodes .

and that's relevent how?

anyways, it might be because the earth gate is connected differently, so it does through different dialing procedures. It's been mentioned that something like half of the signals are ignored by Sam's set up.


that or I agree with the theory above. but you know... it's one of those things that isn't going to be explained. It could also be, the times we see them activate all at once the camera simply wasn't looking at the gate at the time.

[Tibit]

I don't see how the signal could arrive without the wormhole already being opened though. But, the chevrons do encode. Also, if your theory is correct and it dials only the first number before the next can be engaged, wouldn't it then have to send the locking of the first chevron to....possibly hundreds of stargates, or rather every stargate that starts with the same chevron? In Secrets, it dials one by one (to Abydos) when Apophis dials in and also when SG-1 dials in a few minutes later. Also, I just watched A Matter of Time(season 2) and SG-10 dialed in, the alarm came on and the wormhole engaged as soon as main characters entered the room(don't know if they dialed one by one) but if they had dialed one by one, shouldn't the chevrons have been as slow coming in as the GDO signal was(600% slower at the time)?

EDIT: Also in Spirits, at the very beginning the offworld activation to earth is shown as one chevron engaging at a time.

[Inferno D]

I thought the gate was always messed up, because when you used the DHD, the wormhole would appear immediately, but on Earth, the wormhole would take longer to appear.

[Ancient 1]

I just usually blame all the inconsistencies on the fact that the SGC does not have a DHD, so any abnormalties are the consequences of having our gate hooked into a comparably primitive computer. This thinking saves me many fronaches.

[./freelancer]

Maybe when the wormhole is established, the recieving gate has to set up some stuff, like answering or something. It has to initialize the event horizon, and possibly other thing. This might happen when the wormhole has reached the recv gate. So when all the chevrons lock on the recv gate, maybe it's just a "percent completed thingy", and not actual chevron locks...Maybe...