Ninth Chevron

[Teurasias]

I've been thinking and the question "What does the ninth chevron actually do?" came to my mind.

We know that a nine symbol address dials to Destiny, but what part does the ninth symbol have? Six are sort of an area code, one is a point of origin and another is for dialing another Stargate network(e.g. Pegasus 'gate to MW 'gate). We know that the Destiny is several billions lightyears from the MW galaxy, and that that distance could probably require a nine symbol address for the gates, but that seems unlikely to me, because that's the whole point of having the eighth symbol: to dial a distant Stargate.

If anyone has any ideas as to what it does, it would help.

[Alx]

i believe (if memory serves me right) that it is some sort of "code" and or some X-factor distance equation as the "do we? do we really?" guy said

[Mike.]

It was a code, like a password specifically hardcoded in every stargate to dial the Destiny. Nine chevrons so it doesn't interfere with normal galaxy-to-galaxy addresses. Proof: they used Earth's PoO (heh) on a planet nowhere close to it - it didn't need to be functional, just to "match".

I always imagined that this 9 ch. code used a completely different communication protocol - like sending a signal in all directions because Destiny could be anywhere (proof: massive power usage even before the connection was established), instead of a highly directional beam like normal gate communication - the gates routinely connect to each other to relay their (and other gates') location in a mesh networking fashion. (this might be another explanation for the Universe-class gates' small range - the directional signal to known locations was not implemented yet so the gates rely on the short range of one's signal - like a wifi's ssid).

[Michael Jansky]

Yeah, I kinda think of it as a unique callsign for the Destiny. Normal gates use chevrons to triangulate position. The point-of-origin chevron has the position data already matched to itself, as it is unique to each gate. Or, perhaps what it contains is simply the connect command, or an identification of the "calling" gate so the "called" gate knows who's trying to make contact (and from where, presumably).

The eighth chevron identifies the subnetwork. Presumably, a chevron that would normally encode a position has a different meaning when encoded as eighth. I think of it as when keys on a mobile phone that are normally used to write letters also have a number corresponding to them, which has no connection to the letters that are available on that key under normal cirsumstances.

The difference of the Destiny is that it is the only known gate designed to be reachable on the move, and in places where there is no existing network in place (yet). If another gate moves, due to stellar drift or to being transported, its new position has to be painstakingly input into the DHD for a connection to be established. The Destiny gate has its unique callsign, an extra place in the address, which may, say, encode the information necessary for establishing a direct, point-to-point connection without prior knowledge of the location of the gate. Presumably, there must still be some kind of communication between the gates for them to find each other.

Maybe there is another way the Stargates can be used - instead of a telephone-like network, to create a single direct connection. Then, it may not be necessary to know the position of the receiving gate. It would likely be very impractical to build a network of gates using this mode, as just a bunch of direct connections. But it may be possible to have one or a few gates like this, outside of the network, reachable only on a "hotline".

Also, I kinda think that if this is the way it works, it would better explain why *all* Stargates are built for nine-space addresses. There would not be that much sense in going to all the trouble just so Destiny can be dialed from anywhere; there would also be no point - it surely would have been enough for the Ancients to have that capability on their homeworld, plus maybe a few key places elsewhere. Making it accessible from anywhere, even from gates not under direct Ancient control, would seem more like compromising the Destiny mission's security to possible outside threats.

It would make much more sense that the nature of Stargate technology simply is it has either a direct mode, for which for reasons unknown precisely nine chevrons are needed to make a connection, or a more "economical" but less versatile network mode, where only seven chevrons are needed in the position-place of origin configuration, along with more modest power requirements, at the cost of giving up the possibility of moving the gates around freely. If that's so, then none of the nine chevrons in Destiny's address may be used to triangulate position at all. Rather, they might be a precise identification of the Destiny gate, along with some other unknown additional information needed in this mode of operation.

If that is the case, there would most likely be the possibility to have more gates like the Destiny's, reachable only through direct connection mode, with their unique addresses. If the Ancients ever opted to make use of this possibility is another thing, however.

[Cmdr. Setsuna F. Seyei]

yep i totally agree

[Teurasias]

Thanks for the help. I get it now, makes much more sense.