The Destiny Gate

[Andru10]

There are a few things about the Destiny type Gate that don't quite add up. So we know it's an older model and can only dial gates that are relatively close by. It has been speculated (not on the show) that this could be because of the lack of a DHD = lack of power. However, if this is the case, then the gate on board Destiny should be able to dial any other gate in the galaxy, since Destiny has more power than a DHD. But we know it can't. Why? It doesn't seem to be a power requirement issue.
Also, if the Destiny Gate can't even dial all the gates in the galaxy it's in, why did they expect it to be able to dial Earth given sufficient power? Was it unable to dial Earth for the same reason it can't dial the other gates in the galaxy?
In the first episode did Destiny drop out of FTL because it was receiving the incoming wormhole from Earth or was it just a periodic drop-out and it was just a coincidence that at the same moment Icarus dialed the ship?

Spoiler:

If it wasn't a coincidence then why didn't the ship delay from entering FTL when Eli dialed in "Lost"?

[kirmit]

Could be the destiny only permits a certain amount of its power reserves to the gate.

[Puddle-Jumper]

Well like you said its just speculating that its a power thing about the destinys gates being limited.. Id imagine that it is related to the DHD, perhaps without a DHD the gate can't do the correlative updates thing, so its in constant communication with all the gates in range of it, therefore it doesn't know the addresses of the gates outside of its communications range. The Destiny gate works the same for dialling the gates out there, which could explain why it can only dial a limited number of gates, and Destiny isn't capable of dialing gates its passed as it can't contact them so it doesn't know their location or something, and without coorelative updates it cant compensate for any stellar movement or something of the likes... Theres obviously some other sort of failsafe for then dialling earth, ya it must have dropped out of ftl to recieve the gate, this probably has something to do with the 9th chevron, from what Ive gathered it works more like a lock then a regular gate address which is why so much power is required, perhaps the gate thats dialing it just sends some form of subspace connection out in every direction until it detects the gate that its being coded for or something I dunno... and Eli wasn't dialing from the mw so

[Mike.]

There are a few things about the Destiny type Gate that don't quite add up. So we know it's an older model and can only dial gates that are relatively close by. It has been speculated (not on the show) that this could be because of the lack of a DHD = lack of power. However, if this is the case, then the gate on board Destiny should be able to dial any other gate in the galaxy, since Destiny has more power than a DHD. But we know it can't. Why? It doesn't seem to be a power requirement issue.

It has been theorized that the SGU gates have some sort of beacon that broadcasts their location allowing other gates to establish a lock with a standard 7 chevron address. Once they are out of that signal's range other gates can't locate them precisely enough to connect a wormhole.

This was later fixed by the Ancients in the MW and PG gates using Correlative Updates - inside the DHD (source: SG1 and SGA canon).

In short: despite having the necessary power Destiny can't dial out if it doesn't know where to.

9 chevron addresses are different because they don't need a location - it's just a code (source: Air part 1). It has huge power requirements partly because it needs to send a signal *everywhere* until it finds the desired gate before it can connect to it (source: huge power draw even before the wormhole was established in Air I).

As far as we know Destiny's gate is the only one with a 9 chevron address (source: Air part 1: it was the only one in the Atlantis database). So a "blind" dialing (without a beacon) to other gates is out of the question.

Also, if the Destiny Gate can't even dial all the gates in the galaxy it's in, why did they expect it to be able to dial Earth given sufficient power? Was it unable to dial Earth for the same reason it can't dial the other gates in the galaxy?

Dialing over the huge distance to Earth and maintaining a stable wormhole requires an enormous amount of power, like a planet with a naquadria core (source: Air I). Destiny's internal power can't supply that (even more so now that it can only store ~40% of its original capacity) (source: what Rush said). The crew tried dialing Earth while refueling inside a star (unlimited power) but there was the danger that the ship would blow up - its power conduits couldn't route the necessary power safely - they would blow up - or would be unable to recharge the shield (source: "Earth").

In the first episode did Destiny drop out of FTL because it was receiving the incoming wormhole from Earth or was it just a periodic drop-out and it was just a coincidence that at the same moment Icarus dialed the ship?

Spoiler:

If it wasn't a coincidence then why didn't the ship delay from entering FTL when Eli dialed in "Lost"?

In Air the connection was made with the universal 9 chevron address. Eli could only dial in using a standard 7 chevron address. If he finds in the future a way to use the 9 chevron code he could get back. It would still require a considerable amount of power but still a lot less than what was necessary before ("several billion light years" ) because it would only need to hop past the void between galaxies (or part of it depending how soon he does this).

[HaMm3r]

Don't forget that Riley tried to dial Earth using a 9 chevron address in Air Part 2. He mentions finding the Earth address in Destiny's database and that it wasn't that hard to find. He goes on to state that the 9th chevron symbol represents a distance factor.

So, that has to mean that Earth is listed in Destiny's DB with older SGU symbols. What would be the point of listing such addresses if they couldn't be dailed?

[ckwongau]

There are a few things about the Destiny type Gate that don't quite add up. So we know it's an older model and can only dial gates that are relatively close by.[/SPOILERS]

Well , i don't think the Destiny or SGU gate model are older, more like more primitive.
Earth's original gate (beta gate of Antractica) could be as old as 50 millions old. (SG1 S6o4"Frozen")
Anicent were putting stargate outside of their home galaxies (milkyway and Pegasus),they may not want hostile alien to use the gate network to use against them.Just like export of F-16 fighter , the export package doesn't include top of the line radar and avionic equipment.

The Ancient probably can increase SGU's gate network with additional DHD.(what is the point to put stargate with limited rang all over universe in the first place)
(When Baa'l were stealing stargate, his scientist help him discover a way to turn off the updating function)
The DHD is much more than a dialing device, it update other DHD with adjustment of stellar drift.And Dr Mcaky said SGC's dialing computer ignore hundred's feedback gate signal.Carter said with out a DHD , the Stargate can only dial 300 light year without DHD.(episode "2001")

One of the way to over come the limited range is creating macro gate program ,similar to "McKay/Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge " ,connecting dozen's SGU's gate at once . I think the Ancient remote control DHD can load a macro on it so they can use it to return to Destiny.

[LORD_RA]

Destiny can probably dial any gate in the galaxy its in but them gates would not hav the power to dial back