Hmmm, how odd. The impression that i had regarding dialling mechanics appears to be different to the one most experts believe. This might be about to become embarassing for me, though that's never stopped me before 
Based on Daniel's comments in The Serpent's Lair , where he said that he used 'Earth' as a point of origin, i got the impression that Gates were interchangeable, the 7 symbols are entirely related to location, not gate. In this case, Daniel uses Apophis' gate (in Earth's orbit) to dial the six Alpha Site symbols and then the Earth 'A' as PoO symbol.
In Solitudes , Carter doesn't know where in the galaxy they are but she identifies what she believes is the PoO on the basis that one symbol is unfamiliar to her and it never crosses her mind that they might be on Earth. It is noteworthy that she is unsuccessful in dialling home. This is definitely not due to the 'no 2 wormholes from same planet' rule cause one of the times she dialled, the 'alpha' gate was clearly not in use. It could be because the PoO was incorrect or that the gate thought she was dialling itself (or as i see it, a combination of the two). The evidence, i believe, could support either perspective.
The cover stone that was on top of the buried Stargate (which provided the basis for the 'A' symbol) was located in Ancient Egypt. This implies that when the gate was used in Egypt that they used the 'A' as PoO. There has been stellar drift since that time, yet the 'A' remains valid. This lends credibility to the symbol been tied to the gate, not the spot in the galaxy.
Until an episode called Avenger 2.0 came along.
It revealed that the DHDs periodically send data to one another, specifically to counter the effects of stellar drift. Daniel, however, used the Abydos DHD to dial old addresses with no success. So the DHD chatter isn't aimed at 'translating' old addresses into new addresses, probably to allow a new gate to be placed in the old spot in between system updates. So what does the update do ? Either it lets individual DHDs know there is no longer a gate at that spot or it updates the PoO to a new location or both (i suspect, given the effects of Baal's altered update, it does both).
If the DHD chatter translates the old actual position described by the PoO to the new position described by the PoO, then the Earth DHD could well have participated in the update whilst under the sands of Egypt or even conceivably done it whilst the gate and DHD were in the US and Russia respectively.
My theory is that the whole PoO system is in fact a back-up. Gates are interchangeable and can be put anywhere. It is the DHD that acts as the anchor in the system, keeping track of where the gate is, what exact location the PoO translates to, maybe even containing data on where every gate in the system is. Thus, when using a DHD, you don't have to (but you can if you like) punch in the PoO because the DHD already knows it. But when there is no DHD available, a gate is just a gate. It has to be told by whoever is manually dialling (which is what the SGC dialling computer does) where the gate is (i.e. the PoO). To help the manual dial out be as user friendly as possible, the Ancients tried to make PoO symbols fairly unique where possible.
Supporting the idea of interchangeable gates, in New Ground , a gate on another planet been excavated has the 'A' symbol. This implies that if that gate was brought to Earth, you could use that symbol as the PoO.
Based on Daniel's comments in The Serpent's Lair , where he said that he used 'Earth' as a point of origin, i got the impression that Gates were interchangeable, the 7 symbols are entirely related to location, not gate. In this case, Daniel uses Apophis' gate (in Earth's orbit) to dial the six Alpha Site symbols and then the Earth 'A' as PoO symbol.
In Solitudes , Carter doesn't know where in the galaxy they are but she identifies what she believes is the PoO on the basis that one symbol is unfamiliar to her and it never crosses her mind that they might be on Earth. It is noteworthy that she is unsuccessful in dialling home. This is definitely not due to the 'no 2 wormholes from same planet' rule cause one of the times she dialled, the 'alpha' gate was clearly not in use. It could be because the PoO was incorrect or that the gate thought she was dialling itself (or as i see it, a combination of the two). The evidence, i believe, could support either perspective.
The cover stone that was on top of the buried Stargate (which provided the basis for the 'A' symbol) was located in Ancient Egypt. This implies that when the gate was used in Egypt that they used the 'A' as PoO. There has been stellar drift since that time, yet the 'A' remains valid. This lends credibility to the symbol been tied to the gate, not the spot in the galaxy.
Until an episode called Avenger 2.0 came along.
It revealed that the DHDs periodically send data to one another, specifically to counter the effects of stellar drift. Daniel, however, used the Abydos DHD to dial old addresses with no success. So the DHD chatter isn't aimed at 'translating' old addresses into new addresses, probably to allow a new gate to be placed in the old spot in between system updates. So what does the update do ? Either it lets individual DHDs know there is no longer a gate at that spot or it updates the PoO to a new location or both (i suspect, given the effects of Baal's altered update, it does both).
If the DHD chatter translates the old actual position described by the PoO to the new position described by the PoO, then the Earth DHD could well have participated in the update whilst under the sands of Egypt or even conceivably done it whilst the gate and DHD were in the US and Russia respectively.
My theory is that the whole PoO system is in fact a back-up. Gates are interchangeable and can be put anywhere. It is the DHD that acts as the anchor in the system, keeping track of where the gate is, what exact location the PoO translates to, maybe even containing data on where every gate in the system is. Thus, when using a DHD, you don't have to (but you can if you like) punch in the PoO because the DHD already knows it. But when there is no DHD available, a gate is just a gate. It has to be told by whoever is manually dialling (which is what the SGC dialling computer does) where the gate is (i.e. the PoO). To help the manual dial out be as user friendly as possible, the Ancients tried to make PoO symbols fairly unique where possible.
Supporting the idea of interchangeable gates, in New Ground , a gate on another planet been excavated has the 'A' symbol. This implies that if that gate was brought to Earth, you could use that symbol as the PoO.
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