Talk:HyperWave Broadcaster

Ah, screw it, whatever.

Jamming and EM

I have a bipartite question: 1. How do we know that The Captain and Hayes were communicating via HyperWave (and not EM) when they were jammed, and 2. How do we know that EM is sometimes used for ship-to-ship communication, but that HyperWave is used more frequently? Valaggar 19:27, 13 February 2008 (CET)

There is some reading into the conversations to get this, although I don't think this gets into fanfic/speculative since it is based on a very simple, face-value reading of the text and no invention of new concepts/devices.

1. Hayes states at the very beginning when you first start (coman003.ogg) that their HyperWave broadcasts are weak. I would say that this implies that the communication b/n the captain and Hayes is via HyperSpace. We don't even learn that the starbase has EM transmission capability until he starts talking about the moonbase. Since the comm appears to have started out in HyperWave, we have no reason to believe he suddenly switched to EM.
2. Somewhat related to the previous, this comes from the Thraddash, "We have tried to make contact with them on the usual HyperWave bands..." which implies that HyperWave is the standard means of communication. However, we do have instances of ships "radioing" each other in the SC1 and SC2 manual. Part of me wonders whether this is really referring to EM radiation, or whether "radio" has passed into a vernacular term for ship-to-ship communication - kind of like how xerox and kleenex and q-tip have passed from referring to a specific brand to a vernacular term (in american english at least) for the item itself independent of brand. This seems to be born out by the moon base, where Fwiffo says he hooked up the radio transmitter to broadcast, whereas the lander crew says it's the HyperWave. The only definitive reference to EM comm is by Hayes, and he implies that EM comm is the old school, backup system. Either way, I do think that we have good reason to believe that HyperWave is the standard and that EM is like a back up system.

I hope this helps. Other questions? --Fyzixfighter 20:23, 13 February 2008 (CET)

1. Mmm... the Hayes quote by itself is subjective/debatable (neither the voice, nor the comms image don't seem to fit my idea of weak HyperWave signals)... that line with "we haven't succeeded in making contact with them with either HyperWave Caster or traditional radio signals" (or something similar), and that the moonbase is using HyperWave... now the Moon is far enough from the Earth that this is no longer close range... but still, yes, on second thought, I think the Twin Gods intended HyperWave to be used between ships at close range as well (which makes me wonder why you need to find the Umgah/Burvixese Caster to call the Melnorme/impersonate the Dark Twins... maybe the standard issue Casters are close range only?).
2. Good find this quote is. And stronger than Hayes. Yet, regarding the SC1 manual — HyperSpace and HyperWave didn't exist back then in ~2500, I don't think it's a reliable source. Valaggar 22:09, 13 February 2008 (CET)