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m (Bot: Automated text replacement (-subspace communications +subspace communications) !!wikia-credits fix!!)
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A '''radio-interference distress call''' was an old style of [[communications]] beacon which was keyed to cause interference in a [[starship]]'s [[sensor]]s and [[navigation]] systems, attracting attention to an old-style [[light speed]]-only [[radio]] wave signal. Dating back to a time when [[subspace communications]] were largely unreliable or unavailable for [[distress call]]s, from the advent of warp until the [[23rd century]] when the [[time barrier]] was broken.
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A '''radio-interference distress call''' was an old style of [[communications]] beacon which was keyed to cause interference in a [[starship]]'s [[sensor]]s and [[navigation]] systems, attracting attention to an old-style [[light speed]]-only [[radio]] wave signal. Dating back to a time when [[subspace communication]]s were largely unreliable or unavailable for [[distress call]]s, from the advent of warp until the [[23rd century]] when the [[time barrier]] was broken.
   
 
In [[2254]], these signals were somewhat obsolete when just such a call was received by the [[Federation]] starship {{USS|Enterprise|NCC-1701}}. Originally mistaken for a [[gravitational disturbance]] or object to be [[navigational deflector|deflected]] in the vessel's path, the signal caused enough disruption in the ship's routine for the proper scanners to be focused on the distress wave, sent from the crashed [[SS Columbia|SS ''Columbia'']] wreckage on [[Talos IV]] eighteen years prior, in [[2236]]. ({{TOS|The Cage|The Menagerie, Part I}})
 
In [[2254]], these signals were somewhat obsolete when just such a call was received by the [[Federation]] starship {{USS|Enterprise|NCC-1701}}. Originally mistaken for a [[gravitational disturbance]] or object to be [[navigational deflector|deflected]] in the vessel's path, the signal caused enough disruption in the ship's routine for the proper scanners to be focused on the distress wave, sent from the crashed [[SS Columbia|SS ''Columbia'']] wreckage on [[Talos IV]] eighteen years prior, in [[2236]]. ({{TOS|The Cage|The Menagerie, Part I}})

Revision as of 16:50, 16 February 2011

A radio-interference distress call was an old style of communications beacon which was keyed to cause interference in a starship's sensors and navigation systems, attracting attention to an old-style light speed-only radio wave signal. Dating back to a time when subspace communications were largely unreliable or unavailable for distress calls, from the advent of warp until the 23rd century when the time barrier was broken.

In 2254, these signals were somewhat obsolete when just such a call was received by the Federation starship USS Enterprise. Originally mistaken for a gravitational disturbance or object to be deflected in the vessel's path, the signal caused enough disruption in the ship's routine for the proper scanners to be focused on the distress wave, sent from the crashed SS Columbia wreckage on Talos IV eighteen years prior, in 2236. (TOS: "The Cage", "The Menagerie, Part I")