The "Communicator" article lacks images of the most widely recognized Starfleet walkie-talkie on them all: the black-shelled flip-open unit constantly used throughout the original Star Trek series. It would also be a good idea to show graphically how the TOS Starfleet unit differs from the unit used by Archer & company in ENT, as well as those used in the feature films.
- Not to mention the underrated wrist communicators seen in TMP, as well. 154.5.39.80 03:47, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
to who removed the so called "retarded link"
the so called retarded link to comm badge, which is a recursive link to this page (and wont be in a moment) should have been corrected to the correct spelling and page of combadge instead of removing the link --6/6 Neural Transceiver 06:09, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
How does this work?
Anyone actually knows how the communicators work? I don't mean how they send voice messages, but how they connect with a certain person. Example: Geordi La Forge taps his combadge, says "Captain Picard, we've had a problem", and Picard hears what Geordi just said. How does the communicator know, who to call? I doubt it's a form of voice dial, because the connection is established as soon as one person taps (or flips open) the communicator, and the conversation then proceeds in real time - which excludes the possibility, that the name said by Geordi after tapping the combadge is used as a 24th century version of a phone number, and then the message is repeated automatically, after the conenction is established. Could it be, that the communicator is somehow directed by brain waves, or something? Any ideas? ~M3n747, 11:42 AM, 9 September 2007.
- According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (not a canon source but it sheds light on how the production staff thinks these things work), the ship's main computer, through which the combadge is linked, has "artificial intelligence routines" integrated in its design which "listen" for calls. These routines analyze the name of the person trying to be reached, locate that person and then "activate the audio speakers at the recipient's location," with only a slight processing delay. --From Andoria with Love 09:36, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
- I was thinking about the same possibility, but I'm not certain about that delay. The way I see it, it would have to be as long, as the time needed to say the other person's name - and in many episodes we can clearly see, that the communication is established immediately. I guess only Gene Roddenberry knew the truth. :) ~M3n747, 6:00 PM, 10 September 2007.