From: S104374@UMRVMA.umr.edu
Subject: Re: 38 Cloaking now obsolete due to gas anomaly tracking equipment
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 16:46:59 GMT
Organization: Univ of MO - Rolla

------------------------- Original Article -------------------------
>Or at least it should be.
>
>I just rented ST6:TUC (which I had seen in the theatre a while back,
>but this didn't occur to me then due to the fact that I was
>overwhelmed by the big screen experience of the whole thing) and found
>myself pondering yet another ST inconsistency.
>
>If "gas anomaly monitoring equipment" was used as a mod to a
>photon torpedo back in the time of ST6, then why was this great idea
>(which was a joint idea between Spock and Uhura, in case you forgot) not
>implemented as a standard weapon by Star Fleet and used from that time
>right up to the present (TNG/DS9) as a defense against all cloaked
>adversaries, not just ones that can fire while cloaked?  Which leads
>to yet another question: If the one warbird that could fire while
>cloaked that the Klingons had produced was destroyed by this
>nearly-believable photon, is it feasible to believe the Klingons did
>not have the capability to make more?  Which leads to a third question:
>Didn't Scotty get ahold of a cloaking device way back in the late 60's
>and rig it to work with the shields or the warp drive or something?
>Even if he didn't (which he did), is it beyond the greatest
>technological minds in Star Fleet to create a cloaking device, or even
>an anti-cloaking device? If this is beyond them, then since the
>Federation is now buddy-buddy with the Klingons, considering Captain
>Picard settled a civil war, just to give one example, then why has
>Star Fleet not been able to obtain this technology through any means?
>
>Don't get too carried away on this.  It seems to me most everyone
>feels they have to post a reply to every reply to every post, etc.
>This causes me, and I would imagine most other people, to start
>ignoring replies after the 15th or so iteration.
>
>Lastly- this is totally unrelated, however, it really pisses me off:
>If you happen to be one of the 0.1 or less percent of the audience
>that uses a screen > 80 columns, PLEASE!!! Don't go over 80 columns
>when you post!!!  Assuming anyone wanted to read your message, they
>wouldn't be able to.
>
>Steve Gilbert
>sg0d@Lehigh.edu or sg0d@saturn.eecs.lehigh.edu
>Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
>
I don't know...it seems to me that that sort of technology (tracking
the ion trail) should have been obvious in the first place....espically
as it is very similar to the heat seekingmissiles of today, that track
the jet exaust of aircraft.  Perhaps in the future they have better
dispersion devices, or radiators that cool or otherwise disguise the
exaust from the impulse drives.

I have also never understood why they cannot fire while cloaked,
at least photon torpedeos that take relatively little energy.  Of
course, by firing they would reveal their location, but according to
canon, they cannot fire at all.I'd say it's just an unrationalized
plot device to keep the cloaking device from becoming more powerful
than it already is.

As for the confiscated cloaking device...Yes, they did obtain it in
TOS (I don't remember the name of the episode, but they also kidnap
a Romulan Commander) and Scotty did use it, but according to one of
the tech manuals it burned out the main deflector, and when they
tested it on another ship, the whole thing disappeared...for ever.
Also, it supposedly puts out radiation harmful to humans.It doesn't
seem to harm Romulans (or they don't care) and Klingons, of course, don't
give a damn.

Query:  In STIV:TVH, they land this cloaked BOP in the middle of Golden
Gate Park and it is *completely* invisible.  Doesn't this seem just a
little silly that it is completely invisible, espically since in STIII:TSFS
Kirk found it by looking for the distortion against the stars?

                                          -=Road Warrior=-
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