Carrier wave A carrier wave is a wave of any type , length , and dimension that can transmit anything , such as data , energy , or particles . Romulan transporter s operate on a similar subspace frequency as a Starfleet transporter . With only minor adjustments , a Romulan transporter can be made to simulate a Federation transporter carrier wave . ( ) In 2152 , Colonel Grat scrambled his carrier wave while transmitting a message to , regarding the imprisonment of Captain Jonathan Archer and Ensign Travis Mayweather . Hoshi Sato speculated Grat did that so his signal would not be traced . ( ) Later that year , Commander Charles Tucker III tried contacting Lieutenant Malcolm Reed through " Enterprise " s intercom system after the ship was taken over by the Suliban . However , his transmission was coming out garbled to Reed . Reed suggested that Tucker modulate the sub carrier wave , after which his transmission began coming through more clearly . ( ) Later on , Reed lost his communicator while undercover on a class M planet with a pre - warp civilization . Ensign Hoshi Sato was able to locate it by transmitting an inverse carrier wave to the communicator so its power signature would be amplified . ( ) While trapped on a planet with Zho ' Kaan , Commander Tucker sent a Starfleet carrier wave to " Enterprise " from an Arkonian transceiver to help the ship locate him and Zho ' Kaan before both of them were killed by extreme heat . ( ) In the mid - 2270s , " V ' ger " transmitted a simple binary code on a carrier wave signal to Earth , with the intention of reaching its Creator . The message was intercepted by Commander Spock on the , which was within " V ' ger " at the time . ( ) In 2368 , Captain Jean - Luc Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data contacted the from Romulan space on a Klingon Bird - of - Prey by using a Romulan carrier wave so their transmission would not be detected . ( ) In 2369 , the United Federation of Planets suspected the Cardassian Union was producing metagenic weapon s , which could kill the entire population of a planet . The weapon could be activated by a theta - band carrier wave , which would be indistinguishable from normal background noise . Captain Picard was selected for a mission to Celtris III , as he had expertise in theta - band carrier waves . ( ) In 2370 , Geordi La Forge speculated that Lore had Data take his VISOR away because La Forge could see a carrier wave radiating from Data , which Captain Picard suggested was how Lore was controlling him . ( ) Later that year , William T . Riker transmitted his command code s from Baran ' s mercenary vessel to lower the " Enterprise " - D ' s shields so Baran ' s ship could attack the " Enterprise " . Embedded in his command codes were coordinates that were sent on the same carrier wave , which indicated to Data that the ship was heading for the Hyralan sector . ( ) Later on , La Forge discovered that the D ' Arsay archive was using the " Enterprise " s sensor beam as a carrier wave to transmit information about their culture to the ship ' s computers and replicator s . ( ) Later that year , Data detected a subspace carrier wave heading for the " Enterprise " - D with the same signature as Bok ' s transporter . ( ) In 2371 , on stardate 48543 . 2 , Ulani Belor , a Cardassian scientist , and Chief Miles O ' Brien transmitted a carrier wave through the Bajoran Wormhole while on board the in an attempt to cut through interference between the communication array attached to the " Defiant " and Deep Space 9 . ( ) In 2372 , tried to contact the Nacene Suspiria from the by using a subspace carrier wave and told Captain Kathryn Janeway that she would respond to it in 47 hours . ( ) Later that year , Lieutenant Tuvok authenticated a signal coming from a Federation beacon as being a Starfleet frequency , since it corresponded to a standard Federation carrier wave . ( ) While trying to contact a duplicate " Voyager " created by a subspace divergence field , Kathryn Janeway suggested to B ' Elanna Torres that the two ships could re - calibrate their carrier wave to match phase variants so they could communicate with each other . ( ) In 2373 , Ensign Harry Kim attempted to beam Arridor and aboard " Voyager " from their Ferengi shuttle by using a subspace carrier wave . ( ) Later that year , Trentin Fala attempted to contact Major Kira Nerys on Deep Space 9 by using a phase - divergent carrier wave , a carrier wave that changed phase s , as well as running it through a scrambler , so no one would be able to trace her signal , since an unknown assailant was executing members of the Shakaar resistance cell , of which Kira and Trentin were members of . ( ) In 2374 , Lieutenant junior grade s Tom Paris and B ' Elanna Torres transmitted a phased carrier wave to the after they abandoned their shuttlecraft , the " " and were left floating in space in their EV suit s . They created the wave by linking the communicator s of both suits . ( ) Later that year , " Voyager " tried sending a message to the from the Delta Quadrant through the massive Hirogen communications network . However , the message was unable to reach the " Prometheus " , located at the edge of the Alpha Quadrant because " Voyager " s carrier wave degraded as it moved through the communications network . ( ) In 2375 , " Voyager " contacted Tom Paris , The Doctor , and Tuvok on a class D planet inside a subspace sinkhole through a distress beacon . The message from " Voyager " was sent nine hours previously on a very slow carrier wave due to a temporal differential between " Voyager " and the sinkhole . ( ) Later that year , Tuvok transmitted a carrier wave to Seven of Nine ' s neural transceiver in order for the Think Tank ' s telepathic link to be severed and to allow the Hazari to attack the ship they were on . ( ) In 2376 , two scientist s on Kelemane ' s planet surmised that in order to contact the " Sky Ship " , which in reality was the USS " Voyager " , they might need to switch to a different carrier wave . ( ) Later that year , Captain Janeway attempted to contact a missing Harry Kim by trying to activate his combadge using a carrier wave . Janeway asked Lieutenant Commander Tuvok to have the carrier wave match a Borg interlink frequency so the transmission would not be detected by a Borg cube facing off " Voyager " . ( ) Later , the " Delta Flyer " picked up a Starfleet frequency , but it was repeating a distress call sent by Kathryn Janeway to the USS " Voyager " hours before . Crewman Mortimer Harren thought it was a subspace echo . Janeway disputed this , as it had a . 005 deviation in its carrier wave . She surmised that dark matter lifeform s were trying to communicate with the " Delta Flyer " by modifying Janeway ' s distress call to " Voyager " . ( ) In 2377 , Chakotay picked up a distress call with a carrier wave from a colony on an asteroid , but there was no message attached . When " Voyager " arrived to the coordinates of the colony , it appeared to have been destroyed by the Borg . ( ) In 2378 , Seven of Nine performed a Fourier analysis on a garbled piece of music playing through " Voyager " from The Doctor . While looking at the analysis in astrometrics , Ensign Harry Kim speculated that it might be a com signal . Seven disputed that , as it did not have a carrier wave . ( )