Inspiration for Signal Cartel's (1420.) Ticker

Inspiration and Background

When Johnny Splunk, Mynxee, and G8keeper (the Signal Cartel Co-founders) were brainstorming corp names, Johnny Splunk suggested 1420 MHz as a possibility. He went on to explain that this is the radio frequency of the so-called "Wow!" signal, as described in its Wikipedia article:

The Wow! signal was a strong narrowband radio signal detected on August 15, 1977, by Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope in the United States, then used to support the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The signal appeared to come from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius and bore the expected hallmarks of extraterrestrial origin.

Astronomer Jerry R. Ehman discovered the anomaly a few days later while reviewing the recorded data. He was so impressed by the result that he circled on the computer printout the reading of the signal's intensity, "6EQUJ5", and wrote the comment "Wow!" beside it, leading to the event's widely used name.

The entire signal sequence lasted for the full 72-second window during which Big Ear was able to observe it, but has not been detected since, despite several subsequent attempts by Ehman and others. Many hypotheses have been advanced on the origin of the emission, including natural and human-made sources, but none of them adequately explain the signal.

Although the Wow! signal had no detectable modulation — a technique used to transmit information over radio waves — it remains, as of June 2022, the strongest candidate for an extraterrestrial radio transmission ever detected.

Although 1420 MHz didn't get much support as a corp name, the Co-founders thought it a perfect choice for our corp's in-game ticker given the mission of Signal Cartel. EVE Online tickers are limited to 5 characters, so the first idea was to use [1420!]. Unfortunately, exclamation marks are not permitted, so they went with [1420.] It's always interesting to see how many players recognize and comment on the reference.

Wow! Signal Videos

More detailed video explanations on the Wow! signal can be found here:

• What Was The Wow Signal? The Most Interesting Signal SETI Has Ever Seen (2015)
• The Wow Signal Documentary (2022)

In-Game Tickers

• The Signal Cartel corp ticker is [1420.] (fourteen twenty dot), the dot being an important distinguisher from any other corp that has simply has [1420] as its ticker (no dot).
• Our alliance, EvE-Scout Enclave, has the ticker [SC0UT] (SC zero UT).

Reference

Original forum post: Inspiration for Signal Cartel's [1420. Ticker]