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I was watching ESB today at work, and I noticed that when Rogue Squadron is searching for Han and Luke at the beginning, they're scanning for life forms rather than searching for a distress beacon. Since Han had with him a survival kit complete with tent, I'd have expected some sort of emergency broadcast that would be more readable than a life form scanner (indeed, Zev Senesca says that he reads a faint signal that might be a life form, but isn't sure until Han hails him with the radio when he's practically on top of them).
There's always the possibility that Han either didn't have a distress beacon, or it didn't work for whatever reason, of course.

So, nothing major, just a tidbit that I found interesting.

Robert Treder wrote:I was watching ESB today at work, and I noticed that when Rogue Squadron is searching for Han and Luke at the beginning, they're scanning for life forms rather than searching for a distress beacon. Since Han had with him a survival kit complete with tent, I'd have expected some sort of emergency broadcast that would be more readable than a life form scanner (indeed, Zev Senesca says that he reads a faint signal that might be a life form, but isn't sure until Han hails him with the radio when he's practically on top of them).
There's always the possibility that Han either didn't have a distress beacon, or it didn't work for whatever reason, of course.

So, nothing major, just a tidbit that I found interesting.

IIRC almost every thing had to be adjusted to the conditions in Hoth, also people can't exepected behave rationaly cold condtions, so it was not sure that had activated the beacon(if he had any).

They might of not been using the beacon for safety reasons. Or Han didn't have Time to set it up.

There could be many reasons. Though searching for life forms may be, with Hoth's envoroment, the fastest way to do it.

"41. EXT SNOWDRIFT - HOTH - DAY

The small shelter is covered with snow on the windward side. Han has made a makeshift antenna which rests gingerly on top of the snowdrift. The small armored speeder can be seen approaching in the distance as Han waves frantically in the foreground."

1. The antenna was makeshift, not a standard one.
2. Before the night, the standard communication was unable to reach the base. Interestingly, at the beginning (of the novelisation) (between Luke and Han) it worked well. (Note: At that time they had just placed "sentry markers" and those could possibly act as relays, or they were simply closer to each other than to the base.)
3. Zev found life- signs, did not simply follow a radio signal (and there were oher speeders heading elsewhere).
4. Han planned and worked to survive the night.

Chalk one up to atmospheric conditions. Assuming they used radio to communicate with each other, the storm raging through the night would have degraded signal communicatons. Even in the pristine morning, the cold might have weakened the batteries, thus preventing a strong enough signal to reach Echo Base.

Also considering that they don't know wether Han found Luke they might be looking for life signs in the hopes of finding them both if they are still seperated.