The transceiver was found in the cockpit by Jack, Kate, and Charlie. ("Pilot, Part 1"). Sayid tried to use it to send a distress signal, but instead they received a French distress signal with a counter following the message saying how many times it had been repeated. Shannon, who possessed a passing familiarity with French, translated the message, and Sayid concluded that the distress signal had been playing for 16 years. ("Pilot, Part 2") In "The Moth", Sayid tried to triangulate the signal's origin, but Locke knocked Sayid unconscious and broke the transceiver.