Does Rogue One create a plot hole in Return of the Jedi re Hyperspace Radio?

Question

In the Star Wars movie Rogue One, we see the Rebels communicating over the radio whilst at Light-speed. I don't recall seeing this in other Star Wars movies. (They pop out of Hyperdrive - and the situation is a big surprise).

Generally the idea of Hyperspace (note that we're making a distinction between Hyperdrive in Star Wars, and Warp Drive in Star Trek) is that you're in other dimension and can't communicate. Speaking generally - we do see a Star Trek movie make a big deal of being able to beam someone onto a ship travelling at Warp.

To me it seems that communicating over the radio at Hyperspace affects the plot (ie a Plot Hole) of some of the other Star Wars movies.

In Return of the Jedi we see the following discourse:

LANDO Don't worry, my friends are down there. They'll have that shield down on time... (to himself) or this'll be the shortest offensive of all time.

The copilot flips some switches and grunts an alien comment.

ACKBAR (VO) All craft, prepare to jump to hyperspace on my mark.

...

92 EXT SPACE - ENDOR, DEATH STAR, REBEL FLEET

The Death Star and its Sanctuary Moon hang distant in space as the Rebel fleet comes out of hyperspace with an awesome roar. The Millennium Falcon and several Rebel fighters are at the front as the space armada bears down on its target.

...

LANDO Break off the attack! The shield is still up.

RED LEADER (VO) I get no reading. Are you sure?

LANDO Pull up! All craft pull up!

The Falcon turns hard to the left. Out the window the stars and the Death Star move off right.

Now if Hyperspace radio existed - they wouldn't need to plan to 'hope' they've opened the shield - they could just radio back and tell them.

My question is: Does Rogue One create a plot hole in Return of the Jedi re Hyperspace Radio?

Answer 1

I don't know that anything canon ever rules out using communications while in Hyperspace. Reality is we don't see a lot of scenes where ships are in Hyperspace to begin with (I think ANH gives the most time to said scenario, and they had every reason NOT to send any transmissions). Something that, in theory, could do such a thing would be the Holonet, which we see repeatedly used in canon for real-time communications. It also appears that there were Hyperspace beacons (used in the canon novel Tarkin) that would send out navigational signals for ships to use in Hyperspace transit. So clearly you could receive signals while in Hyperspace.

What I think is confusing you here is the surprise of emerging from Hyperspace into a combat situation. In ROTJ, Lando knows where the Death Star II is, but doesn't know what waits for them on the other side. Sending a scout (who could signal them) would have made it obvious that an attack was eminent, so they went in blind. Had they known a fleet of Star Destroyers awaited them, they likely would not have gone in.

Another problem with citing ROTJ is that they would likely have maintained radio silence. When you broadcast, anyone can receive it. Even if it was encrypted, the Empire would know it wasn't theirs and that Rebels were nearby. So I don't think ROTJ rules out Hyperspace blocking comms.