Antarctica Radio Schedule

[wb1aij]

Can anybody tell me the best time & frequency to hear & try to work an amateur radio station in Antarctica? My guess is that 20 meters is the band & SSB is the mode but are there any special times or frequencies. I have long wanted to work the bottom of the world but never put any research or effort into it until now. Any info is welcome as I am just starting out on this quest.

[W2INR]

Been Looking around for any published scheds - - - -  but I did find this

http://www.k2arb.blogspot.com/

I remember listening to the shortwave bands before I was a Ham and  I heard a conversation between an Antarctica station and some ham in the states using a phone patch to provide communications to the family of the scientist. It was cool. Drake 2B receiver then and some wire run outside. - - Ah the good ole days

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Check or subscribe to the ARRL weekly DX bulletin:
http://www.remote.arrl.org/w1aw/dx/2007-index.html
Amost every week shows some Antarctica activity.

Then check the DX Cluster sites to see who's working who, or hearing who, and on what frequency.
http://oh2aq.kolumbus.com/dxs/
OR
http://nc7j.qrq.com/

[WA1GFZ]

There is a guy in South Windsor, Ct. who has a regular sked with the South Pole guys at night on 20 meter SSB. I've worked them a number of times.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I worked McMurdo Station on 10 meter AM back in the late 80's. Used a 32V and an 75 meter dipole load up on 10. When that band is open, almost anything works.

[WA1GFZ]

I worked them barefoot TR7 into the log ant.

[WD8BIL]

Early 90's my nephew was stationed there.
20 meters (14.210) starting right at grayline continuing for an hour or so was the best.

I used an HW101 barefoot to a Cubex 2 ele. quad at 40'.

[wb1aij]

Thanks for the information. I am going to search every night until I make contact. Once again the ham community has the answer to my question. This is a tough bunch to stump. Great source of information.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I'm a bit late to the thread, but I'll check my QSL cards at home and see what they have to offer. Used to work down there regularly back in the 80s via 20m SSB as Frank said. Used to start hearing them in October IIRC, going into winter for us, summer for them. Worked McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott, Palmer, Williams Field, even got the Greenpeace station ZL5BA. The fellow at Williams Field was a pilot of one of those C-130 cargo planes with the big skis. He sent a cool card showing one of the aircraft, tail painted orange.

Callsigns from memory were:

KC4AAC - Palmer Station
KC4AAA - Amundsen-Scott Station
KC4USV - McMurdo Station
KC4USX - Williams Field

I could have the last two mixed up, but I'll check over the weekend. I think Willaims Field is at or near McMurdo.

The only station I never got a QSL from was Palmer, which was the one I worked most often. Matt Meyers (high school friend) was on the ice a couple times, then his brother J.C. arrived later. I only worked J.C. a couple times at Palmer, but worked his friend Pete regularly. Pete was the resident electrician and a boot, apparently bored much of the time so he got on the air on his own after being shown how to work the radio gear.

Also worked a fellow down there who had worked atop Mt Washington and knew the family of my college girlfriend. We used to tag-team stations back when VT was almost as hard to work as Antarctica. One of us would call CQ and get a pile up, work a bunch of stations then turn it over to the other station so folks could work him as well. Sure did surprise a lot of ops to get a 2-for-1 deal.

Matt told me an interesting story about a guy in a bucket loader who fell into a crevice and couldn't be pulled out, so they use him and the loader as an artificial ground(?) via an attached cable. He also told about a hotshot pilot stuffing one of the C-130s into the ice by hot-dogging as he was leaving and catching a wingtip in the ice, then cartwheeling in and killing everyone on board.

If you're ever in Montpelier and go to a dumpy little bar called "World Famous Charlie-O's", there's a b&w photo above the bar of J.C. on the ice, standing behind a bucket loader with a Charlie-O's sticker on the back. This is their proof of being world famous.

[Bill, KD0HG]

I once worked Antarctica with 75 watts and a Gotham V-80.

[WA1GFZ]

Bill,
Doesn't count unless you have the k1JJ  multiple feedline mod.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I once worked Antarctica with 75 watts and a Gotham V-80.

No doubt customized for DX by K1JJ, Grand Master of Gotham verticals. 

Here's a quick tally of 4 confirmed Antarctic contacts:

1988-1990, October-April, 0142 - 0415 GMT  (three were between 0300 and 0500). All but one card list '14 megs', the pilot from Williams Field put the actual frequency: 14.330.

Hope this helps. If I could figure out which box hold my old logbooks, I could come up with more specific frequency and time data.

[WA3VJB]

CALLING ALL WILLIAMSBURG AMers
(That would be Steve WB3HUZ and Chris KC4CMR)
I wonder if there's a chance to work this bunch who are leaving from your area for McMurdo.  Steve I know you worked the station on 10m.  Chris you've even got the prefix.

If you hook up, ROLL VIDEO TAPE and float it out to the Richmond and Norfolk TV stations!  You can be big star, larger than Tom Vu.
59 sailors, including 11 reservists, leave the cooler temperatures in Hampton Roads Friday for the frozen Antarctic.

Members of Navy Cargo Handling Battalion ONE will deliver a one-year supply of food, equipment and medicine for researchers who live year-round at McMurdo Station, the largest permanent arctic U.S. base.

Metal huts are dug into the volcanic rock, accessible by sea only during a brief summer period.

The Navy says sailors compete for the chance to go on these missions.

“Every cargo handler desires and dreams of making this mission, so we pick the best and the brightest,” said Lt. Cmdr. Paul Melvey, Executive Officer for Navy Cargo Handling Battalion ONE. “We’re honored to have had this opportunity for more than 50 years to support scientific research that ultimately affects everyone on the earth.”

For BM2 Michael Delancey, this is his fourth trip.

"Antartica is the most magestic, beautiful place that I've ever been," he said. "It's the most isolated. When you get out in the open, it's just amazing."

BM3 Tyler James is going on his first trip to Antartica wiht this assignment.

"It's a new environment to be working the kind of work we do, and you don't get to do that very often," he said. "And, I'm pretty excited about seeing the continent itself. Not many people in the world get to see it, so it'll be quite nice."

The Williamsburg-based sailors will be bussed to Richmond, where they’ll catch a flight at Richmond International Airport to begin Operation Deep Freeze '08.

They'll arrive at Ross Island around January 29 and work around the clock for about a week to offload 29,000 tons of fresh supplies.

The average temperature at McMurdo Station in February is 16 degrees Fahrenheit, with a high of 21 and a low of 11. The off-load job should take seven to ten days.

Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group currently supports more than 700 Navy Reservists deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, but also supports peacetime missions year-round.

The group consists of full-time and selective reserve support staff, cargo handling and port group staffs, cargo handling battalions and an expeditionary support unit.

Source: WVEC Ch. 13

[WD8BIL]

No idea how recent this is. Might even be ancient. But it's a start ! Old habits and all that .

Ham Shack

[W1RKW]

I called them on the telephone 

[Pete, WA2CWA]

This is station is still operating (January and February 2008) AM, CW, and SSB from Antartica.
See thread:
http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=13182.0

[Tom WA3KLR]

This is what I came up with using a propagation program and the current solar flux number:

All of these are 2 F2 layer hops.

short path (you beam SSW to McMurdo) -
10 MHz. 0630 - 0730 UTC         10 degrees elevation angle
14 MHz. 1130 - 1230 UTC         11 degrees elevation angle
18 MHz. 2130 - 2230 UTC  * the best, 12 degrees elevation angle

The 2 long path opportunities, which I didn't list, are very poor at best.

[K6IC]

And,  you can use the DX Summit Database Search function at this link:

http://oh2w.kolumbus.com/dxs/qin.html

Just plug in the target call,  as noted above or from elsewhere,   and see the spots from around the world from stations posting date/time/freq (plus other notes) for that target call.  In addition,  you can use a " * " as a wild card if the suffix is unknown or in doubt etc.

In addition there are a number of stations in the Antarctic region from other countries ...  The Russian stations usually are R1AN something,  ie R1ANC,  AND  etc,  depending on the Base.  There is at least one HF0 station  etc.  Often,   it is difficult to determine that a specific call is operating from Antarctica.

There are numerous islands in that general area ... The Faulkland,  and islands off the S. tip of South America  etc.  You might Google " antarctic Ham radio stations " or similar to find additional calls.     73  GL  vic  K6IC

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I've worked EM1HO on 75 meters in the last few years. This is a Ukrainian licensed station in Antarctica.

[flintstone mop]

DAM that bug Steve

[W4EWH]

Try looking up the Irlp and/or Echolink codes for Antarctica, and give them a try.

73, Bill W1AC

[KB2WIG]

            " DAM that bug Steve "

My wife's cats seem to like it.................  klc

[Pete, WA2CWA]

            " DAM that bug Steve "

My wife's cats seem to like it.................  klc

Should love this then:

                             

[ab3al]

You know with "global warming threatening mankind as we know it"  you wouldn't think that a continent  made by volcanoes
would be covered with all that ice.    oh crap there i go thinking again.   must-----resist.....must....enter re-education camp...

[KB2WIG]

P,

The "white" eyeball got ignored after a short time... The "Dancing Fleas" will be a big hit when one of the cats rolls onto the kboard and sees the motion ................  klc