While talking of his Antarctic experience, Marco De Pas (DK5SQX-IK5SQX) is happy for such a great professional and human experience lived in the Icy Continent. -Our LIDAR a kind of optical radar that does “Cloud ranging” works perfectly and that’s great- Marco said!
The only disappointment is about the Ham Radio: too many restrictions, too many constraints on the use of HF Base equipments. This kind of unnecessary bureaucracy, poorly contrasts with the skill of a licensed Ham radio operator, but rules are rules, so that the free time to dedicate to the HF was strictly reduced, practically nothing!
Nevertheless Marco could test propagation from that remote Concordia Station at 75°06’06” South, 123°23’43” East and even if conditions were not favorable, he logged few QSOs signing IAØ/DK5SQX and now, QSLs have been sent to the lucky and patients OM who worked him on last January 2019.
Same situation at Dumond D’Urville (WAP FRA-Ø1). Down there, Marco could meet the Responsible of the Radio room, who did show him the HF setup… too bad the VFO was unstable with shifting frequency, so practically unusable … what a kind of conspiracy!
It could be that next season, Marco will be call to return in Antarctica again. Next time -he said- I will bring my own equipment and a small amplifier so I will be independent and I can operate without interfere with the Base activity where the radio room is mainly used for air traffic and contacts with field camps.
TNX Marco DK5SQX/IK5SQX