Aimee Sharpe, is the daughter of John Sharpe VK2FR (aka VK2ANT) (picture aside).
She recently sent WAP a touched mail : «I want to thank you for the beautiful post you did after my father died. It meant a lot to me and to know how much he was loved and respected in the HAM radio community, and especially WAP & Antarctica»
VK2FR passed away on, january 12, 2021 at the age of 65 , (see http://www.waponline.it/john-sidney-sharp-vk2fr-sk/) and his memory always alive among us, Antarctic followers!
Aimee Sharpe, would like to keep his father’s call sign VK2ANT (WAP-232) and this decision make us at WAP, very proud and happy!
Aimee wrote: «My father’s original call sign VK2FR has recently been taken over by a new person, which I didn’t realize and I am so upset. It is my fault though, I didn’t see the emails to renew. So now I want to make sure I can keep VK2ANT .
I am also travelling to Antarctica from 4 – 13 January 2023 to scatter my father’s ashes in the sea. He always wanted to visit Antarctica together but we didn’t get to do this, so I will be going there in his memory to honor him»
What a noble gesture!
Aimee said: «I will be in the Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands (King George, Deception and Half Moon) so I am hoping to visit some of the bases in this area that he made contact with.».
She would like to get in touch with some Hams at the Bases down there. It would be an honor to meet and introduce myself to some of the Antarctic HAMS – she said- and eventually anyone interested to know more or maybe wishing to contact me can send me a mail (aimee.el.sharpe@gmail.com.
Aimee said that the plan is very exciting: « I can’t wait to see Antarctica. It will be an emotional experience, but very meaningful and I know my dad will be there with me in spirit. It will depend on the weather as to which islands/bays we can stop at, but potentially British Port Lockroy, Chinese Great Wall, Argentine Esperanza and Argentine Almirante Brown. However this is a very loose plan that may change. I think I will just have to be flexible and see when we get there».
VK2ANT Aimee Sharpe hope this post on WAP website will help start some conversations with Hams, so anyone who knew my dad John or who will be in Antarctica during January could be able to contact me and arrange for a meeting.
John Sharpe’s logbook have been downloaded as an .adi file for anyone interested can pay a visit (Check ADI File Extension – What is an .adi file and how do I open it? (fileinfo.com))
TNX Aimee Sharpe VK2ANT for sending us some pics of his father John, a great Ham who we will never forget!
A Ukrainian scientist has told Sky News of her heartbreak at leaving behind loved ones in a war zone while she carries out vital climate research 10,000 miles away in Antarctica.
Clouds come in myriad shapes, sizes and types, which control their effects on climate. New research led by the University of Washington shows that the splintering of frozen liquid droplets to form ice shards inside Southern Ocean clouds dramatically affects the clouds’ ability to reflect sunlight back to space.
In Febr. 2014, Josè V Jaramillo (HC3TAC) has been active for 2 days from Punta Arenas-Chile (8 & 9 february 2014).
We have been lucky to catch Jose HC3TAC in Italy so we organized the best way to confirm the contacts with those OM who made QSO with him when he was down South.
Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs (11 February 1908 – 11 November 1999) was an English explorer. Fuchs is best known as the leader of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica via the South Pole in 1958
In 1958, Fuchs was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He co-wrote, with Sir Edmund Hillary The Crossing of Antarctica. In 1959 he was awarded the Hans Edge Medal by the Royal Danish Geographical Society.
A friend, sent 
Professor Arif Herekar, Professor of Neurology together with excelling in his professional duties is a passionate traveller and globe trotter. He happens to be one of the few Pakistanis to step on to the Antarctic soil, probably the only Pakistani certified as an Antarctic naval seal camping on the Antarctic continent has made this beautiful country Pakistan proud by hoisting the national flag on the Antarctic soil.
While on April 25th the world celebrates the penguins, it’s also a time to think about saving them. Many penguin colonies have been lost to climate change and it’s estimated that half the population of emperor penguins will vanish by the end of this century.
The TX and antenna are for exemple, located in Antarctica but the operator is, for exemple, in Paris. The propagation in Antarctica will be the same of real Amateur Radio. We have dirctional antenna and 100 watts.
We personally didn’t know that, and now we understood that HamSphere is a subscription-based internet service which simulates Amteur Radio communication over the Internet as designed by Kelly Lindman, 5B4AIT.
India has two operational research stations at the South Pole: Maitri (
“There is an urgent need for the revamping of the Maitri station, which is more than 35 years old. The NCPOR is focusing on the same” Beg told The Indian Express via email, on the occasion of Earth Day which is observed on April 22.
Volker Strecke DL8JDX has just received the Antartida Argentina Plaque and the RG6ØANT special QSL Card on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty entering into force.
Argentine Antarctica is a part of Antarctica claimed by Argentina as part of its national territory. This claim overlaps with British and Chilean claims in Antarctica.
The small branch with its colors, gives hope to all hearts. 
Carlos Almirón (
This year, 2022, marks the 40th Anniversary of the first Spanish expedition to Antarctica, carried out aboard the schooner “Idus de Marzo”, organized with the aim of ensuring that Spain meets the requirements for joining the Antarctic Treaty as a full member.
The Ides de Marzo is a schooner that carried the first Spanish scientific expedition to the Antarctic Continent. On December 14, 1982, the schooner departed from the port of Candàs,Asturias, initially with a crew of eight members at the head of which was Captain Javier Babé and Santiago Cañedo, who had the presence of a journalist and two biologists. After stops in Vigo, Las Palmas and Tenerife, from where they sailed south.
An old copy of “Il Collezionista” an Italian Philatelic Magazine (Jan. 1967) reports a bit of story of the famous Ship Scotia which was depicted on a stamp issued by the Falkland Islands, Scotia was also depicted on two stamps issued by the British Antarctic Territory.
former medical student from University of Edinburg who organised and led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE) from 1902 to1904 
Scotia overwintered in Scotia Bay where she was frozen in for eight months. She departed for the Falkland Islands on 27 November en route for Buenos Aires, Argentina where she underwent a refit. Scotia returned to Laurie Island on 14 February 1904, sailing eight days later for the Weddel Sea. She departed from the Antarctic on 21 March. Calling at Saint Helena in June, she arrived at Millport, Cumbrae, Ayrishire on 21 July, and was escorted by a number of ships to her final destination of Gourock Renfrewshire.
Captain Fliess Refuge (64°50’41” South, 62°31’48” West) is an Argentine Refuge in Antarctica located in Neko Harbour in the Andvord Bay on the Danco Coast, on western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The refuge was opened on April 4, 1949 and it is managed by the Argentine Navy.
On 
The polar snowmobile expedition R15ØWS from the 
The Team, included Igor Znamensky UA9KDF (Tarko-Sale, YNAO), Andrey Korobeinikov UA9LDD (Tyumen), Andrey Moiseev UAØBA (Norilsk), Viktor Kuzyakin RWØBG (Norilsk), Alexey Bystrov RT9K (Dudinka) and Andrey Prudnikov RT9K (Surgut) did travel 2980 km on snowmobiles to the island and back. During four days of work on air R15ØWS made 5635 QSOs. Of these: CW – 3294, SSB – 1323, FT8 – 1018, 20m – 2878, 30m – 609, 40m – 489, 15m – 570, 12m – 8, 17m – 1072.
Rykachev, Director of the main geophysical observatory, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Russian weather service,
AAD Strategic Infrastructure Manager Adrian Young said good weather had been the helping hand needed get the job done. 350 tonnes of cargo has been delivered to renovate the station.
The scientific projects have completed their tasks, and the equipment from Spain used by researchers who have come from that Country, to whom we offer our cooperation in terms of accommodation and use of facilities, given its volume and weight, must return to their country by sea transport.
This event is completely unprecedented and upended our expectations about the Antarctic climate system,’ one expert said
(WAP RUS-14)— at the center of the eastern ice sheet — is around minus-63 (minus-53 Celsius) in March. But on Friday, the temperature leaped to zero (minus-17.7 Celsius), the warmest it’s been there during March since record keeping began 65 years ago. It broke the previous monthly record by a staggering 27 degrees (15 Celsius).
Vostok, a Russian meteorological observatory, is about 808 miles from the South Pole and sits 11,444 feet above sea level. It’s famous for holding the lowest temperature ever observed on Earth: minus-128.6 degrees (minus-89.2 Celsius), set on July 21, 1983.
This scientific station, is one of the Argentinean transient Bases on the white continent. Its name is in honor of Benjamín Matienzo, a pioneer of Argentine aviation. 
The facilities of the Base occupy a discontinuous strip of about 300 meters in length, at the eastern and narrower end of the nunatak. It was inaugurated on March 15, 1961, located on the old San Antonio Refuge. 
Various scientific activities and historical events of international significance were developed at Matienzo. Extensive meteorological and climatological observation programmes were carried out; the glaciological status of the Matienzo-Esperanza route and the coastal channel between Robertson Island to the South was studied; topographic and aerophotographic surveys of the Larsen Ice Shelf were carried out as well.
The last reopening of Matienzo was during the 2018 Antarctic Summer Campaign, being operated by a group of ten people, including military and civilians of the Air Force, fulfilling various tasks of maintenance of the facilities and preservation of the environment.
From Cap. Eduardo Abril de Fontcuberta EA4GKV/EO4HAG WAP-242
From Gianni I1HYW/IR1ANT WAP ØØ2
Thanks to Lt.Danilo Collino IZ1KHY who was recently involved in the 37th Italian Antarctic Season (October 2021 trough February 2022), we have got some recent pictures of the “Chapel of the Snow”, the church been visited by Danilo on his brief stay at McMurdo Station (
Situated at the end of town, McMurdo Station’s small, blue and white “Chapel of the Snows” stands out against the comparatively drab shipping container-like structures surrounding it. Visitors who step inside the wooden building enter a cozy sanctuary, complete with shelves full of hymnals, musical instruments at the back of the room, and a stained glass window above the pulpit. Other than the black and white penguin embedded in the stained glass, it looks much like any small church around the world.
Chaplain Arthur “Tom” Paine said: “This multi-denominational chapel is for everybody. Months-long deployments away from home can be difficult for many, and the station’s chapel is there to provide a place for people to find personal support and guidance if they need it.”
More than a century after its sinking, a scientific expedition “Endurance22” has found the remains of the shipwreck of the Antarctic Explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), the “Endurance”.
A team of adventurers, marine archaeologists and technicians located the wreck at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, east of the Antarctic Peninsula, using undersea drones. Battling sea ice and freezing temperatures, the team had been searching for more than two weeks in a 150-square-mile area around where the ship went down in 1915. The lost vessel was found at the weekend at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. Scientists have filmed the greatest ever undiscovered shipwrecks 107 years after it sank.
Pic on the Left shows as the stern of Endurance looked in dry dock in 1914 before departure to Antarctica
The Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET) is a US-led field-based science project that recovers meteorite specimens from Antarctica. Since 1976 we have recovered more than 22,000 specimens from meteorite stranding surfaces along the Transantarctic Mountains. These specimens are a reliable, continuous source of new, non-microscopic extraterrestrial material and support thousands of scientists from around the globs as they seek essential “ground-truth” concerning the materials that make up the asteroids, planets and other bodies of our solar system. The study of ANSMET meteorites has greatly extended our knowledge of the materials and conditions in the primeval nebula from which our solar system was born, revealed the complex and exotic geologic nature of asteroids, and proved, against the conventional wisdom, that some specimens represent planetary materials, delivered to us from the Moon and Mars, free of charge.
A Team of Thirty-two scientists are sailing to “the place in the world that’s the hardest to get to” so they can better figure out how much and how fast seas will rise because of global warming eating away at Antarctica’s ice.
Marking International Women’s Day, Antarctic experts will share extraordinary untold stories from the icy continent’s past. Join UK Antarctic Heritage Trust on Tuesday 8th March for Untold Stories of Antarctica. 
Morag Seag, a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, will tell the story of women’s integration into Antarctic field science in the mid-twentieth century. Amelia Urry, also a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, will share stories of the women behind Antarctic mapping in the 1950s.
Deutsche Briefmarken-Zeitung (
The article includes a copy of Danilo’s QSL and the stamp dedicated to the Italian scientist Mario Zucchelli (1944 – 2003), for years a reference figure for the Italian Antarctic Program.
background.
While the 19th edition of the just started 
February 22; next Tuesday, is the “
celebrate the National event and a special QSL-Award used to be issued to the Hams who made contact with this Bases. Above one of this QSL-Award issud on 22 febr. 1983 for a contact with LU1ZG at Base General Belgrano II (
Congrats to Phil Finkle K6EID from Marietta GA, USA for being one of the most present Ham into the 
The legend of El Dorado around the South Pole has fascinated many Europeans since Sir Francis Drake. On the first day of 1739, the looked at the cloudy, foggy and ice-bound coast – the one that would later be called Bouvet Island. Then he returned home with a description of majestic icebergs and black-and-white penguins that looked like «large ducks, but with fins instead of wings».
Sergiy Shutyayev UT9UX, is active (mostly 20 mts SSB) as EM1U from Ukrainian Antarctic Station Academic Vernadsky (
Almost at the end of their Antarctic seson, our friends Oleg ZS7ANF and Sebastian SQ1SGB meet at Wolf’s Fang Runway. (
).
regarded as a well-established and reliable airbridge between Africa and Antarctica.
Sebastian VP8/SQ1SGB (
Several interesting features on February e-bulletin of Antarctic Heritage Trust : «our Antarctic season is underway at last. To be able to return a team to Port Lockroy has felt like a significant milestone for us. Despite the many challenges along the way, Lucy, Kit and Tank are finally there and getting stuck into the vital work, work which is proving all the more essential – two years away from the site means there is much maintenance to do….»
active from Concordia Station (
At Mario Zucchelli Station (WAP-Ø1) he is operating from the Radio Room of the Base when it is free of use by the Air traffic control personnel. (see picture on the right)
Dome C Summer camp (
unknown to science. Scientists say this is the furthest south the species has ever been seen in this part of Antarctica, and posit their presence here to the impacts of climate change.
Little Dome C, is an area of 10 square km, located at 75° 17’ 57” South, 122° 26’ 43” East, about 40 km from the Italian-French Concordia Station, on the East Antarctic plateau, one of the most extreme places on the Earth.
Inspired by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco Exploration, after he visited Antarctica in 2009, the very first EV’s (Electric Vehicles) it’s currently in service at Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station (
The award was presented to Valery Sushkov RMØL by the head of the organizing committee of the project 
Kit. The obverse of the medal exactly copies the original, made by order of Emperor Alexander I for the expedition teams of Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. On the reverse is a dedication to the circumnavigation of the sailing ships Kruzenshtern, Sedov and Pallada.
For the first time since the start of the pandemic, Coronavirus has reached an Argentine research base in Antarctica, causing the evacuation of nine unvaccinated staff who tested positive for Covid-19, an official said Thursday.
Following the operation by David Brunet F4FKT who did sign FT4YM/p (November & Dicember 2021 and January 2022), at Dome C-Summer Camp 75° 05’ 59” South, 123° 19’ 56” East, a new WAP reference has been issued.
Dome C Smmer camp was never dismantled and actually is used as a depot with housing and warehouse. All the scientific equipments are inside the towers of Concordia and inside the shelters scattered around the Base.
An interesting view of the six landmarks have been published on Newstalk ZB, by Thomas Bywater, NZ Herald.