Mese: Aprile 2023

Damoy Point is a headland 900 metres west-northwest of Flag Point, the northern entrance point to the harbour of Port Lockroy, on the western side of Wiencke Island in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. It was discovered and named by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1903–05, under Jean-Baptiste Charcot.

Wiencke Island 64° 49′ 22″ South,  63° 23′ 14″ West, is an island 6 km long and from 3 to 8 km wide, about 67 km2 in area, the southernmost of the major islands of the Palmenr Archipelago  Two structures were erected on the shores of Dorian Bay; the Argentinean Refugio Bahia Dorian (WAP ARG-24) in 1957, and a larger building known as the Damoy Hut in 1973 and used for several years as a British summer air facility and transit station for scientific personnel. It was last occupied in 1993, where it served flights to and from a summer-use ice-strip for aircraft used before the sea-ice cleared near Rothera Base. The Damoy Hut (aka Station L) and its  ice-strip were closed in 1995: the building is now listed as an Historic Site and Monument and is maintained and administered by the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT).

Both Argentinean Refugio Bahia Dorian (WAP ARG-24) and Damoy Hut (Station L)  WAP GBR-31 have been activated by F5PFP signing respectively LU/FT5YJ and VP8DLM on March 2009. WAP does not have evidence of any other Ham radio activity before that date.

 

Find out more about Historic Site and Monument No. 84 by watching a short video on Damoy Hut. The site is Antarctica’s only protected historic transit facility and skyway, providing shelter and safe passage for scientists. (Courtesy of UKAHT)

Damoy is a well-preserved Hut containing scientific equipment and other artifacts was. It has been designated a Historic Site or Monument  (HSM 84), following a proposal by the United Kingdom to the Antarcti Treaty Consultative Meeting.

For many, this was where they made their first Antarctic landing by ship. “As a first landfall in Antarctica it was hard to beat,” enthuses Steve Garrett, geophysicist. “Surely a candidate for the most beautiful place on Earth.”

The Hut became redundant in 1993 and by 2007 the building was due for demolition. However, it was saved and preserved as “an excellent example of Antarctic logistics and early air operations in Antarctica” helping us to understand the operational challenges of working in Antarctica. It takes its place as Historic Site and Monument No. 84 – one of only 33 buildings, and the sole transit facility, on the continent protected by the Antarctic Treaty.

In 2023, UKART restored the Hut back to its original bright orange. The decision followed paint sampling by our conservation team in 2018 and research by paint scientist and conservator, Phillipa McDonnell, in 2019. The restoration of the original colour scheme improved the legibility of the Hut’s historic function as a transit centre and provides a key hook for the improved interpretation of the site as a whole as well as protecting it from the elements.

The work was undertaken by a small field team of one field guide and two conservation carpenters experienced in conserving historic buildings. They spent nearly four weeks on-site from mid-January, working around challenging weather to strip back the existing paint by hand, prime, and repaint the building to its original bright orange. As with any UKAHT conservation work, the team adhered to strict methodologies to ensure no contamination of the surrounding environment.

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Thanks and credit to: https://www.ukaht.org/ 

There is still a big demand of contact with Polar Ships and even if some have been worked recently there are other hard to get!

It’s the case of RRS Sir David Attenborough a brand “New One” for many Hams WW!

According to the information in the webpage of Mike Gloistein GMØHCQ, it seems there are some possibility he can be active before too long.

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Here is the spot : “ I am due back on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough  in late March 2023,  completing the end of the 22/23 Antarctic season with visits to Bird Island,  South Georgia and Rothera, then bringing the ship north to the UK arriving 30th May.

Radio operation is still proving difficult and I did not manage to make any contacts on the passage south.  Depending on workload I will try to get something working when next on board (March to June 2023).”

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After having left anchor at the Falklands, actually the ship tracker shows the Icebreaker half way from VP8 (Falklands) and the Antarctic Peninsula, heading South.

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While looking forward  to put GMØHCQ/MM on the log, WAP wish Mike a safe sail.

The seventh German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition (GANOVEX VII) took place in the austral summer of 1992/93.  

GANOVEX VII Multinational expedition was again funded by the Federal Agency for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR). Expedition leader was Dr. Roland, the ship “PolarQueen” was used, researchers from the various institutes BGR, AWI, DLR, Uni Frankfurt/M and others as well as from Holland, USA and New Zealand were involved, the Americans and a team from Australia took care of the helicopter service.

During GANOVEX VII, Geological and geophysical investigations were carried out on both sides of the Ross Sea: on King Edward VII Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land, in the east, and in Northern Victoria Land and the adjacent Oates Coast in the West.
See: Geology and Geophysics of Marie Byrd Land, Northern Victoria Land, and Oates Coast. GANOVEX VII — Schweizerbart science publishers

For the first time, BGR also carried out research in the GANOVEX Marie-Byrd-Land, Project GAMBLE in the Camp “La Gorce”  at 76°50’ South, 153°41’ West; radio operator was Werner Thonhauser, OE8NOK Austrian radio operator and electronics technician during Ganovex I to VII, signing KC4/OE8NOK.

Marie Byrd Land hosted the Operation Deep Freeze base Byrd Station (originally at 80°S, 120°W, rebuilt at 80°S, 119°W), beginning in 1957, in the hinterland of Bakutis Coast. Byrd Station  (WAP USA-19) was the only major base in the interior of West Antarctica for many years. In 1968, the first ice core to fully penetrate the Antarctic Ice Sheet was drilled here. The year-round station was abandoned in 1972, and after operating for years as a temporary summer encampment, Byrd Surface Camp (WAP USA-20),

Byrd Station (WAP USA-19), was reopened by the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) in 2009–2010 to support operations in northern West Antarctica. USA did set  another large number of Camps at Marie Bird Land, (Bentley camps, J-9 Bern camp, Orset D Camp, Reedy Glacier Camp, Tam Camp, Taylor Camp and Twaites Camp, all listed on WAP-WADA Directory as USA-NEW.

Ham Radio activity from all the USA Stations & Camps on Marie Bird Land  have been referenced  on WAP-WADA Directory  (See: WAP USA-Ø3, Ø4, 14, 18, 19, 2Ø, 3Ø, 35, 41 and 45).

On Ruppert Coast of Marie Byrd Land is the Russian station Russkaya (WAP RUS-12), which was occupied 1980–1990 and now closed East of the Siple Coast off the Ross Ice Shelf, Siple Dome Camp (WAP USA-18) was established as a summer science camp in 1996. Ice cores have been drilled here to retrieve the climate history of the last 100,000 years. This camp also served as a base for airborne geophysical surveys supported by the University of Texas Insistute for Geophisics (UTIG).

In 1998–1999, East Camp (WAP USA-32) was operated at the Ford Ranges (FRD) in western Marie Byrd Land, supporting a part of a United States Antarctic Program (USAP) airborne survey initiated by UCSB and supported by the UTIG flying out of Siple Dome (WAP USA-18).

In 2004–05, a large Camp Thwaites (THW),  WAP USA-NEW, was established by the USAP 150 km (93 mi) north of NBY, in order to support a large airborne geophysical survey of eastern Marie Byrd Land by the UTIG.

In 2006, a major encampment WAIS Divide (WSD) WAP USA-24 (Pic on the Right) was established on the divide between the Ross Sea Embaymnent and the Amundsen Sea Embayment, in easternmost Marie Byrd Land, in order to drill a high resolution ice core. Drilling and coring ended in 2014

 

About Werner Thonhauser, OE8NOK (pic aside),  he is now retired. He was ship electrical engineer and electronics technician, radio amateur, as reported on his professional career, his worldwide seafaring, his activities in the Antarctic, and the state of the art of communication technology at that time.

Training in Austria and Germany. Stations in Wolfsberg, Villach, Munich, Bremerhafen, Bremen. Education at the University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg, Department of Maritime Affairs.
Until 1980 he served as a radio officer on various ships, in 1979 for the first time with the destination Antarctica.  1981-1996 radio officer and electronics technician on board the research vessel POLARSTERN.

For 7-fold participation in GANOVEX Antarctic expeditions for the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources released as radio officer. Assignment for the “Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar Research” with the task of dismantling the radio system of the “Georg von Neumayer Station” and setting up the communication systems of the new station “Georg Neumayer”.

1996 – 1998 Further training as a state-owned certified marine electrical engineer at the Fachschule für Seefahrt in Flensburg.  1998 – 2000 Service on container ships in the East Asia service.
Thonhauser Rock (1020 m) is a rocky outcrop in Victoria land, Antarctica. It rises in the Bowers Mountains at the western end of Platypus Ridge. It was named by scientists of the German expedition GANOVEX I (1979–1980)after the Austrian Werner Thonhauser OE8NOK, radio operator on the MS Schepelsturm on this research trip.

GANOVEX VII-Project Gamble “Camp La Gorce” 76°50’ South, 153°41’ West , Marie Bird Land, Western Antarctica  is now referenced as WAP MNB-19
TNX Olivier F6EPN & Heinz OE6HVD

 

Sobral Scientific Base ( Base Base Científica Sobral or Base Sobral) was a permanent, all year-round and now only partially active Argentine Antarctic base and scientific Research Station located on the Filchner Ice Shelf at 81°04′05″South, 40°36′01″West. It bears its name in honor of the late 19th and early 20th century Argentine explorer Ensign José María Sobral, who had joined Dr. Otto Nordenskjöld’s ill-fated Swedish Antarctic expedition in 1903. Josè Maria Sobral  was the first Argentine known to winter in Antarctica.

The initial purpose of the Bse was to serve as a stopover on the route of the Argentine expedition to the South Pole, which was reached on December 10, 1965 in the so-called Operation 90.

Sobral Base (WAP ARG-Ø3) was founded on April 2, 1965 by a crew of 5 men from the Belgrano I Base (WAP ARG-Ø5) who sent a message to Buenos Aires the following day urging them to speed up the departure of the polar expedition by the first days of October, given the ice instability. Thus, on October 26, 1965, a group of 10 men left the Belgrano I Base and a few days later arrived at Sobral Base, reaching the South Pole on December 10, 1965.

Sobral Base (420 km south of Belgrano base and 780 km north of the South Pole), could accommodate a maximum of 7 people. Because the ice from the barrier caused cracks in the structures, the Base was closed on October 28, 1968 after 3 years of continuous service, and was quickly buried under the ice of the Filchner barrier. In November 1983, a reconnaissance patrol on Ski-Doo motorcycles with tow sleds, made up of six men, set out for the first time from the Belgrano II Base (WAP ARG-Ø6) with the mission of establishing a new route between Belgrano II and Sobral Base. They managed to locate the objective and reactivate it after 15 years, carrying out maintenance, communications, meteorological measurements and topographic reconnaissance tasks up to the Diamante mountain range, in places not visited by man. After 23 days of exploration, using nine days to go and four to return, they successfully returned to the Belgrano II leaving written testimonies in plastic tubes and marking the path with reeds and banners. After 14 years of this last reactivation, it was not possible to find it in 1997 when a patrol of 4 men from Belgrano II Base went in search of it. That patrol identified the place where the base should be located and established fuel depots for future operations in the region.

On December 13, 1999, a 7 man expedition that repeated the route to the South Pole arrived at the place indicated by the 1997 patrol, finding the remains of stakes and the Argentine flag, as well as fuel drums. The expedition searched for Sobral Base, finding it 11.5 km from its original position, finding the 3-meter-high antenna towers that protruded about 30 cm from the ice. The expedition members excavated the ice and managed to enter the base, staying there for two days.

On 10 October 2000 a six-men research expedition established a scientific camp at Sobral’s emplacement and measured local ozone levels with a spectrophotometer. The temporary occupation was conducted by personnel belonging to Belgrano II and a technician from the National Antarctic Directorate; since then, a new expedition is sent every year between September and December, where the lowest annual average concentration of ozone in Antarctica is recorded.

In order to reach the remote base this team must travel for distances up to 400 km (250 mi) over very rugged ice terrain filled with numerous cracks, which pose an often unpredictable threat. Snowcat heavy vehicles are used to cover half of the route; light vehicles like the Yamaha VK-540 II Ski-Doo are preferred for the rest. The party carries all the necessary equipment for a three-months stay, such as tents, fuel, supplies, survival kits, communication hardware and scientific instruments.

Sobral Base WAP ARG-Ø3, remains one of the most rare sites with very few Hamradio operations. 3 are the callsigns used from Base Sobral: LU1ZZ LU2ZZ and LU3ZRM.

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TNX Olivier F6EPN (Spratley Woody) for the help in finding old QSL

Viktor Perov piloted aircraft serving the Polar Stations SP-2, SP-3, SP-4 and SP-5. While working in the Arctic, Perov had to rescue people in distress more than once. In 1956, he participated in the rescue of the Norwegian-Swedish-Soviet expedition to Svalbard.

In 1957-1959, Perov worked as part of a Soviet Expedition to Antarctica. December 11, 1958 in the Crystal Mountains (Antarctica, coordinates: 72°00′ South,  29°00′ West. d.HGAO), 250 km from the Belgian Antarctic Station “King Baudouin” (WAP BEL-Ø1), a plane crashed with a Belgian expedition on board. Among the members of the expedition was Prince Antoine de Ligne (fr.) Rus.. The Captain of the Belgians was Gaston de Gerlache. Soviet polar explorers from Mirny Station (WAP RUS-Ø7) offered assistance in their rescue, and the Australian Mawson Sation (WAP AUS-Ø4) supported the flights. Viktor Perov was appointed commander of the aircraft (Li-2 with the tail number H-495) sent to search for them. The search was conducted in the most difficult weather conditions, in the absence of accurate maps and problems in radio communication. The situation was complicated by the unexplored terrain, which the Belgians flew out to map. After several days of searching, on December 16, the Belgian polar explorers were found and rescued. For this feat, Viktor Perov was awarded the Order of Leopold II in 1959, and the Order of the Crown in 2001.

Later, Viktor Perov was chairman of the Polar Commission of the Moscow Center of the Russian Geographical Society and co-chairman of the Soviet-Belgian Friendship Society. He wrote a book of memoirs “Polar Routes”.

TNX Oleg UA6GG (https://www.dxtrophy.com/)

Nordenskjöld’s Hut  aka Nordenskjöld House (64°21’49” South, 56°59’ 30” West) is a log hut built in February 1902 by the main body of the Swedish South Pole Expedition led by Otto Nordenskjold, who used the Snow Hill  island (aka Cerro Nevado island)  on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula as a base to explore the surrounding areas between 1901 and 1903.  Currently,  the Argentine Republic administers it as the Sweden refuge.

Since July 26, 1965 Refugio Suecia is a National Historic Monument of Argentina, by decree No. 6058/1965 and as part of the Province of Tierra del Fuego , Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands^. It is also protected by the Antarctic Treaty, which designated it a 38^th Historic Site and Monument, through ATCM VII-9 designation of 1972 and following a joint proposal between Argentina and the UK to the Antarctic Treaty  Consultative Meeting

The Argentine Navy took possession of the Refuge on January 8, 1954, renaming it Refugio Suecia and proceeded to its restoration. On that day the frigate Captain Luis T. De Villalobos, commander of the transport ARA Bahia Aguirre, took possession of the Refuge facilities on behalf of the Government of the Argentine Republic and recorded the new name. On the same day in its vicinity the Betbeder Naval Shelter was built.  The Hut was used as a base for reconnaissance research in the summers of 1953-1954 and 1954-1955. In the early 1960s it had a warehouse with provisions for three people for three months. ​

The Refuge has been restored by the Argentine Antarctic Institute. It is enabled as a Museum and contains original objects of the expedition. Its conservation is carried out by Argentina and Sweden.

History
On February 12, 1902, the Swedish Antarctic Expedition led by Otto Nordenskjöld arrived on Cerro Nevado Island aboard the sailboat Antarctic provided with an auxiliary steam engine. The Captain of the ship was Carl Anton Larsen.
The leader of the expedition had to spend the winter on the island along with meteorologist Gösta Bodman, sailor Gustav Akerlund, all of them of Swedish nationality, and Argentine Josè Maria Sobral, ensign. They would carry out meteorological, magnetic, astronomical and hydrographic work, as well as expeditions on the sea ice to the neighboring islands and to the nearby area of the Antarctic Peninsula, a region later known as the Nordenskjold Coast, and which extends to the southwest of the island.​

On the northeast coast of the island a prefabricated wooden hut was mounted, covered externally with cardboard sheets ember bounded. 

Read more at: Hace 56 años declaraban Monumento Histórico Nacional a la cabaña donde invernó el primer argentino en la Antártida – Gaceta Marinera

and

antartic (histarmar.com.ar)

A new deep-Field Camp has been established in the Bunger Hills, near the Denman Glacier in East Antarctica, for scientists to begin studying climate change impacts in the region.

The Camp was constructed over 55 days by a small team of Australian trade and field personnel, who were flown to the site 450 kilometres west of Casey Research Station (WAP AUS-Ø2), in December 2022.

The Team assembled four prefabbricated Huts and 11wooden platforms on a rocky outcrop and the Research site is now ready for major Antarctic Science Campaign. The camp will house up to 40 scientists and support personnel working on and around the glacier next season.

Read more at: https://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2023/happy-campers-research-site-ready-for-major-antarctic-science-campaign/?fbclid=IwAR2-HPy5OYok2ELPbU583bmgaeLgSfZlqjGAiWqEvW0NNF8ricaOLD-FgSc

Bunger Hills, also known as Bunger Lakes or Bunger Oasis, is a coastal range on the Knox Coast in Wilkes Land, Antarctica, consisting of a group of moderately low, ounded coastal hills, overlain by morainic drift and notably ice free throughout the year, lying south of the Highjump Archipelago. 

Bunger Hills-Deman Glacier Camp  at 66°17’ South, 100°47’ East will enter on WAP-WADA Directory as WAP AUS-NEW