Bob Hines K4MZU has just informed that Andrew KC4/KL5SE is going to visit Mount Newall Huts & Radio repeater site, located at 75° 5Ø’ ØØ” South, 162° 38′ ØØ” West in the Asgard Range, near Lake Vanda, a strategically important point for relaying signals in the Dry Valleys.
This remote scientific settlement hosts US equipment and a small (24 square foot) green structure housing the New Zealand radio repeater; therefore, it will qualify the settlement as Multinational site (MNB) for WAP program.
Mount Newall in Antarctica’s Taylor Valley hosts crucial radio repeater facilities, including huts for U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) and Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) operations, supporting scientific research, communications, and international treaty monitoring (like CTBT seismic data) via wind turbines, solar power, and backup systems, with survival caches nearby for personnel working in the harsh Dry Valleys.
Radio Repeater’s Huts containerized structures housing communication gear, power systems (batteries, generators, wind/solar), and sometimes seismic monitoring equipment. The site utilizes wind turbines, solar panels, and diesel generators for remote power.
Survival shelters such as small huts stocked with emergency supplies for helicopter-supported teams is available on site.
TNX and credit to: https://adam.antarcticanz.govt.nz/nodes/view/21425
In light of this information, Mount Newall Huts enters the WAP-WADA Directory as MNB-NEW pending Andrew’s HF hearing from this “New One”.
Mt. Newall repeater site
In addition to various antenna and wind turbine towers, the two main structures on the site seen in the pics hereby attached, detailed the repeater site and the larger (240 square foot) hut behind, housing the USAP equipment. About 3/4 of the structure houses the radio repeater equipment, hybrid power system controls for the wind turbine and the solar panels, a large battery bank, the CO2 system bottles and controls, Air Force-maintained CTBT seismic monitoring equipment (part of the Dry Valley Seismic Project), survival equipment and supplies. A small room at one end houses the diesel generator. The above photo, is a small (96 square foot) survival shelter near the helicopter pad. The hut is the “AFTAC” (Air Force Technical Applications Center) building. The pic aside shows Team members doing maintenance on the facility during the 2017-18 season.