Danilo has got chances to operate Mobile, signing IAØ/IZ1KHY/Mobile while doing tech measurement on the path from LDC to Concordia.
1st Lieutenant Danilo Collino IZ1KHY, is a keen Radioamateur who is involved this year in his 4th season in Antarctica where he has been appointed as Chief, responsible at Little Dome C-Beyond Epica Camp (LDC).
Danilo reports that, he has to go quite a few times a week from LDC to Concordia Station for some working issues and this kind of trails, takes different driving time, depending on which means of transport is used.
Danilo said: «With the Arctic truck, it takes between 40 and 50 minutes. With the unloaded Caterpillar challenger 1h 20 Min, if the Challenger is loaded with the sled, it takes between 2.30 to 3 hours. With the snowcat (Pisten Bully 300) 3 to 3,30 hours depending on what the track/path is like.
At the beginning of the season, we did trace the path with GPS, following six known points, which we marked with six numbered poles, stuck on the ice. Now the road is always visible, even in a blizzard, if snowy you don’t get lost at all. The problem is the whiteout when visibility is reduced to almost zero. The whiteout is a meteorological condition in which the contours and points of reference in a snow-covered area become almost indistinguishable.
During a whiteout it took 5 hours to do the traverse because we must travel between 7 and 10 km per hour. In any case, particularly at this latitude, safety is mandatory so, we have a tracker to be followed by the Concordia operations room during the journey and we have a satellite equipment on board for emergencies, then VHF radio for normality».
Pics show: The big blue jeep is called Artic Truck, the orange Caterpillar (Challenger), in other words, a tractor, and the one with the blade in front, is a snowcat (Pisten Bully 300), a “trail groomer”.
TNX to: 1st LT Danilo Collino IAØ/IZ1KHY/Mobile