This blog entry was prepared before we left McMurdo Research Station. We do not have internet access at our field site!
Hi Friends!
While we're in the field, we are required to contact McMurdo Station every day to let them know we are safe. In one of our meetings at McMurdo, we met with McMurdo Operations (known as MacOps) to set up a daily check-in time; in this meeting, we agreed to contact the station every morning before 8:00 AM. We'll have two ways of contacting McMurdo: by a satellite phone, and by a high-frequency (HF) radio.
Every morning, whoever is on Breakfast Duty (which involves starting the stoves, melting snow for drinking water, and preparing breakfast) is also responsible for contacting McMurdo Operations to let them know that "we have five souls and all is well!" These conversations will also be an opportunity for us to coordinate Twin Otter flights or to receive messages from station.
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| Isaac, Greg and Brent set up the HF radio in McMurdo! |
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| To use the HF radio, you need to attach the antenna and the handheld receiver to the radio, turn the radio on, set the radio to your desired frequency, and... |
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| Call MacOps! A typical radio call will proceed as follows
Our Group: "MacOps MacOps MacOps this is Golf-Four-One-Zero on Four-Seven-Seven. How copy? Over." (In this message, we're giving them our project number (G-410) and the frequency on which we're transmitting.)
MacOps: "Golf-Four-One-Zero, this is MacOps. I copy you loud and clear. Over."
Our Group: "MacOps this is Golf-Four-One-Zero, we have five souls and all is well. Over."
If MacOps receives that message they will "copy" and end their contribution with "MacOps Clear." |
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| Greg and Isaac put away the HF antenna, after our radio test in McMurdo. In the field, we'll hang the antenna from bamboo poles. |
We will use our satellite phone if we can't hail MacOps over the HF radio. We will also take the satellite phones with us on our day trips to make sure we can establish contact with the station in the event of an emergency! Satellite phones are also the only way we have to contact our families. We typically try to contact our families once a week and on holidays as well!
Stay tuned for the next scheduled post! Hope all is well. Thanks for checking in,
Claire
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