May 15 - 21
G’day all.
Well, this week I am very happy to say that I am bringing you a very boring Blog update. It was a completely non-Eventful week. Well, almost non-eventful at any rate.
We have had some major damage down at the IPS antenna farm which needs to be repaired. IPS is equipment that belongs to “Ionospheric Predictions Services”. We look after all their gear for them at Casey station.
The equipment is used to monitor atmospheric conditions, electromagnet anomalies and monitor and compile data on HF predictions, solar flares and fluctuations in atmospheric conditions.
We have 3 transmit Antennas, 150 feet high each and 3 receive antennas, only about 50 feet high each at the antenna farm. The damage is confined mostly to the Transmit Antennas, though the receive antennas were not left completely untouched by recent storms and blizzards. The transmit damage is, of course, way up at the top of all three masts and will require us to spend many hours up the top of the masts carrying out repair work. A crap job in any conditions, let alone when our average temperature is -25 at the moment and getting colder by the day. So we have done what we can this week to keep the IPS people happy and give them a decent signal once more.
Andrew and I spent a very bleak 5 hours down there on Wednesday doing repairs to one of the Receiver Antennas. My fingers went off so quickly! I had to constantly run back to the Hagg and stick my fingers into the heater vents to warm them up before heading back outside for more work. A lot of the work was really fiddly and simply had to be done bare handed – no gloves at all. In the end I disconnected the antenna wire and dragged it into the Hagg and worked on the bits I could in there, then reconnected it all and completed the work that had to be done at the mast. Meanwhile poor old Andrew had to climb to the top and work up the mast. It was only the 50 feet one, but it was still bloody cold up there.
Thursday proved to be a much better day than Wednesday was. We went out to both the station transmitter and receiver farms for some more work and then back to the IPS farm once more. I stayed out in the cold for a couple of hours without my fingers going off at all. The doc tells me that means my hands are well and truly on the mend. Good news.
It was actually a beautiful day on Thursday. The sun came through the clouds and cast gorgeous shades of pink shadow across the snow. Although it was -24, it didn’t seem as cold as the day before. There wasn’t a breath of wind, which makes a huge difference and it was really nice to be out and about. Don’t get me wrong though, it was still very cold, but it just didn’t seem unpleasant that day.
Robbie, our chef, went off to Wilkes for the weekend with a few of the boys and I offered to do Saturday night dinner on station for him. This week in the kitchen I received a lesson on how to use a knife – sounds silly – but there really is an art to cutting that has to be learnt. I now know how to cut properly and have been practicing the technique. Robbie tells me that by the end of the year I will be a master in the kitchen uner his guidance and teaching. Excellent!
For Saturday dinner I did a Chinese night. It is easy and quick and one of my favorites and Robbie doesn’t cook stir fries or Asian dishes often, so it was well received. For desert I learnt how to make Crème Brule, which turned out fabulous. I got to get out the blow torch for this dish. Lots of fun and the end result was a brilliant “crack” on the toffee surface of the Crème Brule. Robbie tells me that is the sign of good Brule.
So, apart from being pretty flat out at work nothing much else happened this week. I got stuck into my lead lighting on Sunday and my first project is coming along nicely. Nearly finished now and it is looking good.
Till next week
Toodles Doodles!.
Trace :o]
Well, this week I am very happy to say that I am bringing you a very boring Blog update. It was a completely non-Eventful week. Well, almost non-eventful at any rate.
We have had some major damage down at the IPS antenna farm which needs to be repaired. IPS is equipment that belongs to “Ionospheric Predictions Services”. We look after all their gear for them at Casey station.
The equipment is used to monitor atmospheric conditions, electromagnet anomalies and monitor and compile data on HF predictions, solar flares and fluctuations in atmospheric conditions.
We have 3 transmit Antennas, 150 feet high each and 3 receive antennas, only about 50 feet high each at the antenna farm. The damage is confined mostly to the Transmit Antennas, though the receive antennas were not left completely untouched by recent storms and blizzards. The transmit damage is, of course, way up at the top of all three masts and will require us to spend many hours up the top of the masts carrying out repair work. A crap job in any conditions, let alone when our average temperature is -25 at the moment and getting colder by the day. So we have done what we can this week to keep the IPS people happy and give them a decent signal once more.
Andrew and I spent a very bleak 5 hours down there on Wednesday doing repairs to one of the Receiver Antennas. My fingers went off so quickly! I had to constantly run back to the Hagg and stick my fingers into the heater vents to warm them up before heading back outside for more work. A lot of the work was really fiddly and simply had to be done bare handed – no gloves at all. In the end I disconnected the antenna wire and dragged it into the Hagg and worked on the bits I could in there, then reconnected it all and completed the work that had to be done at the mast. Meanwhile poor old Andrew had to climb to the top and work up the mast. It was only the 50 feet one, but it was still bloody cold up there.
Thursday proved to be a much better day than Wednesday was. We went out to both the station transmitter and receiver farms for some more work and then back to the IPS farm once more. I stayed out in the cold for a couple of hours without my fingers going off at all. The doc tells me that means my hands are well and truly on the mend. Good news.
It was actually a beautiful day on Thursday. The sun came through the clouds and cast gorgeous shades of pink shadow across the snow. Although it was -24, it didn’t seem as cold as the day before. There wasn’t a breath of wind, which makes a huge difference and it was really nice to be out and about. Don’t get me wrong though, it was still very cold, but it just didn’t seem unpleasant that day.
Robbie, our chef, went off to Wilkes for the weekend with a few of the boys and I offered to do Saturday night dinner on station for him. This week in the kitchen I received a lesson on how to use a knife – sounds silly – but there really is an art to cutting that has to be learnt. I now know how to cut properly and have been practicing the technique. Robbie tells me that by the end of the year I will be a master in the kitchen uner his guidance and teaching. Excellent!
For Saturday dinner I did a Chinese night. It is easy and quick and one of my favorites and Robbie doesn’t cook stir fries or Asian dishes often, so it was well received. For desert I learnt how to make Crème Brule, which turned out fabulous. I got to get out the blow torch for this dish. Lots of fun and the end result was a brilliant “crack” on the toffee surface of the Crème Brule. Robbie tells me that is the sign of good Brule.
So, apart from being pretty flat out at work nothing much else happened this week. I got stuck into my lead lighting on Sunday and my first project is coming along nicely. Nearly finished now and it is looking good.
Till next week
Toodles Doodles!.
Trace :o]
posted by Tracey in Casey - Antarctica at 3:35 pm
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