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Victoria University Antarctic Research Expedition Science and Logistics Reports 1996-97: VUWAE 41

12. Radio Communication

12. Radio Communication

(i)Equipment: We were supplied with two VHF radios and a whip. The whip was never required and hence untried. With a second battery we were able to have one of the radio's on for most of the day listening (as turned out to be useful on the odd occasion). Batteries worked well with charging from the solar panel and occasionally the generator.
(ii)Reception: We had no problems talking and receiving Scott Base and hearing other field parties. The timing of skeds worked well with a sked in the evening.
(iii)Scott Base: The three operators at Scott Base were excellent. Any news for us was passed on and weather and news offered. We found though that the weather forecast for field parties is not very helpful as it is an extremely localised one to Scott Base. In terms of the odd phone call out and in to the field the operators were very good at trying to get these through. The only page break thing we found frustrating was getting answers to queries. We are not sure at what point the messages got hung up but a reply on the next sked along the lines of: "the person had received the message and it is being worked on" would be helpful. Then we would not feel like we had to keep asking.