Bill Erhardt's Home Page in Helena, Montana !!!
Victoria Shaw wrote the following that inspired me:
To many times we stand aside and let the waters slip away.
'Til we put off 'til tomorrow has now become today.
So don't you stand upon the shore line and say your satisfied.
Choose to chance the rapids and dare to dance the tide.
Fire and ICE
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U.S. Antarctic Program Site and McMurdo/South Pole Webcam Click the Map
I took folks out to Pegasus Field to leave for the season and an adorable Adele walked right up to me on the ramp area of the runway. I could almost see him or her saying " Want to take my picture. I sure am cute. Oh, wait here is my best side. Ok shoot now..." We were blessed with an abundance of wild life this season at McMurdo and it sure was fun getting stopped on the road by groups of Penguins making a crossing....
To my left is the station Physical Therapist Mandy!!! I was having some therapy done at the VA Hospital in Helena, Mt. by a great lady named Amber. She seen my shirt which had McMurdo Station on it and she said a good friend who inspired her to be a Therapist was going to Antarctica. I promised Amber I would say hi to her friend Mandy in Antarctica. Promise kept Amber....
Just another great day out at Pegasus Air Field and I just had to take this shot of Mac Town with Erebus in the background. Castle Rock is on the Cross Country Ski route that Ginny and I climbed. So you can see we ski from Mac Town to Castle Rock then down to the right of Castle Rock to the Ice and finally to Scott Base and back to Mac Town..
Here is a shot across the valley to the SuperDarn Antennas I had the privilege of helping put them up along side several scientist and other volunteers from McMurdo. Darn stands for Dual Aurora Radar Network. Google SuperDarn to get information off the internet. I also helped Todd do modifications to all 20 transceivers and finally got to see it go on line earlier than was planned. The big golf ball upper right houses a satellite down link antenna for polar orbiting satellites. Basically it down loads data from the satellites and forwards it to appropriate agency.
Close up of the Super Darn Transmit Antennas on the right and receive on the left. The Radar system works on frequencies 10 Mhz to 16 Mhz. It scans up and down the band, listens to see if the frequency is clear. If the frequency is clear, it transmits and listens for the return. The radar is mapping the Mesophere and the plasma at the edge of space. The little green building houses the transceivers and internet equipment.
The Oden breaking ice for the Tanker Buck. After docking, the Buck unloaded about 6 million gallons of fuel. I got to do Line Handling to dock the Oden and the Tern but was working when the Buck came in for docking.
You know the summer is coming to a close when the cargo ship (Tern) has been loaded with all outgoing cargo and is being escorted by the Icebreaker Oden to the open sea. This is a pretty nice picture of the channel the Oden cleared to the open ocean which you can just see in the distance at about 14 miles. For most of us this means about 2 - 3 weeks before we leave Antarctica for home or vacation.
Shuttle gang from a distance. Lets see if I can get all their names Top Left to right: Smokey (Me), Kathy, Bob, Susan, Helen, Jim, Merika, Megan, Jen, Kelly, Breezy, Ginny, Kris, Jeff. Four ladies between the passenger cab and driver cab left to right: Colleen, Janet, Lyle, Miller. Left to right on the ground: Ann, Jeff (JD), Joe, Char, Jeff (OJ), and Shuttle Bill. Chris (Pinky) did not make the shoot but your in our thoughts Chris..... 2009/2010 season at McMurdo Station has now come to an end.
Update !!!!! The Hygain Antennas is fully operational for 10/15/20 meters and the 40M Dipole is repaired so we have 800 watts out on those 4 bands. Satellite is going well with contacts mainly on AO-51. I will be looking at HO-68 this weekend since they have it operational. The foot print is really super on this new Amateur Satellite as it will cover all of Australia from here at McMurdo. Donner interface is full operation on PSK31. I am still working on getting Pegasus Field (KC4USX) operational for a couple weekend with NSF and Raytheon. I put in the request for assignment of the call and awaiting answer. Also, I have the 60 meter antenna ready and will be operational third weekend in January. I had a schedule change so will be off on Saturdays and Mondays. So I will be in the Ham Shack Saturday/Monday 0000 GMT. The above picture is the QSL card for KC4USV taken from out on the Ross Ice Sea looking at McMurdo Station with Mt. Erabus (active Volcano) as a nice back drop.
Another love of my life and here I am on Grand Targhee Ski Area in Idaho. My home ski area is Great Divide Ski area near my home in Helena, Montana.
Where is K7MT-14 (Truck) on APRS ?
Where is K7MT-7 Handheld Fire or Antarctica ?
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