257.050 Deep Freeze Ops

[brandon]

Looks like they are using 257.050 as of late. Ice 04 was noted passing position report w/ Mac Centre.

 

[n0nhp]

The Antarctic Sun: News about Antarctica - New Chapter Begins

 

[whitenoise]

Thanks for the tip Brandon. I checked my recordings for recent activity and there is quite a bit of comms. I posted some here: Operation Deep Freeze 2014 | USA-Satcom

 

[n0nhp]

Another link you might find interesting
The USAP Portal: Science and Support in Antarctica - McMurdo Station Webcams
From the Arrival Heights camera, a road is visible leading directly away from the camera across the sea ice. At the end of the road, barely visible is the Sea Ice Runway. According to reports I have seen this year, the plan is to not use the sea ice runway and have all flights arrive and depart Pegasus (aka the Blue Ice runway), however it looks like they have prepared for contingencies.

Bruce, Comm Tech Operation Deep Freeze 1998-2004

 

[whitenoise]

Thanks for the link! The webcams are pretty cool.

 

[VE2XWA]

There is traffic right now on 257.050 but i dont think its related to op deep freeze.....

 

[SCPD]

Looks like they are using 257.050 as of late. Ice 04 was noted passing position report w/ Mac Centre.

You guys on the West coast are lucky! The PAC SATS have the most in the clear traffic. The LANT birds are just cluttered with pirates. Very little of anything else.

 

[whitenoise]

Lot's of activity yesterday and today. I have posted recordings from yesterday in same post as earlier.

 

[brandon]

They are back on satcom using 261.725. Ice 29 and Deep Freeze Ops monitored this evening.

 

[n0nhp]

That would be the final flights returning personnel from the Ice. The freighter and tanker have offloaded their cargo and the Coast Guard is on it's way to rescue a stuck ship. Time to button up for the winter.
At one point there was talk about keeping two or so plane loads of personnel in McM until the end of March to do some late season science. I have not seen any updates on whether that is happening. When I was there, as soon as we saw the Ice Breaker, it was time to start packing and shipping things north. The end of the season was near.

 

[VK3RX]

I'll have a listen over this way on 261.725.

Glad they've gone back to that frequency, because I'm receiving data on 257.050

FWIW I'm down in SE Australia, and use a 14 element Yagi designed for 240-270MHz with an Advanced Receiver MSP240-270VDG-160-C masthead amp.

The system picks up the Pacific birds around 172E quite well.

 

[brandon]

Ice 31 monitored this afternoon with Base Ops and Mac Centre on 261.725.

I use same preamp combo for both my antennas and it's fantastic. I highly recommend their products.

 

[VK3RX]

ICE 32 working Deep Freeze Ops on 261.725MHz @ 232332 UTC

Aircraft reporting poor weather @ Pegasus and debating landing or other options.

 

[mancow]

Maybe one of you out West would consider a proscan feed for the rest of us. The PAC sat is like 1 degree below the horizon for me.