Hearing Antarctica

[megascanner]

I remember as a kid having a std dipole in the backyard and a Kenwood R-1000 radio and picking up Casey Base, Antarctica one night. I was living in Los Angeles at the time and was surprised it was possible to hear it. Wasn't strong signal but clear enough to hear communications from Antarctica and a brief mention of the faraway location.

Has anyone else had luck in North America hearing Casey Base? Curious. This was probably 20-25 yrs ago.

 

[n0nhp]

HF out of Antarctica is getting harder to hear as most bases have high bandwidth satellite hookups, even the South Pole station. 10 or so years ago I was one of the techs responsible for the HF radio transmitters and receivers at McMurdo station. HF is primarily used for flight following and contact with remote field camps. Even this is dwindling as Iridium sat phones are more reliable in most cases.
For those interested in a possibly obsolete frequency list, this is what I worked from while down there.

Bruce

 

[n0nhp]

It helps if I hit upload before post.