7 January
by Amanda Rodrigues Alves
We had a little bit of action yesterday and today.
Yesterday around 10am suddenly a plane landed on the field near the base. We were all excited with the novelty. The plane was a Canadian registered Basler chartered by a Russian company who get paid to fly Belgium, Swedish and German scientists to their bases. It had to land here because of bad weather at the destination. So it was a bit of a change into our routine and also nice to see new faces. We couldn't film it landing because it happened without any notice but we were all set for the take off. The plane has skis around the wheels.
When they were about to take off some people were taking skidoos to go down towards the plane but I decided to walk. After a while I was completely alone and when I was about 200 meters from the plane a mist came in and the plane disappeared. I looked back and the base was beginning to disappear too so I got a bit scared, I didn't realise how fast the fog could cover everything and that I wouldn't be able to find my way back. So I decided to start walking back while I could still see. A few things gave me some assurance that it wasn't going to be too thick a fog; the first one was that there was almost no wind to blow the fog towards us and the second was the fact that the pilots were already on the plane and they were making no attempts to come back. It was quite beautiful to walk in the mist, it is made up of tiny ice flakes and they reflect the sun so it looked like I was walking inside a cloud made of gold glitter. As soon as I got back to the base I looked down and the fog was gone and I could see the plane again, but then I decided to wait for everyone and go down with one of the skidoos.
Today as it was Sunday and I didn't have to do any cleaning I got up at 10am. I went outside to film the bulldozers removing the snow from the front of the base, they push it over the cliff on the side of the nunatak. After lunch we had to get ready because we were going to visit a possible new site for the AWS. This one is further away than Lorenztenpiggen it is about 20 km from the base. All set up and packed we went at 3pm, it took us about 40 minutes to get there. The place is called Knotten and is not so spectacular, two lumps of exposed rock (nunatak) surrounded by a wind scoop. Around us was completely white, from the other site at Lorenztenpiggen you can see a lot of other nunutaks so the view is very interesting this new one you can only see the tip of Lorenzo Piggen and a little grey speck on the horizon which is Vesleskarvet, the nunatak where SANAE is.
We made a test to see if our modems would still work from this distance and it did which is a good thing because now we know this site can be an option for us. We went along with the geologists and the magnetic field scientists and apparently the site is not so interesting for the geologists. So it would be good to still look around for some other place that might be good for all the scientists and for us as well.
I was driving the skidoo on the way there and back but actually I don't have fun doing it at all. Your fingers freeze because of the wind, so it becomes difficult to hold the accelerator (which you have to do all the time) and also the snow is so hard and bumpy is like doing a cross country rally. Not my kind of fun, but driving is much better then being on the passenger sledge. We got back just in time for dinner.
At dinner I sat on the same table as one of the captains from the helicopter and he was telling me that just before dinner he tuned his short wave radio into a radio station from Sao Paulo. He said that at this time of night it is very easy to get radio stations from South America, maybe I'll join him later on to see if I can get some news in Portuguese. Vai ser bom para matar um pouco das saudades.
7 January 2007
by Adam HydeNada much to report. Did a short coms test to another site. It was 18km away as the snow petrel flies. I set up a irc (chat) server and we happily chatted away over the radio link. Next I would like to try some VOIP (voice chat) tests over the same link. It would also be good to send live video. For those that know the technology, I would like to set up Asterisk and run two software telephones (we will probably use x-lite as there is a version for linux, osx, and windows - although on my machine i will use the nifty Linphone as its light and just works).
Not much to report on really. Marko has got the stuff we require and with luck it will be on the plane on the 11th of this month. I-TASC seems to be getting the thumbs up here. I think they originally wondered what artists were and possibly imagined we were lazy bohemians. I think we have proven we work hard and also proven we know a little bit about what we are doing. We often don't know what we are doing also of course and need help but additionally we have helped some of the scientists out with our knowledge of audio, internet tech etc. Surprisingly the radio has been much more of a hit that I imagined. Its really amazing how fast radio adds to a sense of community, if it is a small radio-less community (more receivers coming with Markos shipment). People here are so into it and quite amazed we managed to set it up so fast and also amazed that we did it for them in the first place. The video projector has also gained us some good points as there are many people here that have never seen a movie on a data projector. it also helps relieve the boredom of course. So I think the scientists and crew here are beginning to understand why its interesting to have artists around.
Additionally i think some are starting to see that they could learn something from us while we are here which feels great as I felt a little like it was a one way street. I have learnt lots from the generous minds of the scientists and thought it would be good to be able to return the favour. Thankfully some of the them were very impressed with the data link and irc tests we did today. I thought it was the least we could do really as it took about 20 minutes to set up, but I'm very glad they think its interesting and they want to know more about how its done. It seems what we have learnt along the way as artists has some utility. According to Franz its the first long distance remote tests of this type (IP) done here. Its quite motivating to hear that. I'm keen to try the voice chat and streaming tests as this will show the bandwidth capabilities and latency effects more clearly.
First Born is doing the rounds with interviews. The guy is a natural talent. He sticks a microphone in their face and they laugh and chat away merrily. Not many people can have that effect. He's also doing great work with the mastering of the audio and very open to direct feedback which makes getting the job done much easier and faster. No need to tip toe round him too much and if I go too far he laughs at me which softly puts me in my place. I like working with him alot. We are collaborating on the audio slideshows and will put them on the web when we have enough. Its a good format (1 min audio with 10 images) for uploading as its quite light on bandwidth so i think its an interesting remote 'documentary' format. I think we will also put them online in the local network so people here can see another output from us.
Other than that it was just another day in the long day of an Antarctic summer.