ANTARTICA

[jonbruce]

Has anyone ever dx'd from down in Antartica. If so, what did you pick up ?

 

[vibe]

Great topic; i'm going back and do an interent search using radio reception Ant. and a few more keywords.

 

[crainbebo]

prob nothing unless you had a 300 ft beverage

-crainbebo

 

[radioman148]

This is a fabulous topic. Not only Antarctica, but I wonder what you would hear at the North Pole?
I would imagine at the North Pole lots of DX from Europe & North America would be present depending on the time of day & season.

 

[davideduardo]

prob nothing unless you had a 300 ft beverage

-crainbebo

Beverages start at multiples of MW wavelengths, generally aroun 1000 feet.

 

[MR5229]

From looking at the Alaska board, some posters have reported that the aurora borealis (aurora australis in the southern hemisphere) interferes with DX'ing of AM signals and the equivalent in Antarctica would hamper DX'ing of the AM band as well. Not sure about FM though.

 

[Icangelp]

My Antarctica tips of the day.

Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are the best times for laying out your 5,000' beverage antenna. Sorry Nat, couldn't resist.

It is near impossible to keep your beverage on snow (BOS) antenna on top of the snow.

The toilets flush clockwise down there and you can't do anything about it. But you watch the Simpsons and already knew that.

 

[Icangelp]

I wonder if like here, MW DXing is significantly improved if you are at the "shore", rather than inland?

 

[radioman148]

I wonder if like here, MW DXing is significantly improved if you are at the "shore", rather than inland?

I would guess it is.

 

[BRNout]

The toilets flush clockwise down there and you can't do anything about it. But you watch the Simpsons and already knew that.

Something interesting about that: the Simpsons got that backwards and so did you.

In an evenly shaped funnel with no other force being exerted on it (and I cannot stress that enough), a liquid will drain clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. It's a smaller version of the physics of the sinking air from a high pressure system - not like rising air in a low pressure system. That's where Matt Groening tripped up.

 

[K4WRF]

FWIW, we (WLAC-1510) received a QSL request from there back in the 1980's between solar cycle 22 and 23. SINPO report was very poor as I recall.
w/

 

[Icangelp]

The toilets flush clockwise down there and you can't do anything about it. But you watch the Simpsons and already knew that.

Something interesting about that: the Simpsons got that backwards and so did you.

In an evenly shaped funnel with no other force being exerted on it (and I cannot stress that enough), a liquid will drain clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. It's a smaller version of the physics of the sinking air from a high pressure system - not like rising air in a low pressure system. That's where Matt Groening tripped up.

:-[
Thanks for the correction.

I had flushed the work toilet just to make certain...but it is one of those American Standard low water usage powerflush models, so it probably alters the natural order of the the universe.

 

[BRNout]

:-[
Thanks for the correction.

I had flushed the work toilet just to make certain...but it is one of those American Standard low water usage powerflush models, so it probably alters the natural order of the the universe.

Here's the thing: the Coriolis force is so weak that little things like the shape of the bowl/drain can alter the clockwise/counterclockwise flow pattern. Essentially, the best test is to use a funnel and block the bottom with your finger. Let the water become totally still, then let your finger off of it. You'll see it flow out the bottom, clockwise.

At the equator, doing the same thing results in the water simply being sucked straight down! No circulation. It's quite a sight!!

 

[icybluelake]

:-[
Thanks for the correction.

I had flushed the work toilet just to make certain...but it is one of those American Standard low water usage powerflush models, so it probably alters the natural order of the the universe.

Here's the thing: the Coriolis force is so weak that little things like the shape of the bowl/drain can alter the clockwise/counterclockwise flow pattern. Essentially, the best test is to use a funnel and block the bottom with your finger. Let the water become totally still, then let your finger off of it. You'll see it flow out the bottom, clockwise.

At the equator, doing the same thing results in the water simply being sucked straight down! No circulation. It's quite a sight!!

This is a great thread. I have ALWAYS wondered how the toilets flush around the equator. And I've forgotten, when I've been to Singapore, to check. Singapore, I figured, is close enough to the equator that its distance away from it might be insignificant. I'm laughing at the triviality of my post, but to tell you the truth, I learned something tonight. And yeah, I'm actually interested in this.

 

[davideduardo]

This is a great thread. I have ALWAYS wondered how the toilets flush around the equator.

Having lived a couple of miles south of the equator at Quito for many years, the answer is that the toilets used there tend to be the ones that push from the front towards the drain without swirling. The ones that swirl have enough water pressure behind them to work but the push-back ones are to be preferred. Think about airplane heads, where the chemical jet has so much pressure, it works the same whether north, south or over the equator.

 

[ddsparxx]

Actually, I am interested to see if anybody actually went to down to Antartica to hear any DX whatever it is LW, MW, or SW, since there's most like no electrical interference at all. Imagine doing that during the summer in the northern hemisphere, being bundled up in estreme cold and hopefully no aurorae up in the sky.

 

[Icangelp]

I don't know about about the DX part, but I am now in the planning planning stages of a trip through North, Central, and South America and ending in Antarctica, the sole purpose of which will be to study the flushing characteristics of the toilets in various regions.

Is anyone with me on this?

Back to the original discussion...I would think that Antarctica would have the same problems with DX that are associated with the northern extremes, higher absorbtion of skywaves.

 

[BRNout]

I don't know about about the DX part, but I am now in the planning planning stages of a trip through North, Central, and South America and ending in Antarctica, the sole purpose of which will be to study the flushing characteristics of the toilets in various regions.

Is anyone with me on this?

Back to the original discussion...I would think that Antarctica would have the same problems with DX that are associated with the northern extremes, higher absorbtion of skywaves.

LOL, I want to go too!

Agreed on the DX issues down there. You'd have the aurora australis issue AND you're thousands of miles from any decently powered MW signals. Let's not forget that the nearest sizable population centers are well north of 40 deg S - so a very long distance. I suppose that you would want to be right on the coast and with excellent equipment and a good longwire/beverage antenna. Any DX openings in such an environment would be interesting indeed. Farther inland brings up another interesting question about the conductivity of solid ice.

All in all, theoretically, it would certainly be more interesting to dx from near the North Pole (in the winter, of course). If the aurora doesn't kill the ionosphere, you'd be within range of a lot of very interesting DX.

 

[audioguy]

When I went to Alaska in the summertime, I was all excited about what I was going to hear from the lower 48... and possibly Europe. Instead, I never heard a single skywave signal-- I went in late May when it was light about 20 hours a day and dusk the rest of the time... so skywave propagation never kicked in. One interesting consequence was that daytime groundwave was phenomenal. I think if you want to DX from the polar regions, you need to be there in the winter time.

 

[vibe]

great topic; nothing to add to it except that folks must have enough ice to put in their drinks while dx ing. Happy 4th. Stay sober/safe. I will be changing my name as it looks as if my pontiac vibe will be sold next week. great AM radio. Ave to good on FM. Probably wouldn't work very well in Ant.