In Antarctica, Chris Cianflone, W2RTO, is on the air from KC4USV at McMurdo Station, mostly operating FT8 on 14.075 MHz. The station has a tribander for 20, 15, and 10 meters and a Kenwood TS-480 feeding a 500 W amplifier, which, he said “sounds like it’s on its last legs.” Given the 24 hours of daylight this time of year and the challenging terrain, the lower bands are unusable in Antarctica, but a dipole may be in the offing for 40 meters later in the season. Cianflone is in Antarctica getting research sites up and running with their communications needs. He heads home on February 21. QSL via K7MT.

Operators at KC4USV log on paper, and these logs are keystroked into an ADIF file. Cianflone said the station is in a poor location and endures local noise from generators and other transmitters. He will try to be on the air at 0000 UTC for about 30 minutes a day, Monday through Saturday, and at 0600 UTC.

Marco de Pas, DK5SXQ (ex-IK5SQX), will arrive in Antarctica on December 20, remaining into February, operating as IA0/DK5SXQ from the Italian-French base Concordia. He’s in Antarctica to install a LIDAR (light detection and ranging) system but expects to have some spare time to operate.

Seba Gleich, SQ1SGB, plans to be on the air from VP8HAL at the Halley VI Research Station until February 8. If he is successful in erecting an antenna, he’ll operate on FT8, JT65, and SSB on 40 and 20 meters. QSL through EB7DX. — Thanks to The Daily DX