Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 11/14/2012 - 11:16
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Antarctic Sub Glacial Lake and Stream Studies

Hey dad,

Several senior Electrical Engineering students heard about your trip, and their number one concern was which direction does the water in the toilet spin when you flush?

Also, I was wondering what types of radio equipment gets used down there (HF/VHF/Sat) and what your radio setup looks like in the field. For portable equipment, are there special battery chemistries that handle cold better than the usual NiMH or L-ion stuff we use back home?

Nick Clemson University

Wed, 11/14/2012 - 12:05

Mike LeBaron

Hi Nick,I was wondering when I'd get the water spin question. I'm sorry to say
that in your typical sink or toilet the Coriolis effect just doesn't
work. You need a really large body of water (like an ocean)so see it.
Our toilets are designed to have a straight flush - water comes in the
front, goes down the drain with no major spin. Same with the sinks.
Sorry to burst the myths.
Radio equipment varies. VHF are normal hand-held HT style, 5 watt for
high power. There's a repeater on Black Mountain which is about 30
miles from McMurdo over the sea ice, so there's absolutely nothing to
block the line-of-sight signal for most operations that work out of
McMurdo during the day. The MacOps group monitors and records all
communications on VHF (and HF also).
HF is based on some older military units. To use it in the field we
strung up a really simple dipole that has clips to change the wave
length depending on the frequency you are calling on. It was strung
between two bamboo poles that put it about 6 feet off of the ice. We
called the South Pole to find out what the temperature was down there
(it was -45). Part of the training included antenna orientation so that
we could be more sure that the signal was headed in the correct
direction. Set up of the unit with two people took maybe 10 minutes,
most of which was unwinding the antenna wire.
Batteries are LiO types. They seem to hold up in the cold pretty well.
The HF units also have a small solar panel for recharging in the
field. I noticed that my camera batteries seem to keep a normal charge
and time even when left out in the cold at 10 degrees f.
There is a ham shack here at McMurdo. Apparently there is one radio
operator that's a ham. I'll need to see if I can find him and maybe I
can get a look at the shack - it's somewhere off on the edge of town
next to some of the outside storage - kind of like yours there in Clemson.
For anyone who read this answer and doesn't have a clue what all this
means, I'll put in a journal entry about field radio communications and
include some pictures of the equipment and antennas. It's all about
science and keeping people safe!

Fri, 11/16/2012 - 05:04

Anonymous

I'm glad that I can now verify the toilet spin question for my students who doubted me! The radio question and journal entry were very interesting. We discussed how we take communication for granted and what it must have been like reaching the South Pole 100 years ago without any communication!

Fri, 11/16/2012 - 05:04

Anonymous

I'm glad that I can now verify the toilet spin question for my students who doubted me! The radio question and journal entry were very interesting. We discussed how we take communication for granted and what it must have been like reaching the South Pole 100 years ago without any communication!

Fri, 11/16/2012 - 18:37

Mike LeBaron

I'm glad I could back you up. I find the history of Antarctic Exploration really fascinating. I recommend that everyone read about some of it and try to appreciate just how much our technology lets us do with so little effort.