The 44 gallon drum debate.

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
BigWave said:
That would have been our radio operator. He hooked into the base's amplifiers and antenna farm. Was fined big time for that!

It was actually Christmas Eve.

I used to have 300W of linear attached to the CB, a 9' stainless whip attached to the towbar, some heavy duty low loss coax.
The CB was pretty stock standard, not modified like everyone else's in the day.

That H/B Torana was a killer of a groundplane, just point it in the direction you were reaching out to.......

Once I was in Edithburg, York Peninsula, calling out on AM to Adelaide in the evening, some poor guy thought I was in front of his house and was swearing at me,
I chuckled and dropped the linear off, he realised and accepted I was a lot further away. :lol:

On a run to WA from Adelaide, I was chatting mostly to WA via skip for 32hrs, was even better passing Iron Knob, I was moving pretty quick then at significantly
over the speed limit.
Young, dumb and invincible, a single roo or wombat would have ended my days for good!

But that Christmas Eve was an awesome thing. Will remember it forever... if it was your radio guy, the fine was well worth it !! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks "Santa, Antarctica Base" :)
 
BigWave said:
Yep. After a while the wax separates in the atk and the fuel is un-useable in helos.
Most diesel fuel for the station's gennys was pumped ashore. You can see the big hose reel in the background. (~1.5km long).
I worked the barge, but much supplies were bought in by helos. 1980 was a big building year. The black plastic wrapped pallets were mostly concrete.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/6786/1614671439_unloading_on_beach.jpg
Sorry to deviate.......

Which base?
 
BigWave said:
Davis Base 1980

Thanks.....cheers from Casey '76.

1615613756_img371a_small.jpg
 
Beautiful Katabatic!
Casey was certainly built for the katabatic winds!
We had massive tunnels leading into all older facilities in Winter! We could get into our dongas through the roof hatches though.
1615619887_base_-_snow_build-up_a.jpg

We missed the 2020 mid-Winter Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) dinner - hopefully this year?
Many of our team have sadly passed :brokenh:
Will you be attending and where?
Maybe we could catch up?
I normally do the Melbourne Mid-Winter Dinner, but think we may do our delayed 40th ANARE re-union in either Canberra or Sydney this year as that's where most are now.
Cheers
BW
 
They make a good bush dunny if you are camped for a while . Cut one end out , that will be the bottom end . Buy a cheap plastic toilet seat with lid , next time you are in town . Mark out a hole for the seat and cut out with angle grinder . Bolt seat in place . Dig hole for the drum and sink it in till it is a suitable height . Dig the center out deeper if possible . If you are camped on rock , bring in a large compressor and jack hammer ! You can then build a shade cloth house around it , to keep the flies away .
 
Upside said:
^^amazing a chat about bloody 44 gallon drums evolved into Antarctica!! :)

I think it was the current cold front moving through Victoria that made us nostalgic :)

Edit: Bigwave, check your PM.
 
1615785126_p5100279.jpg


This is the dunny that I built . Will have to go and see if it is still standing !

This is the only photo , no photos of the inside .
 

Latest posts

Top