Saturday 19th October 2013

Today Keldyn, Justin, Peter C and John left for Colbeck on quads and I don’t like their chances of getting to Colbeck after what I told them it was like down there. I told everyone I would only consider a Hag for the trip and quads are too dangerous and not fit to travel in the conditions down there. Of course they didn't listen to me or take my advice from my recent experience down there so good luck to them.

This morning I had a nice sleep in after the exhausting day up on the plateau yesterday. After some brunch and Saturday duties I wandered out to see what was going on. It was a perfect day with blue sky and no wind and was so nice to go for a long walk and feel the sun on my face. Eventually I wound up down at the transmitter hut and the radio propagation was smoking.

It was the JOTA (Jamboree of the air) weekend where thousands of scouts and adventurers get on the air through clubs and talk to each other. I was contacted by several clubs to come on air and talk to the kids and answer questions about Antarctica. Propagation was excellent and I talked to kids in both Perth and Melbourne as clear as a telephone and I think I got as much entertainment as they did. 

Later I made several hundred contacts throughout Asia, Australia and Europe mostly on 10m but also on several other bands and it was probably the best day on air since arriving at Mawson. After dinner we watched several episodes of Trailer Park Boys as we are trying to get through every episode before Chris and Jeremy leave us. Later in Club Catabatic we watched music videos till late.