Wednesday 19th March 2014

This morning was very cold with minus twenty again overnight and a strong katabatic blowing in the morning. I was up early and I took all my field equipment and excess clothing back to the field store so all I have left now is a backpack full of cloths and my emergency pack. I spent the morning catching up on all my emails and then did ARPANSA. I took a bit of time out to catch up on my blog after yesterdays outing while waiting for the wind to drop.

Around two o'clock the wind started to die off so I got all our climbing gear and tools ready to replace the air band antenna one hundred and fifty feet up on our transceiver tower. It took quite a while to get safely setup and Richard climbed first to check the fall protection while I (smartly) waited for his report. It took him quite a while to climb the seventy meters to the top (in minus fifteen) using crab claws all the way. He reported the fall arrest was in good shape but the antenna we were hoping to replace was technically too difficult to replace without some serious rigging, planning and a few days of perfect weather so I called the job off. 

Tomorrow I will install a temporary antenna on the roof of the transceiver hut that will have to serve until a new replacement antenna is delivered and can be safely installed. These antennas were installed using the huge crane that was brought down to install the wind turbines and no provision was made for maintenance in the future. By this time it was five thirty and very cold, so we packed everything up and called it a day.