GSM coverage in Antartica The maritime, aeronautical and remote communications solutions company, Altobridge, has installed a Remote GSM Solution at Australia's Antarctic station for its resident scientific team at 'Casey' on the continent's Bailey Peninsula. The Altobridge solution can operate as a standard GSM service and is specifically designed for remote, cost-effective, community communication. The system consists of a standard GSM BTS (Base Transceiver System) and a remote server running Altobridge's patented AM Gateway Platform. This server interfaces to the BTS and manages the local GSM handsets and also interfaces with the available satellite link, in this case the ANARESAT (an Intelsat service) network connecting back to Hobart, Tasmania. This trial service will enable the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) to experience the benefits of remote wireless communications and provides vital feedback to the Altobridge R&D team in Ireland, answering some important questions, including: The range of coverage of the system; Radio Frequency penetration into buildings and vehicles; The system's potential to send out alerts, alarms, etc. - a key requirement for AAD and a vital component of Altobridge's maritime systems offering, i.e. remote device monitoring; The suitability of externally-mounted components for extreme weather conditions, e.g. winter operation (-30?C). CEO of Altobridge, Mike Fitzgerald, said, "This implementation of the Altobridge AM Gateway Platform in the Antarctic demonstrates that there is no site too remote, no conditions too extreme and most importantly no ROI outside the reach of our solution. Viable small-community communication for subscribers of less than 100 is now available to operators." The system was installed at Casey by the station personnel; it configures automatically and has a special operation and maintenance capability for remote support. In this case, support came from the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) based in Hobart, Tasmania and the Altobridge support team based in Ireland. SOURCE:http://forums.cingular.com/cng/boar...essage.id=62199
Re: Gsm Service In Antarctica!! One's gotta have something to do down there. I'm sure the penguins won't mind.
The GSM service has been put up by an Australlian provider using the 900/1800 - so if your phone doesn't have 900 and/or 1800 don't plan on using it in Antartica
Sweet, time to pack my bags and get out of this steaming stink'n hole. I hate the heat it's 108 here today.
Well we didn't have cell phones when I lived as a scientist in the frozen wastelands. But I did have a Ham radio conversation with my buddy on 14Mhz... from Greenland to the South Pole direct! Now that was exciting and no roaming fees too.
Mmmmm reminds me of the mid-90s when the skip was very good for us CB'ers. I talked to a number of CB'ers in places like TX and Hawaii. The provider could be Optus, Telstra or Vodafone: http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_au.shtml
Ah yes, but when you have a OX3 call sign, it clears the air in contests. Everyone wants to talk to you. The air was dead silent as we talked pole to pole, until we finished and then the voice wave pounded us with ' talk to me'. It was fun.
The OX3 is the prefix for a Ham radio license operator from Greenland. Each country (and region in the that country) assigns the prefix so that operators or listeners know generally what country they are communicating with. Sort of the way area codes are used here.
So, people want to talk to you if you have an OX3 call sign because they sort of "collect" the prefixes? Is OX3 rare?
Since that's a station/operator callsign, it could be heard in any licensed band for Greenland. You'll find Greenland authorizations under Denmark. I worked my way from arrl.org to cept.dk to details here! The MF and HF bands are the usual 160, 80, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10 meters. See the link for exact frequencies, and the VHF, UHF, EHF, and SHF bands, too. USA Amateur Radio Service callsigns start with A, K, N, or W. COtech holds the N4BKN callsign, Amateur Extra class.
Yes,it was, and probably still is. To Americans, anything outside of the US is rare, but Greenland or Antartica even more so. It's is not only the distance, but how many Ham operators might be in a country. Obviously Germany would have a lot more. People collect call signs, like one collects coins, or the number of WA posts! Even rarer was to hear a conversation between the north and south pole or maybe snatch a call card from both in one shot. And the prefix limits bands in different countries, but in this case it was the 20 meter band, around 14Mhz...very different from the 850/1900Mhz freq. we use on our mobile phones. I lived in the very northwest corner of Greenland for ~ 2years studying radio propagation for the military and civilian use that was impacted by radiation from solar flares and other problems. My buddy was doing similiar research at the south pole. Back in my old days, there was telegraph, dog sled, and ham operators communicatiing between greenlandic cities..no phones, mobile or landline. Except for the military which had there own systems of course. And only a handfull of cities existed in Greenland too.
Good to see there are some hams here...although I suppose there was little doubt of that. In case you wonder, I'm not danish, but true blood american, and my research was for the US military. It's not the reason I like Nokia phones The OX3 call sign is long gone, being just temporary...now I have been in K1 land (CT) for some time. Most of my chatting is on the mobile though these days.
