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2\/26\/2006 8:00:00 AM\nOn the far side of the world<\/p>\n
2\/26\/2006 8:00:00 AM
\nOn the far side of the world<\/p>\n
Julie Young
\nCorrespondent<\/p>\n
Julie Young – Correspondent<\/p>\n
Summer in Antarctica means temperatures in the mid-20s to the mid-30s with fog, snow drifts and winds reaching 65 mph or more. Hardly an ideal vacation destination, but for Dr. Gary Stouder it\u2019s where he wanted to spend his winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to do this because this is the biggest adventure of my life,\u201d he said in an e-mail interview. \u201cI have always wanted to be in the Antarctic, and this was a great opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stouder is part of a group of 20 ham radio operators who have battled the frozen tundra in order to set up their radios and contact people all over the world from Peter 1 Island, Antarctica.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have only been about 50 humans to set foot on Peter 1 Island,\u201d he said, noting that the area is less traveled than outer space.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the team broke camp and prepared to journey back home. During their time on the remote island, team members took 17,000 photographs and established radio contact with hundreds of ham operators around the world. They also set up a weather station and explored the rugged terrain.<\/p>\n
The isolated location has an extinct volcano, icebergs and little wildlife. It is the most desolate place on the earth, but for a ham radio aficionado, it represents a unique opportunity to communicate with the rare site.<\/p>\n
Because of its remoteness, the island counts as another country and for hams around the world, having confirmation of contact with Antarctica is akin to having Willy Wonka\u2019s golden ticket.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like a stamp collector getting a rare stamp,\u201d Stouder said, noting that the group has made about 70,000 contacts so far.<\/p>\n
According to Stouder\u2019s wife, Joy, this isn\u2019t the first time Stouder has tried to reach Antarctica. Last year, he traveled as far as the southern tip of Argentina before weather and travel complications canceled the trip. He didn\u2019t think he would get the chance to go, but then after seeing \u201cThe March of the Penguins,\u201d she said he got fired up about the trip again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a little bit scared at first, but I think it is important to let him seek his adventure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Stouder has dual roles on the mission. Not only is he one of the hams transmitting from the island, he also serves as the group\u2019s medical officer. His medical equipment includes a defibrillator and IV fluid. He said that the group is eight days away from the nearest medical care.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a great challenge for me to be ready to do this even though I hope everyone stays well,\u201d he said. \u201cI also really like being able to make contacts with people throughout the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stouder became interested in radios when he was 10 years old, listening to the short wave and dreaming of faraway places. He said he got his first ham license when he was 17. Over the years, he has talked to almost every country in the world, not to mention places out of this world.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve talked to the astronauts on the International Space Station with school groups,\u201d Joy Stouder said.<\/p>\n
Stouder said that he doesn\u2019t have another adventure on tap after this. He works part-time with the Hancock Health Network, but both he and his wife enjoy traveling to exotic locales such as Australia, China and Japan. He is scheduled to return March 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe both have an adventurous spirit,\u201d Joy said. \u201cBut I hope this trip (to Antarctica) will fill that void for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2\/26\/2006 8:00:00 AM On the far side of the world Julie Young Correspondent Julie Young – Correspondent Summer in Antarctica means temperatures in the mid-20s to the mid-30s with fog, snow drifts and winds reaching 65 mph or more. Hardly an ideal vacation destination, but for Dr. Gary Stouder it\u2019s where he wanted to spend … Continue reading “On the far side of the world”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[79],"class_list":["post-1174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-radio","tag-dxpedition"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9vUOZ-iW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n0zb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}