How many times have you been to Antarctica

[Paul]

Was once more than enough, are you hankering to return, or are you lucky enough to have been South more than most?

[Keith]

I thoroughly enjoyed my two and a half year stint. I gather things are very much changed from when I was down (72 to 74) when we were limited to one telex message of 100 words per month! We really did feel cut off from the rest of the world and a genuine sense of adventure.

[Paul]

Hi Keith, welcome to the Cool Antarctica forum.

My time in the mid 80's was similar to yours, though we had a whole 200 words per month - how things had progressed in the decade and a bit!

Like you say things are so much different these days with emails and internet access.

I still vividly recall one night in winter on night watch when I heard the clattering of the telex machine, I was so excited, the outside world was coming to us! I rushed down the corridor to see what was happening, it was a ship's SOS from thousands of miles away and not really to do with us at all. The world shrunk inwards again...

[cruisesantarctica]

I only was there once and still have a lot of other places to visit on the globe, trying not to go to the same place twice.

In 2002 we used sattelite phone, kind of "a hassle" having to put it out the cold window... Cannot imagine how it must have been in telex time.

Maggie

[Carys Torres]

The 200 words a month were sent by teleprinter which was slightly different to telex. They worked by direct link between BAS HQ and the Cable and Wireless office in Stanley so when the Falklands were invaded in 1982 we more or less lost touch with the bases. I think a German base came to the rescue and all communications went through there until the invasion was over and comms were restored properly. After that BAS realised that they had to move into the 20th century and the satellite comms were installed.

[cruisesantarctica]

Even nowadays using email, my answer still comes more than 1 month late...

[imago]

Ah yes, 200 words. It never seemed to sink in with those still here that even an unfinished sentence was a cliff hanger.