This picture was taken by Adam Clarke at the end of winter 2009 of the repeater on Reptile Ridge with the comms manager Webbo inspecting it.

All the support staff on base carry VHF radios as this is the only effective way of controlling operations and getting things done without having to walk around looking for people. Mostly the comms are used for runway and boating operations. We use Channel 18 and on top of Reptile Ridge is a repeater so there is a longer range. If you need to have a conversation that is longer than a few short transmissions we either switch to channel 6 if you are in line of site or to the phone system. People on SAR have to keep their radios on 24/7 just in case something happens that is not expected.

The standard procedure for boating ops is that we must keep in regular contact with ops (operations tower) throughout the operation. So we call when we are casting off with name of boat, destination, number of people and names of people on the boat and when we are calling next. We call in intervals of 30 minutes and or when we get to our destination and also when our trip is complete.

Back at the beginning of December the station ground to a halt for 30 minutes while the Argentines who have a base 40 or so km away called on 18 and wanted to have a chat with us about one of our planes that had buzzed over their base at 50 feet. When they called back on christmas day to wish us merry christmas they were swiftly told to go to HF radio.