A Soldier assigned to Defense Media Activity, Riverside was part of a team that upgraded the cable television equipment for McMurdo Station in Antarctica in support of the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP), managed by the National Science Foundation, throughout October and November of 2019.
During the mission Sgt. 1st Class Peter Yokel, from DMA and Andrew Sciascia, the lead technician for the mission, upgraded cable TV systems from analog to digital for McMurdo Station, the Black Island communications facility nearby, and USAP at Christchurch, New Zealand. The mission was part of the annual maintenance of the broadcast gear at each site used to receive and distribute American Forces Network and Navy Motion Picture Service programming.
“It’s not easy to distribute cable TV in that environment,” said Yokel. “On the far end of the distribution lines the cable was very snowy [referring to visual interference on the screen], some channels were lost, and overall it was working but poorly. With the plans and equipment I was sent down with I was able to upgrade the cable TV system from analog to digital. This greatly improved the signal quality and made it easier to distribute the cable TV signal through the distribution system,” he added.
Often taken for granted in the current age of high speed internet, social media and communications tools, television and radio serve as more than just a form of entertainment for those stationed so far away from home.
“All communications in and out are via satellite and a microwave relay; the combined internet bandwidth available to everyone is about 17Mb/sec which is less than an individual cellphone,” said Sciascia. “There are no cellular towers so it would be very easy to become isolated from what is going on in the rest of the world. The radio and television not only provides some entertainment, but it is the primary source of information back home. The old analog cable system had a lot of issues. There was not only a lot of interference, but the signal was so bad that some of the dorms had no television at all. We were able to not only improve the signal quality, but provide signal to places that had none. It is a huge quality of life factor, not only being able to watch the news or movies or sports, but it gives people things to talk about,” Sciascia said.
Yokel and Sciascia both agreed that the upgraded digital cable TV system contributed to an increase in the quality of life for the people stationed there.
“Antarctica, being that it’s cold, isolated, and has limited communication channels to the outside world can be a difficult place to be,” said Yokel. “What this upgrade meant to the people that are working there for months at a time was that on their down time they could escape into a movie, catch up on their TV series, read the scores on their team’s games, and be well informed on the weather. This upgrade has made a huge impact on morale,” added Yokel.
The United States government deploys approximately 700 scientific researchers and 2,500 support personnel to operate and maintain the scientific facilities every year, according to the National Science Foundation.
| Date Taken: | 01.03.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 01.03.2020 14:30 |
| Story ID: | 358212 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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