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ZD8SIX on Ascension |
Saturday 4th November |
Funny this. When driving around in the car, absolutely everyone including drivers and pedestrians waves at you all the time! I’m suddenly very popular or is it something to do with the one foot high smilie on the bonnet of my car I wonder? I suspect the tourist office has been running a programme. Whatever the reason, it’s great. Well, I still haven't actually found anywhere else I can eat other than the mess and what is worse, the Mountain View Bar up at the Travellers Hill RAF camp only opens between 19:30 and 00:00 which coincides precisely with when I get 6m propagation. I am finding it hard to get used to this late evening propagation. I thought 6m was a civilised band which allows me to indulge some of my others passions during the evening – I mean drinking and meeting the locals in local bars!
I can see now why Ascension is so weird and full of contradictions. Is it a heaven or is it hell? There are fantastic beaches at Comfortless Cove and English Bay, but just turn round at English Bay, look inland and you might wonder whether you are trying to get sunburnt of RFburnt! The BBC run all their South America and Africa relay transmitters from Ascension and this northern part of the island is smothered with some of the biggest HF arrays you are ever likely to see anywhere in the world. I am going to see whether I can get shown round the transmitter room while I’m on the island (I didn’t, as I ran out of time with all the propagation I was to get).
Wow, visiting the north-west part of the island is a shock and is very definitely 'a hell on earth'. The landscape looks EXACTLY like the surface of Mars with the whole area strewn with piles of volcanic rocks that have never broken down to create soil. Most of this plain is covered with loads of antennas many of which are massive HF log-periodics which look like inverted tripods of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds fame. To tell the truth, most of the other parts of the island look similar to this as well but not quite so extreme. I thought it was the debris dumped from taking off the top of many of the hills so that satellite dishes can be bolted to the tops. However, this is not the case as they are entirely natural. Much of the rock is like pumice stone, many are black and many are a dirty orange colour indicating, I assume, a high iron content. Much of the sand is magnetic so I understand, so maybe this is why I can’t hear any VKs through Cross Hill?
The Mars-like terrain in the north-west of the island smothered with log-periodic antennas
It’s funny that whenever I mention that I am ‘holidaying’ on the island nearly everyone looks aghast and says something like "whatever for"? The island IS definitely different to anywhere else I’ve been. Now, if only I could get something to eat…
I plan to go to the top of Green Mountain again today and have a look at the beacon now that I have the keys.
I’m just back from the mountain (see the photographs on the next page). Did you notice the beacon being off for half an hour? It was in a poor state but it says much about the robustness of G3JVL’s design that it is still working after year’s of neglect! The power supply was covered in about 1.5 cm of what I can only assume are ‘shrew’s droppings’. This is probably because the transformer is warm and they have been using it as a nest. Fortunately nothing has been nibbled. I tried not to disturb it too much but I disconnected the power supply and used a brush to clean up as much as I could. I made a temporary support with a bit of wire to the antenna post until it can be repaired.
On the way back I popped into Two Boats club and had a beer and a hamburger. At least I have found somewhere to go for food other than the mess in Georgetown. I also had a long chat to a fireman called John who is leaving the island today after two and half years. He was down here after the Falkland’s war in ’83 and swore then he would be back. Why? (I guess this might be a common answer to such a question) "Ascension is hard to describe, but it is magical". He told me about the ‘painted stone’; if you paint it before you leave you’ll be coming back. I guess I had better buy some paint. Umph? Where from though (I didn't as it turned out)? I also learnt that the VC (Volcano Club) snack bar IS open and is next to the baseball field on the USAF base. I’ll try it later.
More Mars-like terrain in the north-west of the island
I went to the VC tonight and found it to be a typical USA style snack bar and a nice and cheap one at that! I had chicken nuggets and chips so at least my stomach has stopped rumbling. I also noticed that you could by a T-bone steak for only $10 - I would definitely try that before leaving!
A rather nice log periodic antenna behind Cross Hill.
Now 23:00. Needless to say there’s nothing doing on 6m at present so there has been no real propagation today unless I’ve missed it.
