Expeditions 7: Two Years Around the World on all Seven Continents.

[Scott Brady]

The sat coverage is good, using the iridium network.

 

[Bergum]

I think Unurban.no is up in Antarctica too now.. You now, some people's work, are other people's dreams...

B4x4.no

 

[Scott Brady]

I think Unurban.no is up in Antarctica too now.. You now, some people's work, are other people's dreams...

B4x4.no

I have been in contact Espen over the past few days. We might actually interface at the pole about the same time.

 

[intothewild]

Not that this is relevant to the post, but my mom worked at the old Motorola Plant in Mesa, AZ (Alma School Rd IIRC), Anyways, I got to do a tour with her when I was 13 or 14 and they were working on the iridium sat's at the time. I think I still have a poster of the satellites that I got that day stashed somewhere. I got to view one of the satellites in progress (behind a clear window viewing space, behind a clean room, inside a clean room, next to a clean room, of course). That's all, carry on

 

[toddz69]

Not that this is relevant to the post, but my mom worked at the old Motorola Plant in Mesa, AZ (Alma School Rd IIRC), Anyways, I got to do a tour with her when I was 13 or 14 and they were working on the iridium sat's at the time. I think I still have a poster of the satellites that I got that day stashed somewhere. I got to view one of the satellites in progress (behind a clear window viewing space, behind a clean room, inside a clean room, next to a clean room, of course). That's all, carry on

The satellites were assembled at the South Price Road facility (old Motorola Strategic Electronics Division building). Some of my closest friends did most of the assembly. Lots of funny stories from those days. Although Iridium was a flop from a general consumer market standpoint, it was remarkable in terms of technological achievement and I know the people that worked on it were understandably proud of their work. I'm thrilled that it's still in use today and the next generation is currently being developed.

That's all for a further hijack.

Todd Z.

 

[Scott Brady]

Iridium certainly makes our travels safer. I appreciate it!

 

[Sirocco]

Hi Scott. How does the unit differ to the new 9555? We were sending/receiving sms upto 1000 characters to phone and email om our handset. It was great for parents and friends back home especially when we entered and exited Afghanistan.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Tapatalk

 

[Scott Brady]

Hi Scott. How does the unit differ to the new 9555? We were sending/receiving sms upto 1000 characters to phone and email om our handset. It was great for parents and friends back home especially when we entered and exited Afghanistan.

Primarily, the method is cheaper, with the unit being $300 and the monthly service being $30, which includes 100 sms.

 

[Sirocco]

I posted prematurely. Having seen their site it does look like a good option for those only requiring short term use. Iridium coverage is also the best. The only thing against it is you cant make calls. From a budget point of view an older used hanset and a low credit pre paid card might be better. Interesting though.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Tapatalk

 

[Scott Brady]

The method of coms appealed to me. Quick updates with included geo tag. We will have two other sat phones with us, including the Iridium Extreme with the wifi module (we need to be able to send and receive GPS tracks as the route south progresses).

Their system also stores incoming messages and delivers the next time you connect. Outgoing can also be constructed and then sent quickly. The concept is interesting to me and I think it reflects the changes in the way people communicate, having shifted to texting, emails, etc.

We will test it all out and see if the solution makes sense on a longer trip.

 

[Scott Brady]

Photography Kit

With each new continent, I refine my camera kit a bit. For Antarctica, it is all about durability and reliability. The plan is to "bolt" the lenses to the respective bodies and leave them on the cameras for the duration.

Camera 1:
Canon 1DX
28-300mm IS L (classic photojournalist lens, and while it is a little slow, it will never be dark, so it doesn't really matter )
GPS logger
(4) Lithium LP-E4N batteries
12v dual charger
Vulture A2 camera strap

Camera 2:
Canon 5D MKIII
16-35mm 2.8L (compact space lens for inside the HiLux and tents. Inside the Russian and American buildings)
GPS logger
(6) LP-E6 batteries
12v dual charger
back-up single charger
Vulture A2 camera strap

Accessories and Support:
Pelican 1510 with insert and Nemo Filo for top padding
Carbon tripod
Various filters, including polarizers, warming polarizers and variable ND filters
40mm pancake lens (used essentially a "body cap" lens)
Fuji X20 pocket camera. Metal housing and pretty bomber. Good success with this camera on the glaciers in Iceland and in Siberia.
Lens cleaning kit
Tool kit
Solid state drives 320gb x4
WD Pocket drives 1.5TB x2 in case
(10) 16gb UDMA 7 Sandisk Extreme Pro CF cards
(4) 32gb UDMA 7 Sandisk Extreme Pro CF cards
(6) 32gb Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards
Macbook Air 13"
(2) Sandisk Extreme Card readers

This excludes all of our video equipment. . .

 

[grimbo]

What do you need to store them in when not using them? I can't imagine going from inside a warm moist cab of a vehicle out into the elements would be good for them.

 

[Scott Brady]

What do you need to store them in when not using them? I can't imagine going from inside a warm moist cab of a vehicle out into the elements would be good for them.

We keep the cabs at freezing while driving. This keeps the cameras acclimated and also keeps the occupants in enough gear for safety.

The key is to never take them into the buildings (the Russian base or SP station) overnight. You also only make the mistake of blowing that little down feather off the lens once

 

[Scott Brady]

Planning for nearly a month at -40 has been an interesting logistics challenge, particularly when you still need to operate cameras and drive trucks in those conditions. The boot that works great for walking around is less appealing for driving.

To make the necessary mileage on the continent, we will be driving up to 20-hours per day and then taking a 10-hour break to prepare hot meals and sleep in the tents.

For sleeping bags, we are using the new Canon bag by Nemo Equipment, rated to -40 C/F. There are a couple unique features I have not needed to test yet, but we have tested the bag in Alaska at -20 and in Siberia at about the same temps. We are going to pay pretty close attention to the pad as well, hoping to reduce conduction between the compressed down and the cold below. I am thinking a combination of the Cosmo sleeping pad for comfort and a closed-cell pad for insulation.

NEMO Canon Sleeping Bag

 

[grimbo]

Which vehicles are using for this leg as I can't imagine the Troopies are well suited for this endeavour. I'm guessing Arctic Truck Hiluxes?