Work photos and the German film crew

The 277 auguring out our 2 foot diameter 6 foot deep holes. The same machine did the 1.8km of trenching for our cable. The snow was like sugar and kept falling back into the hole so we had do some by hand. It also got stuck on the way out so we had to pull it out with a Pisten Bully.














My coworker lowering an antenna pair into the augured hole.



















Part of the testbed site. We are putting covers over some of the filled 2 foot diameter holes.














One type of antenna, bowtie slotted cylander going down our boreholes. This photo is from the inside of the purple palace.














A different type of antenna going down our 40 meter holes.
















A German film crew showed up at the South Pole late last night. They are getting set up to film the final leg of a race to the South Pole some German television station is doing. We got a long email about how we aren't to let them into the station, to film the station, to give them gifts from the station, to talk to them about the station... Apparently the US Antarctic Program has a pretty clear policy regarding commercial ventures using the resources of our program. It seems harsh, but I've heard of past groups taking advantage of our hospitality and now it's very easy for anyone with $30k to come to station and they all would be quite happy to say they took a shower here or ate at the galley. They are set up in the NGO (non-governmental organization) area which is grid north of the station.