Ham Radio during expedition
The first ham during expedition
Radio is the only way to keep in touch with the modern world from the remotest of the places. The first ham radio operator to cooperate in an expedition was American Radio Relay League member Don Mix (Callsign 1TS). With his radio equipment in tow he accompanied Donald B. MacMillan to the Arctic on the Schooner Bowdoin in 1923.


Ham radio during 'Kon-Tiki' expedition
Extraordinary explorer and naturalist Thor Heyerdahl in the year 1947 during his famous 'Kon-Tiki' voyage through the Pacific Ocean used amateur radio equipments to communicate from his small reft on the high sea. Throughout the voyage, Thor along with the five member crew collected mateorological and oceanographic data and sent them to the USA via ham radio stations scattered around the globe. In fact the crew kept in touch with the outside world through ham radio stations only. It was the sole sign of their being present in the modern world. Even nowadays when the professional communication system is getting hundred percent reliable, navigators are found to use ham radio equipments, because ham radio has got its own advantages too!


Ham Radio Operation during 1983-84 Indian Antarctic Expedition
During the third Indian expedition (1983-84) to Antarctica, the Indian Amateur Radio Station VU2IF/Maritime Mobile-3 became operational from the expedition ship "Finnpolaris" on 4th December, 1983. The station was operated by radio amateur Dr. Ashutosh Singh, VU2IF, the father figure of Delhi hams and an active worker of Amateur Radio Association, New Delhi.


Ham radio operation during the "Samudra" Expedition
The Indian Naval Sailing Vessel 'Samudra' added another chapter to Naval Maritime history when it touched the shores of Gulf in 1991. INSV-Samudra, the 13 metre long and 17 year old fibre glass yatch started its expedition on September 21, 1991 from Cochin and sailed upto Muscat (Oman) and Abbas (Iran). The speciality of the expedition was that all the seven crew members were amateur radio operators and the yatch was skippered by S.B. Anand (VU2SBA). They were in touch with their families and their HQ via ham radio.

Ham radio operation during polar expedition
In 1988, members of a joint Soviet/Canadian expedition crossed the North Pole on skis. Amateur Radio Operators provided daily communications, and OSCAR 11 (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio) satellite's "Talking Computer" relayed position information to the expedition team every 100 minutes !



Sources:
Department of Ocean Development, Technical publication No. 3, p-265-266.
ARRL Handbook, 1993
Science Reporter, May 1988, pp 290