EQUIPMENT:

Two of the three preamp/VCOs at the summit transmitter site were damaged beyond repair by corrosion. Because air temperatures were expected to fall below the operating limit of the electronics, both the transmitter and the VCOs were buried in warm ground. The VCOs were in a deeper reaching box however, the inside of which experienced copious condensation which penetrated the plastic freezer bags in which the 2 VCOs were sealed. The third VCO (1020 Hz) in both a bag and metal box was less affected, while the transmitter which remained below freezing point was undamaged. As only one new preamp/VCO was available, the recording of the level of audible sound in the crater was abandoned for 1982. The wooden cabinet of the old infrasonic microphone was badly split by moisture from the warm ground around it, although it had been sealed in polythene rubbish bags. The plastic was apparently stripped off by the weather.

The main carbonaire battery (supplied by the Americans) may also have been affected by its burial in warm ground. Condensation in the ventilation pipe blocked it with ice, and some of the 30 cells which were only 1/3 discharged (as confirmed by the volume of zinc electrode remaining) inexplicably gave no voltage, and were discarded. When reconnected on 6 December, the remaining good cells gave 12V, but by 12 December they had fallen to 8V, forcing the complete replacement of the battery after we were supposed to have left the mountain.

The induction loop had become unburied over at least 350m of its length due to strong winds (which had also unwound the turnbuckles on the antenna guy wires). Where so exposed, the PVC insulation had cracked badly, and the wire had to be replaced and reburied. Until it is all reburied more deeply, this maintenance work will continue to be necessary in the future. If neglected, wind noise in the records and early breaks in the cable will soon render it useless.