Blind man seeks Nunavut e-mail pals

My name is Sam Ward. I am 50 years old, totally blind, and I have an intense interest in the High Arctic because of its stormy weather, its remoteness and its isolation.

I would really love to receive e-mails from people living anywhere in Nunavut, but my three favorite towns in the territory are Pond Inlet, Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord. I am particularly interested in learning how you folks cope with the cold and total darkness of the long polar night, which is particularly long especially in Grise Fiord.

I have also heard that these communities have local radio stations now, and I would love to hear audio samples of these radio stations. At one time, I would have had to request that a person send me a sample of the radio stations on cassette tape, but now this is no longer necessary. Even with a dial up connection, short audio files recorded at low bit rates can be sent to people via the ‘Net, and this development has really excited me.

I have often wondered what some of the typical sounds of communities like Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay might be. For me as a totally blind person, sound is naturally my world, so if anyone at any of the local radio stations would be interested in taking on the challenge of painting a portrait of your community in sound, I would really appreciate it more than I think you’ll ever know.

I would also like to somehow hear some of the sounds of the Arctic animals of the region such as polar bears, seals, walruses, musk ox, reindeer etc. I have always wondered if ptarmigans sing or not, for example.

I am also extremely interested in AM radio reception in the Arctic. Theoretically, reception could be quite good, with radio stations from several different continents coming in over the pole at different times of the day, when both the local area of the radio station and the Arctic are in total darkness. This means that at certain times during the day, radio stations from Asia might come in from countries like Korea and Japan, then European stations would come in, then North American stations.

Also, because the entire Arctic region above the Arctic circle is dark, theoretically it would be quite easy in Nunavut to hear radio stations from Alaska and the Yukon territory even though they are thousands of miles away.

Now, you’ll notice that I said theoretically. The one thing that could ruin this wonderful reception would be the northern lights which I have heard can really play havoc with radio reception in the Arctic.

So, if anyone reading this is a ham radio operator or a DXer, and can give me some examples of the powerful U.S. and southern Canadian 50 kW stations that make it up to the Arctic during the long polar night, or a sample of reception between two Arctic locations, I would especially like to hear from you. The Arctic is an area that has truly fascinated me for more than 30 years.

Happy holidays to you all.

Sam Ward
Georgetown Ont.
samward54@cogeco.ca