Technical Equipment

The Mongolia Expedition provided the first successful field test of the LiveTX Remote Broadcasting Unit.

Each component of the system functioned exceptionally well given that temperatures in the wind reached 20 degrees below zero. The camera batteries sat exposed directly on the outside of the camera, and lasted only about 15-20 minutes fully charged. The wind and sand also caused havoc with the laptop, which suffered from condensation on the screen and keyboard. Despite this the Apple continued to deliver the goods.

Unfortunately, the crew also suffered in the cold. The track-pad on the laptop did not work through gloves, and the broadcasts all happened at sunset, when the temperature dropped quite rapidly. The most we were able to stand in the wind before starting to lose sensation was around 45 minutes.

Battery packs were drip-charged from solar panels attached to the roofs of the jeeps as we drove to different locations each day. In the evenings we maintained the website entirely on location from inside the ger, something also unique to the expedition.