There are no more signals from VP8ADE from Adelaide Island, the ice-covered island off the Antarctic peninsula's west coast. The last day on the air for the 28-MHz low-power research beacon was the 21st of February. It was put into service in the summer of 1979 at the British Antarctic survey base of Rothera. Its tour of duty was originally supposed to have lasted only 3 years as one part of a research programme, according to Laurence Howell KL7L, who was the base radio operator at the time. The beacon's collection of critical data on global ionospheric propagation at the F2 layer proved so invaluable that it continued operating for another four decades. The beacon shared a small wooden hut with a 1950-era aircraft navigation beacon and with research equipment used for ionospheric D-layer scintillation research used by students of ionospheric researcher Dr. Roy Piggott. VP8ADE was proposed by the Radio Society of Great Britain. It was coordinated with the British Antarctic Survey and the Falkland Island radio regulator.