Stephen Barnes (1915-2010), was a radio operator who focused on ionospheric research. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education at West Chester University, and played professional baseball for several years prior to serving in World War II as a Navy radar man. After the war, his expertise in electronics brought him to the National Bureau of Standards, and he served in various overseas locations, including three years installing an ionosphere station on Palmyra Island. In 1954, Barnes was transferred to the Elmendorf Station at Anchorage, Alaska to be Engineer in Charge of the North Pacific Warning Station, as well as an ionosphere station. Military communications depended on the use of short-wave frequencies, and the ionosphere recorder was needed to measure the density and height of the ionosphere so that the military would know which short-wave frequencies were best to use at any particular time.

In 1957, Barnes was appointed Scientific Leader of the Byrd Station at McMurdo Sound in Antarctica as part of Operation Deep Freeze II. Barnes and his fellow pilot, Charlie Bentley, made reconnaissance flights to scout out the routes of overland traverses, two of which were 1,000 mile trips out over the ice. Barnes flew supply flights as needed to deliver fuel, food, and personal messages from home. He also set up and operated a full ham radio station, the only means of communication with the outside world. The Navy maintained its own ham radio operation. At the station, there were research programs in magnetic physics, seismology, glaciology, meteorology, and auroral and ionospheric studies. Barnes worked directly with “radio noise” as one of his responsibilities. Barnes returned to Antarctica from 1961-1962 to help set up the Sky High Station, which was also known as the Eight Station.