Kongsfjord - 70°43'N 29°21'E
KONG6 - report
A
hunt among proton storms and aurora
Going
on a DX-pedition with the current solar activity is a bit like hunting penguins
in Hyde Park. Few, if any, of the
criterions of success were present, and the odds for hearing something new
seemed to be extremely low.
Anyway,
the good gentlemen Sagdahl, Bue and Torvik once again found themselves on an
airplane moving in the general direction of my antenna "park" at
Veines. Bjarne was, as usual, the host.
They arrived at Berlevåg Airport on Oct 12, cramped themselves and their
equipment into my poor little VW Golf, making its headlights point around 10
degrees up on the sky, heading for my old farm.
Radiowise
we were as well equipped as ever. Arnstein brought his NRD-525G.
Odd-Jørgen had a WJ HF-1000A and an AR7030+, while Rolf brought along an
NRD-535 and his new Icom R-75. Bjarne's
old AR7030+ was there, plus his new Palstar R30.
Three beverages were out; North America, northern Asia and southern Asia.
In addition, Bjarne tested a large K9AY loop and an Inverted L.
All used Minidisc equipment for recording.
The new Sony MZ-R900 impressed with its small foot (or should we say
hand-) print, user friendliness and the capability of recording almost five
hours on one 74-minute disc.
Where
is Veines? A "suburb" to the hamlet Kongsfjord, 34 km SE of
Berlevåg. More info is found on
www.berlevag.kommune.no. Coordinates
are 70°43,616’ N, 29° 21,168’ E according to Odd-Jørgen's GPS.
It also revealed that the distance to their hometown Trondheim is 1,142
km, while the North Pole is a bit further away at 2,149 km.
The
first night and following morning went without even the slightest trace of
conditions. Not even KBRW Barrow AK 680, a loyal companion when
NA-conditions fail, was there. During
the afternoon we did hear a few Indonesians on SW, RRI Gorontalo on 3264.69, and
NBC Papua New Guinea 4980. The next
night and morning, Oct 14, was fruitless.
Bjarne
heard the Trondheim student's UKE transmitter on 7215 weak but steady for a
couple of hours. On the afternoon
another go at Indonesia. Better
signals this day with RRI Merauke 3905, Fak-Fak 4789.1,
Biak 6153.7 and Palu with a good signal on 3960.1.
RRI Palangkaraya 3325 is exceptionally strong, superb music.
And to our surprise, Solomon Islands shows up on 5019.95 at sign on 1900!
Another
night for sleeping – on October15 the odd Asian emerges on MW.
Solomon Islands 5020 is quite strong at 1100, and around 1430 we hear
stations from Japan, China and a couple of Philippinos.
Nothing we haven't heard before though.
After another fruitless night – with the exception of 3 – three! -
North American stations we have good conditions towards Japan during the
afternoon, Oct 16. Both NHK-2
stations on 1593 heard with local ID, at sign-off 1635 we hear NHK-2 on 1602 and
1467, both low-power frequencies. Several
of the weaker, commercial Japan stations were heard with good strength.
Solomon-5020 opened at 1900, but weak.
October
17 and only three days until going home!
Bjarne tuned in to 5020 at 0900, with Solomon Islands already there.
This would the The Day for SIBC, which had a superb signal all the way
until 1105 – the last half-hour exceptionally strong!
Almost like listening to BBC World Service ... Later on we heard RRI Jayapura 6071.2, and RRI Biak had a
wonderful signal. Special Operation
Wing was heard on 8700USB with enjoyable music. We never heard the two MW frequencies that were announced.
Otherwise, Bjarne and Arnstein monitored Radio Azerbaijan, dominating
over the Austrian on 1476, and Radio Congo Brazzaville 5985 with news in a kind
of English.
October
18. North America!
On the 6th day of the expedition they finally emerged,
justifying the visitor's decision to have a seven-day rather than the normal
five-day expediton. Mostly higher
frequencies, and mostly west-coast, but strangely enough stations from New
Brunswick (1360) and Michigan(1500) as well.
We spent a lot of time on Spanish stations on 1640 and 1690, the latter
being KSXX Roseville CA with "Radio Poder" ID's.
Not many stations heard after that.
October 19, Friday, departure day. Not much, as the plane would leave at 1105 UTC, but for once Bjarne was up at night, logging KBC Nairobi at sign-on on 1386. In the morning Arnstein makes an excellent Brazilian encounter on 1470 (ZYJ676 R Rondônia de Cacoal). Also a couple of x-band Argentineans was heard on the back lobe of the Asia beverages.