First day of KONG51 - and 50 years since the first MW DX-pedition to Kongsfjord, in late December 1975!
This time we're only two - Bjarne and Ole Forr - as OJ Sagdahl couldn't come this time. I picked up Ole at the bus stop in Varangerbotn after an 11-hour trip on his part, before proceeding by car to my KONG-HQ in rather wintery conditions, at least on higher altitudes. Just before we met this semi truck in a steep descent, it was seconds away from a reindeer massacre as a herd of 20-30 reindeer decided to cross the road in front of him. Worse yet: A few seconds further ahead and we could have been part of it. Close call!
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| Photo: Ole Forr |
Anyway! We arrived safe at the KONG HQ at around 16:30 local (14:30 UTC). Not much more to do except make ourselves comfortable, and enjoy the first KONG51 dinner - home-made fish gratin with white wine from Calles Riesling. For dessert we enjoyed chocolate pudding and custard, and some Disaronno Amaretto.
Some aurora was observed in the evening. Not much, and we're happy with that, but here's an image from the eastern sky.
Conditions are so-so. The Japan opening at 20:00 UTC brought little of interest. We do note however that Canada is already audible on 1230 kHz and that is (maybe) a good sign.
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| CBC Churchill MB (left) and CBC Iqaluit NU visible |
Weather at the KONG HQ: 2 degrees Celsius, light rain and moderate winds. Tomorrow's forecast: Same, same.
Tomorrow, we plan to erect a 1000-metre beverage antenna at the alt-Loran site 30 km away from here, complete with a PC, Perseus SDR, 5G mobile connection and a 12V battery. It may be cold, it may be wet.
3 comments:
Happy half-century, and good luck for rich pickings. Paul
I look forward to the upcoming days!
Congrats on 50 years! A lot has changed in "what to hear" since then. My first DXpedition was I think in 1980, so 45 years ago. October always seemed to be a good month for some good DX in the tropical SW bands...
--Mark Pettifor, Goshen, IN
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