KONG HQ November Logs

Yes. Not just one, but two! The thing is: The vast majority of stations we hear, we don't log. Why? Because we're lazy buggers! And we're always looking for the rare stations, and in particular those we haven't logged before. So, I thought this time I'd share a log of stations we don't log! Or at least some of them - November's been a bad month for MW DX-ing. The "Common" log is comprised of stations that we in the Arctic part of the Nordic countries hear more or less every time propagation opens up across the North Pole. Some of them are literally daily catches, like KBRW-AK 680, KJNP-AK 1170 and CFFB-NU 1230 - stations that would raise more than one eyebrow when logged in Central Europe.

So here it is: The "Common" Log!

I guess I could add a hundred more if conditions were better and I had been a bit more systematic when logging. Also, I could have added lots of stations from Asia, notably Japan which is the country I'm really interested in.

So, with "Common" out of the way, the "usual" log has been altered a bit.  The September and October logs have had new catches formatted in bold. Now the rest of the logs we may hear relatively often or very seldom. So, "rarely heard" stations are now formatted in italics. "Daytime log" under "Details" means the station has been heard prior to powering down by local sunset. A few October logs are included after checking more IQ files.

Far less stations logged in November than October. No surprise, considering the poor conditions we have had. The Preliminary November Log.

A brief weather update: On my previous post on November 1 I complained about the lack of winter. A few days later I didn't have to worry anymore. Lots of snow, and periods with quite cold weather, down to -12 Celsius. The past couple of days have been mild with rain and wind but we will see "blue" figures again on the thermometer on Monday. So maybe we can dream of a white christmas.

The image below is a week old, taken during a jog at home in Vadsø. At noon! We are now well into the Polar Night.

Vadsø, lonely bird looking across the Varanger Fjord at -8C.

KONG HQ Preparing For Winter

Winter? What winter? One could ask after experiencing an October with one - 1 - day with sub-zero temperatures. I could have driven here with summer tyres without problems had I wanted to. Unheard of at 71N. But winter cold will come, eventually. So, I have to cut the external water tubing, empty and remove the pressurized water tank in the basement (which will freeze), and move food and beverages that can freeze into the living room which should be above zero even during the coldest winter days. I have a few 25-litre water tanks to help me when I visit here during winter.

All of that will be done tomorrow Sunday though. Today I'm going through recordings from the past few days, which prove to be very interesting indeed with new stations logged! But with the clear weather outside I decided to take a quick photo session with my Pixel. Below are the best ones in my opinion (you won't see the other ones anyway...)

The waxing Moon is 14° above the southern horizon, 81% illuminated. Nice reflection off the beach. The Aurora is to the south of us, not a good sign.

Yes, this is the KONG-HQ, traces of Aurora.

Image to the right of the first image

Finally, a photo of my part of the radio equipment.

3 x PCs (one Dell MFF, two Intel NUC), 3 x Perseus (+ one in reserve), 5 external HDDs, power supplies, splitters, preamps. Ethernet for everything that needs to communicate. RSPdx/RSPdxR2, PC, HDDs not visible.