Kongsfjord - 70°43'N 29°21'E

KONG22 - October 12 to 21, 2012

preKONG - September 6 to 10, 2012

Participants:

Bjarne Mjelde, OJ Sagdahl, Ole Forr, Tore Johnny Bråtveit

Receiver summary:
Bjarne: Afedri SDR-Net, Excalibur Pro G33DDC, NetSDR, Perseus
OJS: 2 x Perseus
Ole: Perseus, SDR IQ
Tore Johnny: 2 x Excalibur G31, SDR-IQ

Weblog

22-OCT-2012 16:00 UTC
KONG22 is over and the end was quite nice with WBIP-MS 1400, KZQZ-MO 1430 and WVGB-SC 1490 in the morning. Hopefully there are more stations from the southern US on the harddisks.

The conclusion is that KONG22 went better than we feared for, given the solar activity. But we had of course hoped for at least one really nice opening, either towards North America or the Pacific. But that will have to wait for next time! Thank you for keeping us company!

20-OCT-2012 22:30 UTC
Today was the best day so far. Nothing during the night but from 04:00 UTC North American stations came through well and lasted till noon UTC. After that some Asia, as well as in-band and X-band Australia. Best logging so far is KEYS-TX 1440.

For food we started with a toast of focaccia, rubbed with garlic, served with Parma ham, parmesan and cherry tomatoes. Main course was another Kongsfjord classic - reindeer sirloin with vegetable wok and olive potatoes. For dessert we had grilled pineapple with chili and brown sugar.

19-OCT-2012 21:30 UTC
Slightly better this morning and throughout the day, although nothing very exciting. KXRA-MN 1490 was a new catch on 1490 this morning, few new Japanese stations this afternoon. This evening we find the band quite open and we already have audio from the most common Canadian stations. We are hoping for more!

Dinner tonight was at Kongsfjord Gjestehus - http://www.kongsfjord-gjestehus.no
Very nice to have a place like this nearby. Food and service excellent as always!

18-OCT-2012 21:00 UTC
Some signals during the night, peaking in the morning, but nothing really exciting. Marshall Islands 1098 audible early in the day, Newstalk ZB 1035 in the afternoon, but except from that, lots of China. Some stations from the Philippines in the evening. Last night Mocambique, Tanzania and tentatively Uganda came through - some of us will check more tonight.

On the culinary side we had cauliflower soup for starter, chicken curry a la Bjarne for main course and raspberry mousse for dessert. This was accompanied by a fresh Pinot Noir from Waipara Hills 2010.

7-OCT-2012 19:30 UTC
Decent night with quite a number of US stations after midnight, such as KDEC-IA 1240 and another peak and 5 UTC. However not much during the day - not from North America nor from Asia/Pacific. We are hoping for an improvement ...

For dinner we started off with pan-fried fresh dates, wrapped in bacon. Very nice combination of salt and sweet. Main course was rack of lamb with herbs, garlic and Dijon mustard served with Bjarne's herb-mashed potatoes. With this we had a Chateauneuf-de-Pape from Clos des Brusquiéres 2006. For dessert we had another sweet & salt combo - half-baked chocolate-amaretto-espresso cake with smoked Maldon sea salt flakes on top served with Mas Amiel. Yummm!

16-OCT-2012 18:30
Not bad, not bad ... a few hours in the morning with decent conditions, particularly to the US northwest. Few hours later another peak towards the same area. Later in the afternoon some Pacific signals, and peaks from Japan and Korea. Worthwhile mentioning are KBZY-OR 1490 and KSKR-OR 1490 - these are new stations for some of us.

Duck liver pate on newly baked sourdough sesame break was the starter for today's dinner. Followed by salt-damped king crab served with focaccia and Siberian chive oil (made by Bjarne!). For dessert we had a chocolate-lime soufflé. The started was accompanied with the ever present Hewitson Miss Harry 2010, while the main course was followed by Calle Feght's Riesling 2001 from Rheigau while we opened a bottle of 15-year old Mas Amiel for the dessert. Maybe not the perfect company for the soufflé - some of the team considered that an amaretto would work better.

15-OCT-2012 20:00 UTC
The last 24 hours have been similar to the previous. Mainly stations from northwestern Canada and US. Most exciting catch (so far) was KWYO-WY 1410 that came through with an excellent signal in the morning. The graveyards were busy and quite open during a few hours so we expect to find more there. Noted offsets were KVAS-OR on 1229.9965 and KLTZ-MT on 1239.9834. Also decent signals from CBC NT on 1150 and 1230. During the day signals from the Pacific (including Guam, New Zealand and Australia) were followed by amazing signals from Japan with a number of low power stations heard.

The evening's culinary event was opened with burned figs rolled in parma ham, with parmesan shavings, fresh basil and blueberry syrup. We had Hewitson Miss Harry 2010 with the starter - and excellent wine that easily can be recommended! The main course was woked Salma salmon with assorted vegetables and roasted sesame seeds. With this we had an excellent chardonnay - Les Graviers Arbois 2009 from Benedicte & Stephane Tissot. We continued with some cheese and newly baked sourdough bread and finally chocolate pudding with amaretto and vanilla custard.

14-OCT-2012 19:30 UTC
With the current solar activity our expectations were quite low yesterday, but there were actually a few interesting stations during the night, and also some signals from the Pacific during the day. From North America for example KSUE-CA 1240 and KHRT-ND 1320 were logged, from the Pacific both Marshall Islands 1098 and Kiribati 1440 had decent signals before closing down. Later in the afternoon we had Guam on 567 and 801 - the latter with a very good signal, as well as AFN on 1224 @ 15:00 UTC and New Zealand on 1035 @ 16:00 UTC! Japan came in with huge signals in the afternoon.

For dinner we enjoyed ginger-sesame salmon sashimi for starter (with Nøgne Ø Junmai-Shu sake) and the classic Kongsfjord king crab carbonara for main course (with the classic Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2011). The dessert was a selection of cheese with burned figs. Now we are preparing for a very exiting night of DX-ing with lots of interesting stations ... More as it happens!

13-OCT-2012 15:00 UTC
KONG22 is now officially started. Bjarne and Ole came yesterday, Tore Johnny and OJ arrived today. This morning gave some west coast and Alaskan signals, including what's most likely Prudhoe Bay on 1610 AM. The most common Alaskans are still good, and in periods Far East signals have been decent too. But nothing exciting so far. The increased solar activity is of some concern - but we are hoping for the best. More as it happens ...

1-OCT-2012 06:00 UTC
The 26 September was the last AUS-day. Nothing from DU after that, very little from the other side of the Atlantic too. 12 days left till KONG22 starts.

26-SEP-2012 20:00 UTC
The solar activity the last days have prohibited any NA DX, and the signals from AUS have been limited too, but the standard ones are still there - every day. Today ABC on 729/891 were better than for the last few days so maybe it is a sign of improvement? Some findings from last week: KROS-IA 1340, WMBN-MI 1340, WQXO-MI 1400 and surprisingly WVGB-SC 1490!

21-SEP-2012 13:00 UTC
The LA (= Los Angeles in this case) remote-DX is going well, although busy days leaves little time for deep diving into the recordings. The last few days have not been particularly good, but the 16 to 18 were good dates. The 16 with quite a few Australians, like 3LO Melbourne 774 plus a super signal from KTWG Hagatna, Guam 801 in the afternoon. On the 17 and 18 quite a few NA signals were heard, most exciting so far is WNBZ-NY 1240, but also WXRL-NY 1300, WIRY-NY 1340 and WICY-NY 1490 had good signals.

16-SEP-2012 13:00 UTC
Right now I (OJ) am sitting in my hotel room in Los Angeles checking the recordings from the last two nights and days in Kongsfjord. What a great thing remote-DX is! Last afternoon gave maybe the best Australian signals so far this fall, with a decent signal on ABC 693, super signals on 729, 891 and 1161 and a very weak one on 1305. Strangely enough still no other Australians are audible ... Signals from NA are improving and there start to be interesting stuff around. Nothing new logged yet, but I don't think it will take long now!  Bjarne did some trials this weekend with the new dual 340-antenna, but no conclusions yet - see Bjarne's blog for details.

14-SEP-2012 10:00 UTC
Only one Australian station to be heard last afternoon - ABC 729, but with an excellent signal at 17:30 UTC. During the night quite a number of North American stations were audible, many of them way past local sunrise @ 3:15 UTC. Stations heard were from the Atlantic coast and westwards to Iowa and Minnesota. Nothing exciting though, but it's going in the right direction. Only question is how far before the next disturbance ...

13-SEP-2012 12:00 UTC
Last afternoon there were (finally) some other Australian stations (576, 630, 1512, 1548) in addition to the now regular 729, 891 and 1161. KGUM 567 was audible + a number of stations from the Philippines. Some more NA signals during the night, but nothing exciting.

12-SEP-2012 06:30 UTC
Very few NA stations this morning, accompanied by some common LA stations and more noise than yesterday. More exciting was yesterday afternoon and evening which again gave periodically good signals from the ABC stations on 729, 891 and 1161 plus a very welcome surprise: 5SY on 693 kHz. Only 2 kW but made it through at the local top of the hour @ 17:30 UTC while the Chinese dominant on the frequency was quiet for a short period. Not a trace of the other in-band Australian stations ... this is really strange. In the X-band there is quite a bit of activity with some new stations, most noteable 1674 with non-stop music for hours with very few announcements in-between - most likely Lion 1647 - Melbourne Jewish Radio.

11-SEP-2012 10:00 UTC
The first NA signals noted around sunrise this morning, nothing exciting but the band was very quiet so signals came quite well through. Yesterday afternoon and evening gave a few Australian signals, with 5RN 729 and 5AN 891 audible - and in periods quite good - from 15:30 till 19:30 UTC! In addition 5PA 1161 was up for a couple of hours and it seems like ABC on 1305 as well, but I will have to spend some more time on that one. Funny that it's only South Australia stations that are coming through. 729 and 891 were good on 9 September as well.

8-SEP-2012 22:00 UTC
Bjarne and OJ have been in action this weekend and completed the antenna work. This season we will have the QDFA - this year with completely new loops and transformers, the traditional 500 meter beverage @ 50 degrees, 225 meter beverage @ 310 degrees, and the new 330 meter dual beverage at 340 degrees, with 70 meter spacing. All antennas are working well at the moment, but unfortunately the listening conditions are not that good - yet. See more about the current action at Veines in Bjarne's blog.

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