In May/June 2023, Ken G4DKH embarked on a 6 week road trip across Scandinavia in his campervan. At a club meeting before the trip, he was challenged by several IVARC members to take along some radio equipment, so…..
With radio very much a secondary aspect of the holiday, and restricted space available in the campervan, equipment had to be minimal, finally settling on the FT817, with a 7m vertical antenna with 4 short radials, and an Elecraft T1 autotuner.
Over the course of the trip, 4 separate locations in Norway were activated - Bleik (in the Vesterålen Islands), and Alesund, Geiranger Fjord, & Vangsnes in the western fjords. Propagation conditions were about average, and 4 operating sessions (approximately 2-3 hours each, with CW & SSB on 80, 40, 30 & 20m) resulted in a total of 23 QSOs in 15 DXCC entities. Best DX was IK6BGJ (1866 miles) on 14 MHz SSB, and the best RBN spot was from VE2WU (3361 miles) on 14 MHz CW.
Not spectacular results by any standard, however it was a very enjoyable add-on to the holiday, and a lot of lessons were learned for next time!
Other memorable highlights of the holiday included crossing the Arctic Circle, watching the midnight sun and visiting the Sorvagen Telecoms Museum in the Lofoten Islands, hiking up to the Briksdal Glacier, and visiting the Kon Tiki museum in Oslo.
With radio very much a secondary aspect of the holiday, and restricted space available in the campervan, equipment had to be minimal, finally settling on the FT817, with a 7m vertical antenna with 4 short radials, and an Elecraft T1 autotuner.
Over the course of the trip, 4 separate locations in Norway were activated - Bleik (in the Vesterålen Islands), and Alesund, Geiranger Fjord, & Vangsnes in the western fjords. Propagation conditions were about average, and 4 operating sessions (approximately 2-3 hours each, with CW & SSB on 80, 40, 30 & 20m) resulted in a total of 23 QSOs in 15 DXCC entities. Best DX was IK6BGJ (1866 miles) on 14 MHz SSB, and the best RBN spot was from VE2WU (3361 miles) on 14 MHz CW.
Not spectacular results by any standard, however it was a very enjoyable add-on to the holiday, and a lot of lessons were learned for next time!
Other memorable highlights of the holiday included crossing the Arctic Circle, watching the midnight sun and visiting the Sorvagen Telecoms Museum in the Lofoten Islands, hiking up to the Briksdal Glacier, and visiting the Kon Tiki museum in Oslo.
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