Dipoles and Other Poles
Sorry for the Poor Quality Images but these were the images that was uploaded to AntenneX, but I suppose back when this page was first made they did not have iPhones – MD0MDI
In addition to hostile weather conditions, an arctic DXer also has to be very careful regarding the inhabitants of the arctic, especially the polar bear, aka, “King of the Arctic.” It is known as one of the most dangerous of animals in the world. So DX-ing in that part of the world can be both exciting and dangerous. I have met with those bears on many occasions within 20 meter (60 feet).
In 1995, after two previous visits to Svalbard, Turid, LA9THA and I decided to join in an expedition on snowmobiles or snowscooter as we call it, to the east coast of Spitzbergen, which is the largest island in the archipelago of Svalbard.
Svalbard JW-land consist of different islands where the settlements are on Spitzbergen. There are no roads between the various settlements . The Svalbard treaty, signed in 1925 by 40 nations meant that all people of these countries can live and work on Svalbard, as long as they obey the laws of the country given the sole sovereignty over the islands, namely Norway.
On Svalbard, there are mainly Norwegian and Russians. Although the Russian settlements these days are losing more and more of it inhabitants. While during the cold war, there were a greater number of people in the two Russian settlements, Barentsburg and Pyramiden—perhaps not all of them coal miners, the main occupation. But today, with the cold war long gone, there are still coal miners left in these two settlements, which looks just like a mini-Russia both in good and bad times. The people there are poor, but appear to be much better off than the folks on the mainland Russia.
Prior to this trip, I had made up my mind that, on this expedition, we should try to transmit radio from the wilderness. This was before I bought my Tentec Scout 555. So, I asked a radio friend of mine who owned a NO/PRC 111- HF rig, military version, if he would let us borrow the rig. The answer was yes and the only thing left was to test the rig before leaving for Svalbard—and so we did. One Friday evening, with the hardest snow blizzard Oslo (Capital of Norway) had endured that winter, Turid and I drove up to a deserted parking spot near the forest where I live outside the city. On this parking lot, in snow and wind, we practiced putting up the dipole antenna. Then, we managed to get a contact. I broke into another QSO and one from Spania answered me, Get off my frequency! Well at least he had heard me. So now we could pack up our gear and return to warmer surroundings.
Turid joined us in at Svea, a small settlement near the Van Mijenfjord three days after we left Longyearbyen. After one day on the snowscooter we arrived in Barentsburg, where we had the opportunity for a taste of the Russian food, which didn’t suit my palette to well—but at least the Vodka is good!
After staying the night at the hotel in the settlement, we sat course into the wilderness heading for the Frithjof glacier. The six of us (five normal and one ham being me) arrived at the glacier in the afternoon. There we spotted polar bear tracks and no later than minutes after, we spotted the polar bear. It was resting its front legs on the roof of a trapper’s hut. This was my first meeting with the King of the Arctic and I must admit I felt a shiver looking at it. We had planned to stay the night on the glacier, but first, we had to wait and see what the bear was going to do.
Upon spotting us, the bear started walking in our direction. Sliding down a hill, it came climbing up towards us ending up about 30 meter (90 feet) from the place we had parked the snowscooter. We had the rifle and the revolver ready just in case we had to shoot. Not to kill, but to scare. Polar bears are protected species on Svalbard. You are in its environment and should therefore obey the laws of the wilderness. But in case of eminent danger, we can shoot to protect ourselves, but this has to be real danger. No use in claiming it was attacking if the police, that is the governor’s assistants, find out the polar bear’s been shot in the but!…hihi. So, we were on strict alert since, only one week prior to this meeting, a girl had been killed by a polar bear just outside the main settlement, Longyearbyen.

Here is a picture of a close encounter where Jørn, our leader and a “native” of Svalbard, is using a 44 Magnum pistol (only to scare it away) We fired a warning shot, but the bear kept on coming closer. So in the end we had to start a snowscooter and drive towards it. Then it turned and disappeared—or so we thought!.
After the tents were up, I decided the time had come to get the radio going. I started by trying to get the antenna mast up and that was not so easy. Thankfully, the wx was not more than minus 16 degrees Celcius. But putting up antennas, even in that moderate cold, can be difficult. As with most radioamateurs, I also involved the people around me to help. So at the end one firefighter, one businessman and a German were helping to get the 21 feet antenna mast up with the dipole mounted. This was a telescoping one, so after it had refolded and landed on the businessman’s head three times, he turned towards me saying with a serious face: “Do you really LIKE this???”. Well, I didn’t know what to answer except for a thank you for the help!!

The year after in April, 1996, Turid and I returned to Svalbard and with the military rig. This time we went out together with JW5NM- Mathias and his XYL, JW8KT, Inger to Semmelvalley. Armed with my 357 Magnum, I rode shotgun on this trip. This means I have the responsibility for the others when it come to safety. I had been shooting for a while in a pistol club and trained frequently prior to this trip.
Arriving at the cabin, we put up the rig. This time we just hung the dipole out of the window and had 3 CW contacts, one with OZ-land and two in Pensylvenia. But the strongest signal came from Wales on SSB. He had problem in believing he had a JW portable contact. Sleeping in a cabin, compared to the tents we had used the year before, was a real luxury although weapons were kept ready here too. The bear had broken into several cabins attacking the people inside, so the Magnum revolver was not far from me at all times. Plus, I always carry a speedloader as to be sure I have enough bullets.
We had time to drive over to Van Mijenfjord where we met a French radioamateur aboard the French research ship ANTARTICA which had been to the Antarctic the year before.
During the same year in August, 1996, we returned to Svalbard. This time, I went ahead of Turid JW9THA. My equipment now consisted of a Tentec Scout 555 with band modules and a dipole antenna for 20 and 40 plus a trap dipole for 10, 15 and 20.
Arriving on Friday, JW5NM, JW8KT and I set course for BOLTERVALLEY on the following Saturday afternoon. During summer on Svalbard, it is daylight around the clock and so started our hike towards the glacier far into the valley. Halfway in, we found a huge tractor which was driven in and abandoned in the shallow river coming from the glacier. We found out that this made a fine QTH and used the tractor as an antenna mast. On Svalbard, you really make use of whatever you have!
Five contacts and we were on the road or should I say, stone, again. The Svalbard terrain is extremely difficult to hike on. With my backpack loaded with equipment, radio, antennas, mast, two 12V/7Amp lead batteries, plus my 357 Magnum with speedloader around my waist, the hike was tough!
After 8 hours of walking and 10 contacts, we returned home to the settlement at 5 o’clock in the morning. I was so tired I could have walked on my hands the last mile, but back in the shack I managed two more hours on the radio before fainting in the bed….hihi.
Next day, we went over the fjord with the radio and again I was the safety watch. This time we climbed the hillside putting up the radio and antenna at an old cabin there. After a lot of portable contacts, I received a comment from a German station which I reckon to be the comment of the year. He had obviously been listening in to Inger (the other Yl) and my QSO telling about having the revolver around my waist while transmitting. When his time came, he asked me seriously why did we not have any men to protect us. Inger told me my face was about the same colour as my red sweater upon hearing this. I told him on Svalbard, ladies could protect themselves.
That same evening I borrowed Inger’s bike and cycled out to the airport to meet JW9THA – Turid. She and I sailed further up north on a coastal ship for two days. As I was cycling on a deserted road and outside the settlement I had to carry my 357 Magnum. The feeling of loading the revolver and then start cycling was strange. I have cycled many places and under different conditions, but never with a revolver!
After another cycling DX-pedition out to a place called VESTPYNTEN (renamed by us to WEST POINT) we sat course with the ship northbound. First stop was the MAGDALENA FJORD. The equipment was packed in our backpack and we were first in line among a lot of tourist to be sat ashore.
On the beach we put up the equipment using stones to hold up the antenna mast. We found out the best way to work the radio was lying on our stomach. We had one contact, or should I say a break? We heard an American talking to a German station. We broke in, but was told off with a brisk tone. Well there you are, perhaps one should take time to hear what is behind a breaker before telling the station off.
After turning at 80 degrees, the ship stopped in New Ålesund on its way southbound and then the last stop at Barentsburg. As we had visited the settlement several times before, we had decided to work portable radio there instead of sightseeing. No sooner had we sat foot ashore than we headed towards the beach on the way up to the Russian settlement. The Russians looked strangely on us crazy amateurs. Had this been during the cold war we would certainly been arrested by the Russians…hihi. But, it’s wonderful our countries are more friendly now. We used an iron pole found on the beach as an antenna mast and tied our other mast to that. This made the mast quite high. We had our two lead batteries which would give us about two hours of radio work.
The first contact flunged in on a 5 and 9 basis, crystal clear and from then on it was just super. We kept on for two hours and our last contact was over to Chicago. Later I found out that our contact there was one of the doctor/amateurs on the Heard Island expedition. Packing our stuff and running down the hill towards the ship, we had about three minutes left before the ship was ready to sail. Radiolife in the arctic can be exhausting…hihi.
In 1997, Turid and I had planned to do the most extreme tour ever on Svalbard, namely around the island in a small ship. But then something happened. For one year I had applied to go to Jan Mayen – JX land. I must admit I did not have much hope for it as Jan Mayen, being a military area and the only people allowed there are working on the island. But to my great surprise in May, I got the letter allowing me to go with the Hercules C-130 from Bodø over to Jan Mayen and stay at the base there for one week.
On July 27, after one day delay because of fog on Jan Mayen, the Husky 60 landed on Jan Mayenfield (pronounced Jayne Maynsfield – the sex-bomb from the sixties…hihi) and was welcomed by the chief when stepping out of the plane. I spent one week among a bunch of people resembling the film M*A*S*H so much I think I have never had so fun at a stay. Even the domestic radio was like hearing RADAR talk…hihi.
I worked radio from Tikkebu, the radioshack named by the wireless operator from the Thor Heyerdahl raft KON TIKI who worked on Jan Mayen for a while. Tikkebu became very famous in 1979 after a polar bear tried to get into the shack while two radioamateurs were operating there. They had no other means of alarming the base than to go on the radio obtaining a contact with a Norwegian ham operating from Spain. In turn, he alarmed the person he was talking to in Norway. That person called the military who then alerted the base. After all this dancing around, the base personnel came running down to the shack just in the nick of time as the bear was on its way into the window of the shack. The hams inside were fighting it off by means of only a fire extinguisher.
The bear returned to the base later and was shot near the flagpole. Polar bears on Jan Mayen are very seldom seen. This was on my mind while sitting portable on the west coast of the island alone. I had put up my dipole on a pole but the coax cable was too short to get inside the shack. So, I carried out a table and chair and while sitting fully dressed even with mittens on I worked radio for four hours. The only security I had was a knife (not a pocket-knife) and an emergency radio. Usually when being alone like this you should have a rifle. But the last bear seen on Jan Mayen was 7 years before so lets hope one was not having a 7-year itch. When the guys came to pick me up they found me sitting operating CW with mittens on and jumping up and down in between the QSO to keep warm. That portable expedition was cold!
After one week on the island, I returned home, repacked my things and was off to Svalbard JW again the week after. This time I had applied to the owners of the boat, the captain and the Norwegian authorities to be able to work maritime mobile and all the papers were in order.
Our first stop on the trip northbound was Ny Ålesund. Here we sat course towards the mast of our famous polar adventurer Roald Amundsen. He had his zeppelin NORGE tied to this mast before his trip to the north pole in 1926. Whenever we can, we use the things around us for antenna mast as we did here too. I climbed up the mast with the dipole and, after we worked CW and SSB, Turid climbed up to get it down. Being a radioamateur really brings you into many different situations.

Next stop was GRÅHUKEN. Here we were left alone, but of course not without weapon. I told the crew I had weapon training both from my pistol club and the military, where I shoot with an AG3 semi-automatic rifle (similar to an M16 in the US) and that I was used to stressful situations.

Also, I knew the polar bear would usually attack the one with the rifle. I should like to see the person who is not affected in some way when a 1,000 pound “white teddy” is heading towards you at a speed which would even make Carl Lewis green with envy!
Well, despite our efforts on the radio, we only got two contacts: one on CW and the other one on SSB. Continuing our trip, we sailed through the straits of HINLOPEN during the night. Next morning we stopped at a bird mountain to watch the birds there. After that, our next stop was to be on NORDAUSTLANDET. This is the most remote part of Svalbard and very seldom visited by people since the only way to get there is by ship.

Now we really had a field day. Not only was the wx smashing, but the contacts came rushing in, both on CW and SSB. I am the only one of working CW, although it was down for many years. But, I sort of came to like it again after the Jan Mayen tour where I had decided to be the first YL ever to have tnx. CW from that island.

Getting nearer the bay of VIBE, we tagged along ashore and there we came upon our first polar bear which was dead. It was a small yearling of about two that had died of starvation. Even though this bear was dead it, showed just how important it is to carry weapons in the arctic.
From then on we sailed into the pack ice and, during the night that followed, we were more awake than asleep because the ship, when hitting the ice packs, just stood still for a split second and shivered all over.
After three belts of ice and a huge flock of walruses, we finally reached KVITØYA (White island). On this island, at 80 degrees 5 minutes north, they found the remains of the Andree balloon expedition in 1930. The expedition started from Virgo harbour on the west coast of Spitzbergen in 1897 and 56 days later, it landed in the ice west of Franz Josef land. The three men managed to get to KVITØYA and there they died by eating infected meat from polar bears. Their remains were found in 1930.
Aboard, we had a relative of the photographer aboard this balloon, Strindberg. He was a reporter from a Swedish newspaper. We were the first and only ship to get through the ice this year. For a moment we thought we were not going to make it, as when about to enter the Zodiak, one of the crew shouted POLAR BEAR. The rules are not to enter any places where bears are spotted so not to arouse them in any way. Well, there we were, all eager to get ashore. When we finally were allowed ashore, we were told that we could only stand on the beach just in case the polar bear would attack. If we had to flee the island, we would have to leave everything behind. Being an optimist I insisted we bring along our backpack with the radio equipment—just in case. That hunch seemed to work good.

Entering the deserted beach of this island, which consists of 10 percent stone and the rest as glacier, we were told to leave on our lifejackets. Turid and I started to get the equipment up, but there was one problem. How in the world do you get a mast up on such a stoney beach? The solution came in form of a member of the crew in survival suit and terrorist hood. He offered to hold the mast while we were transmitting. So, for two solid hours he stood still, in a survival suit with a terrorist hood drawn down, holding up the mast for us. |
At the same time, everyone kept a sharp outlook over to the other side of the bay where the polar bear was preoccupied with a seal. I had my 357 Magnum in my backpack loaded just in case the worst nightmare of all would happen—attack. But apparently the polar bear was not interested in “ham” for lunch!
We heard a German station that sounded familiar. DK8DV had sort of followed us around the island and now, we heard him talking to a Japanese station. We broke in with a break, break and he heard us. So he came back and then became the first radioamateur ever to have a QSO with a amateur station on KVITØYA (White Island). After that things happened fast. We worked the Japanese at a strong 59 signal. Then in came a Swedish station. He was 79 years old knowing more about the Andree expedition than we did. He was so happy for the contact that he was about to cry. After that the stations came pouring in.
We changed operators frequently and while one was on the radio the other was writing log. The wx was extremely cold and the wind was strong. So working radio here was a torture. In the end the INK in the pen froze and we had to use pencil! The only person who did not freeze was our antenna guy. He just rolled down his terrorist hood and kept warm. I said to Turid that it’s a good thing we are here way up north, otherwise, I think the SWAT team would have been here long ago!
Aboard the ship again, Turid and I were overjoyed knowing that we had put a new island on the map of the radioamateur world. During that night we passed King Carls land, a very popular IOTA island however it is protected, so it is not accessible to anyone without a good cause to be there.
In the morning we arrived at BARENTS ISLAND and again, Turid and I went on the air with our dipole and rig. The propagation was not very good, so only made a few contacts.
Off again and over to the other island not far away, EDGE ISLAND . There we again had the warning, POLAR BEAR! So here we kept sitting in the Zodiaks while watching the King of the Arctic trotting along on the beach. If we had been there 10 minutes earlier, the transmission would really have been a hairy one as we would have been surprised by the bear. From there on Turid and I was off the air until we reached back to Longyearbyen after one week aboard the ship.
Before leaving for Svalbard I had promised the arranger of the International Lighthouse/Lightship weekend to participate in it. So the day after we came home we packed our things again and headed for VESTPYNTEN outside the settlement. This QTH, called WEST POINT, has a small lighthouse which we, Turid JW9THA, Inger JW8KT and myself invaded with all our equipment. We climbed the narrow ladder and got the antenna mast fastened to the lighthouse. While Turid and I were on the radio, Inger walked around the lighthouse with a rifle on her shoulder watching for polar bears.
After this we settled for the shack the rest of the time we were up there. We were preparing and having meetings for next year’s SVALBARD POLAR YL ’98 since both Turid and I are on the arrangement committee. So next year, YLs will not be hard to fine on the bands from JW. To those who haven’t yet worked a YL in JW-land, here’s your big chance. And if you are lucky, you might even hear our special call—J W 0 Y L, only to be used during those days in August next year.
Originally posted on the AntennaX Online Magazine by Unni Gran, LA6RHA
Last Updated : 3rd May 2024