Shortly after starting to work 40m in April of 2009 I met Maurits, LA3XIA, and spent quite a lot of time working DX with him.  He told me about a trip that he was planning to Longyearbyen, Svalbard later in the year and I said that I would like to make the trip also.  The trip was to the club station JW5E.  Plans were made and Maurits was kind enough to invite me to stay at his house for a few days before and after our stay in Svalbard.

Pictured above left are Maurits (LA3XIA) and Arne (LA7WCA) while we were waiting for our flight from Oslo to Longyearbyen on 8th October 2009.  Above right is the obligatory photograph of me (G4ATA) stood by the polar bear warning sign on the outskirts of Longyearbyen.  Click on the pictures for a larger image.  In the above view, showing Longyearbyen, you can see the tower for the JW5E station on the left.

Maurits and I were to concentrate on SSB operation and Arne (on his third visit) wanted to work RTTY. 

The picture above shows Arne, now JW7WCA of course, at the RTTY station operating position.

On our arrival at the shack we immediately set to work on the operating positions and connecting everything.  The SSB station consisted of a TS-870, Alpha linear, 5-ele yagi on 20, 15 & 10, 160m dipole, and a pair of phased dipoles for 80m.  However, we discovered on the morning of 9th October that one of the 80m dipoles had been damaged in some previous bad weather and not yet repaired!  No wonder I struggled a bit on 80m that first night.

We were a little disappointed to discover that there was no effective antenna for 40m but some investigations and searching soon uncovered everything that we needed to build a full size quarter wave vertical for the band.  So some of the daylight hours when we could have been operating 20m was spent putting up the vertical for 40m.  Thankfully the antenna proved a great success and worked very well.

The picture above left shows the quarter wave vertical sat at the water's edge - within two days the water was all frozen!  The picture above right is the view seen out of the shack window looking North at JW5E ..... beautiful.

The following day, Saturday 10th, we were lucky enough to find a 12m fibre fishing pole and built an inverted L antenna for the 80m band.  Another successful project and, in spite of poor band conditions, we were able to make some contacts into the western United States.  Working the low bands is not so easy from that far North!!

Daytime conditions on 20m were pretty good and generated some nice pileups.  Of course, we had to give Arne air time also so 20m operations alternated between SSB and RTTY until low band conditions improved.  We didn't experience any openings on 15m or 10m and no contacts were made on those bands at all.

We had started our first period of operation on 160m on Sunday 11th October when we received the sad news of the silent key of Mathias, JW5NM.  As a mark of respect to Mathias and his family we immediately closed the station down for the rest of that night.  Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to work 160m again after that night ..... the band was just too noisy!

During our visit we did manage to fit in some sightseeing.  It is a very beautiful and spectacular place.  Above is a panorama looking down Bear Valley.

1.      2.      3.

Pictures above
1.     They even have environmentally friendly transport in Svalbard!!
2.     No visit to Longyearbyen would be complete without visiting the Karlsberger Pub ... the world's most Northerly pub.  This one shows me and Jan, LA5QFA who came to visit us for a few days.
3.     Left to right .... Arne (LA7WCA), Jan (LA5QFA), & Maurits (LA3XIA)
Click on each thumbnail for a larger image.

All in all I would thoroughly recommend anyone to take a trip to Svalbard.  It is a very special place and I look forward to a return trip sometime.

Finally I would like to thank my very special friends Maurits, Jan and Arne.  Maurits for the initial invitation to join the trip and his (and his wife Anita's) fantastic hospitality in Norway, Arne for just being a great guy and his great sense of humour and last, but by no means least, Jan for taking the time to visit us and for the fantastic meal he cooked for us (and the use of his shower!) at his appartment in Longyearbyen.
Special thanks also to Vegard (LA9LMA) and PJ (LA5FJA), both of whom I had the honour to meet and spend some time with while I was staying with Maurits in Norway.  Thanks all for a very memorable time, I will never forget it.

Summary of QSO's by JW/G4ATA, JW3XIA & JW7WCA (JW7WCA QSO's all RTTY)

Any direct QSL's that I have received for QSO's with JW/G4ATA have been returned direct.  All remaining QSL's have been sent via the bureau.  However, if you do not wish to wait for the bureau just QSL direct and I can return direct as I still have some cards left.  QSL's for JW3XIA and JW7WCA please QSL via info on QRZ.com for LA3XIA and LA7WCA respectively.