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Kongsfjord (= Kings Bay) is located in the extreme North-East of Norway, at approx. 70.7N, 29.3E. A 100-km drive South brings you to the Northern border of Finland, while Russia is another 140 km away due East. Due to mild sea currents, the climate is reasonably mild and relatively dry with average January temps of -6 C (extremes from +5 to -24) and July temps of +10 degrees C (extremes from +5 to +30). At the time we visited Kongsfjord, the first permanent snow is usually a week or two old, average temps of +1 degree C (extremes from +10 to -10).
Kongsfjord is a fishing village with around 50 inhabitants, fighting for survival in a world where the mantra is Centralisation. At the outskirts of the settlement is an arrowtip-shaped peninsula around 3.5 km long heading NE and 800 m wide at the widest. 250 m away from the nearest neighbours, Bjarne owns a two-story house which is more than adequate accomodation for four DX-ers searching the ultimate.
The house is situated near the Barents Sea, actually only 10 m above sea level. There is room for stretching beverages in most desired directions, except towards the East Coast of North America where the ocean prohibits lengths above 100 m. Other directions can be served with antennas stretching 400 m and more. The landscape is quite flat, except for directions to the Asia/West Pacific regions which require the wires to climb from 10 to around 50 meters through the first 400 meters. Unfortunately, the climate restricts vegetation to centimetres in height (a.k.a. the so-called "creeping birch" which can grow to a meter or two, but does so horizontally!), so one is totally dependent on erecting supports for the antennas.
The remote location, several hundred meters from other RF noise sources and at least 2.5 km away from the nearest high-voltage power line (which is only 20kV anyway), accounts for extremely low manmade noise levels. Using high-quality preamps and sensitive receivers one is able to obtain readable levels even for signals only marginally above the receiver's noise level.
Another important aspect with the location is the dearth of daylight. The Polar Night reigns this latitude from November 22nd until January 20th. But even from mid-October the days are so short, and the sun's angle above the horizon so low, that DX is actually possible around noon. This is especially true for signals coming in from around North, such as Alaska and Hawaii. (The grey-line is only 1000 km away in that direction at local noon, allowing for low-angeled signals to pass relatively unhindered through the daylight zone). For natural reasons, none or few European stations are audible at that time, leaving the frequencies empty for those ultra low-level signals. Please see the Diary for sunset and sunrise times.
Kongsfjord is the junior partner in the Municipality of Berlevåg, with its main center located at the fishing hamlet Berlevåg (1200 inhabitants) 34 km to the NW. Berlevåg, though small by demographic measures, process fish products (mainly cod, haddock and saithe) for the equivalent of USD 20 mill annually. Main export markets are the USA, United Kingdom, France and Spain. Berlevåg has a modern airport served by Bombardier Aerospace (formerly de Havilland) Dash-8 commuters, is called daily by the coastal express liner and is connected to Norway's road system by highway 890 - a unique experience during summer but sometimes a rather frightening one when the winter storms rave.
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