Polar Island Radio Expedition: "The Legends of the Arctic"

Courtesy: Polar Island Radio Expedition «The Legends of the Arctic» / Victor RW0BG

Planned route.

Ham Radio enthusiast, Victor Kuzyakin, a.k.a. Victor RW0BG, sent over news about his and a group of his fellow Ham Radio users’ expedition in the Arctic this coming February.

Three teams on snowmobiles will follow the following route, he says: Tarko Sale, Se-Yaha, Dudinka. Meeting at the polar station Sopochnaya Karga. Next, Dickson, Scott-Hansen Island, Nansen Island, Tyrtova Island, Firnley Island, and back. The route could change, depending on the weather and ice conditions. The expedition is dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the expedition on the ship FRAM, led by Fridtjof Nansen. The participants of the RT9K team intend to reach the island named after Fridtjof Nansen, and also a number of the islands having connections to that expedition.

The team:

UA9KDF Igor Znamenskii team leader

UA9KFX Alex Labutin CW

UA9LDD Andrey Korobeynikov CW

UA0BA Andy Moiseev CW SSB

UA0ZFW Sergey Makerov

RW0BG Victor Kuzyakin CW SSB

RT9K Danil Trushov Navigator, photo, video.

RT9K Andy Semeshko Mechanic, cook.

RT9K Alex Semenuta Mechanic, manager

Scheduled start date is February 14, 2017.

The team won’t have a support car driving with.

Planned air activity should be conducted from three sites — CW, SSB and DIGI (PSK, APRS, Pactor) on 40-10 meters as RT9K/9. 3 sets of TS-590S transceivers, DI-03 interfaces, sets of band filters, EXPERT 1.3K-FA amplifiers, and also SteppIR BigIR DX antennas, specially developed AD-DXpedition antenna by UA2FZ for 30-10 m (2 pieces). The digital modes site — DigiMaster Pro3, SCS P4 Dragon DR-7400, SCS.

Expedition website

Vikings sailed and rowed to Greenland, and probably America, in tiny ships long before Columbus. Fridtjof Nansen continued the Viking legacy in 1882 by crossing to Greenland waters in a sealing ship, before embarking on his biggest voyage: In 1893 he sailed Fram (the ship later used by Amundsen to Antarctica) to the Arctic. Fram was allowed to freeze and drift north through the sea ice. Nansen wanted the North Pole, but one year into the trip it became clear that Fram wouldn’t make it there. At 84° 4´ Nansen and his friend Hjalmar Johansen therefore left the ship and continued north on foot. The two men started out on March 14, 1895 with three sleds, two kayaks and a bunch of dogs. They reached 86° 14´ N one month later and then turned back, expecting to find land at 83°N. No such luck though, and that’s when the kayaks came handy for it took open water crossings until July 24, when they finally found some islands. They over wintered there, building a hut of local rock and moss and hunting walrus and polar bears. (Courtesy Tina Sjogren Explorersweb)

Previous Arctic Vehicle Expeditions

New-design Russian Amphibious Vehicle to attempt North Pole return drive

Modified Hybrid Hummers in the Arctic

Russian amphibious cars crossed the Arctic Ocean MLAE

Arctic 2011: Vladimir Chukov leading a North Pole crossing from Sredniy Island to Ward Hunt Island

Previous about Nansen/Johansen and Jackson on Explorersweb

ExWeb Special: The Forgotten Gentleman of the Arctic Frederick George Jackson, part 1

ExWeb Special, part 2: «Aren’t you Nansen?» — FG Jackson’s Diary

ExWeb Special, part 3 final: Gentlemen explorers — FG Jackson’s Diary extracts

112 years after: Gentlemen explorers — ExWeb interview with Borge and Thomas

112 years after: Gentlemen explorers — ExWeb interview with Borge and Thomas, part 2

112 years after: Gentlemen explorers — ExWeb interview with Borge and Thomas, part 3