Transport

The first leg of the trip was to meet in Longyearbyen. The initial group of LA3OHA, SP5DRH, SP5LCC, I2ADN, IK2XDE and IK4MED were to meet first. They loaded the M/S Farm, which was chartered for this DXpedition, with all equipment and supplies. As soon as IK2XDF and PA5NT arrived on May 31 around midnight, the team went to the harbor to load the last pieces of equipment and so the first group left Longyearbyen at 01:15 hrs on June 1st, Prins karls Forland ahead. LA3OHA stayed in Longyearbyen to collect the other people for the second group.
The spirit was good and we were dreaming or thinking about what was going to happen the next 9 days. 

After a 7 hours long journey with the M/S Farm on rough seas, we arrived at 08:00 hrs at Poolepynten on Prins Karls Forland island. The Farm anchored about 100 meters off shore and the first landing with the zodiac was at 08:20 hrs. SP5DRH and IK2XDE were the first to go ashore. 
All equipment and people were brought ashore in 5 trips with the zodiac and this was completed at 10:00 hrs. At this point the M/S Farm returned to Longyearbyen to collect the second group and we were left alone on a cold and windy island covered with snow and with a pile of cargo. Lots of work to do.

Landing

The picture below shows the first group just after landing. On this picture are IK2XDE, IK2XDF, I2ADN and SP5DRH who are ready to start the real DXpedition work. Two pistols and two rifles were brought to protect us in case a polar bear would show up and trying to come too close to our camp. The cargo included the big tents (not the small sleeping tents), heaters, generators, half of the fuel, food, water, masts, antenna’s and a lot more.


After all the equipment was at the beach, we had to carry everything to the area where we had to establish the camp. First we erected the lavvu tent (traditional Norwegian tent) because this should serve as our general purpose shelter. Next we erected the two tents for the radio stations. By the time this was done, it was approximately 14:30 hrs and we started to have our first coffee and bread. Next the beds were established in the lavvu tent and others unpacked the generators and filled them with oil and petrol after which we had electric power available. One strange experience was that we did not need lamps in our tents as it was light 24 hours a day.

Establishing the radio stations

After the tents were ready, some people started to distribute all food, equipment, personal belongings, etc. to the respective tents. Some others assembled and erected the antennas. At 18:00 hrs the Force 12 - C3S antenna was ready and around 19:00 hrs the 6 meter and ECO Asay tri-bander were also ready and operations could start.

The next group arrival

The next day, June 2, we noticed the M/S Farm at the horizon around 07:40 hrs. At 08:15 the Farm anchored in front of the camp and offloaded and transported the rest of the equipment to the camp. Along with the equipment, the remaining team members LA3OHA, DL5NAM, ON4AMX and F5PBL arrived at the camp to complete the team.