A couple of Sundays ago, we finally had a sunny day in Trondheim and decided to take a quick portable trip out to Munkholmen in the Trondheim fjord.

Due to the spontaneous nature of the trip, we decided what equipment to bring on the spot while packing Sunday morning. We brought our newly made doublet, a multiband inverted V antenna, our trusted FT-891 portable radio and both of our tuners. As a back-up, we also brought our regular 20-meter vertical antenna that we commonly use for trips.

Then we drove to Ravnkloa and waited for the shuttle boat to Munkholmen that goes every hour. We missed the boat by 10 minutes, but thankfully the nice weather warranted an extra boat trip being set up, so the wait was 20 minutes instead of 50.

The boat ride takes around 10 minutes, and we arrived on the island at approximately 12:45. From there we swiftly disembarked and walked to the north end of the island where decided to set up shop. Mostly due to the main beach being on the north side.

North end of Munkholmen
Photo: SP5SBU

It didn’t take long for us to realize our packing earlier had been a bit too rushed, and we were missing the coax-cable needed for the connection between the ballon connected to the doublet and the tuner. After a bit of back and forth, we decided to go for our back-up antenna, the 20m vertical.

LB1HH setting up our shack
Photo: SP5SBU

LB1HH also brought an earth rod, which we decided to use for the ground plane instead of the usual radials, due to the salt and moist nature of the beach at Munkholmen. For this setup, we only needed one coax cable (the one we brought) since the antenna and earth rod can be connected directly to the HeathKit ATU we had with us as backup.

Once the shack was up and running, our first QSO quickly followed, courtesy of operator LB9WI and her new German friend, DJ0LM, who was also portable this Sunday. Everyone got to have a turn and some highlights include TF1EIN from Iceland, GB22GJ from the Channel Island of Jersey and LB2LJ, a newly licensed OP in Stjørdal, just outside of Trondheim.

LB5DH, one of our satellite enthusiasts, also brought our Arrow Satellite antenna to try getting a satellite pass from SO-50 – a half-hearted attempt by his own admission. Since we brought an unprogrammed FT-4e radio, they weren’t able to set up dual-band but tried listening in on a satellite pass. They were able to hear some voices towards the end of the pass.

The ferry back to the mainland was only going once an hour, so after everyone was satisfied with the number of QSOs, we started disassembling our station. As we were almost done, two bystanders who had just moved to the city got curious about what we were doing and in the end seemed interested enough to perhaps apply for membership sometime in the future. A trip well worth it for our current recruitment period!

Chilling in the sun
From left: LB1HH, LB9WI, LB1DJ, SP5SBU, SP5SBU’s sister
Photo: LB5DH

Thanks to LB1HH, LB1DJ, LB5DH, LB5PI, LB9WI, SP5SBU and SP5SBU’s little sister for joining! It was a great end-of-the-summer trip.