Radiosport on Extreme Level

Arkala 65.18N, 26.24E

Northern Taiga forests and wet mires surround the station and we can say that Arkala is the northernmost station for serious contesting in the world. Nearly all of Iceland, Alaska, Quebec and Siberia is south from us.

Urban life is 40 kilometers away and 125 m lower, in the city of Oulu by the Gulf of Bothnia, visible in the western horizon. The highest treetops and antennas in Arkala are over 200 meters above the sea level and therefore prone to 'Tykky', ice building up small water vapour and causing loads of up to 3-4 tons per tree crown. Every big antenna in Arkala has a special Tykky-hammer.

Arkala is on the edge of the boreal Auroral oval. Places like N1 and N2 share our geomagnetic latitude. The closeness of the oval makes radio-sprorting rather challenging...