Tracking a German Polar Research Ship on 28 MHz - Dec 2021 & Jan 2022

For the last few weeks, I have left my HF radio on the 10m WSPR frequency of 28.1246 MHz and any signals I decode are uploaded automatically to the WSPRnet website.

One of the more unusual signals that I have heard over the last few weeks was DP0POL, the WSPR station on the German polar research vessel Polarstern.

I first noticed this when it was off the west coast of Africa. Between the 22nd of December 2021 and the 3rd of January 2022, I heard the 5-watt signal a total of 39 times. The distances range from 5116 kms to 9705 kms.

I remember checking this a few weeks back and there were no earlier reception before it was off the west coast of Africa. Possibly, it was inside the F2 layer skip zone for me when it was further north.

Back in May of 2021, I was able to track the same ship on 28 MHz as it made its way through the North Sea.

Reception of the German Polar Research Ship Polarstern in the North Sea - 25th & 26th May 2021

26th May 2021: I left the radio monitoring the 28 MHz WSPR frequency for the last 24 hours and heard just over 50 stations from around Europe via Sporadic-E. One station that caught my eye was DP0POL out in the North Sea.

DP0POL is a maritime mobile station on the German research icebreaker 'Polarstern'. While the WSPR station on board is often spotted on the various HF bands, it was just unusual for me to hear it on 28 MHz.

As the map shows above, I heard it in the North Sea as it was sailing past the coast of Norway.

UTC (y-m-d) TX         txGrid RX rxGrid         MHz W SNR drift km
2021-05-25 08:16 DP0POL JO26sw EI7GL IO51tu 28.12601 5 -28 2 1061
2021-05-25 23:56 DP0POL JO19um EI7GL IO51tu 28.126065 5 -19 0 1137
2021-05-26 00:16 DP0POL JO19un EI7GL IO51tu 28.126064 5 -7 0 1140
2021-05-26 00:36 DP0POL JO19to EI7GL IO51tu 28.126064 5 -5 0 1140
2021-05-26 00:56 DP0POL JO19tq EI7GL IO51tu 28.126063 5 -4 0 1146
2021-05-26 01:16 DP0POL JO19tr EI7GL IO51tu 28.126063 5 -7 0 1150
2021-05-26 01:36 DP0POL JO19st EI7GL IO51tu 28.126063 5 -11 0 1153
2021-05-26 01:56 DP0POL JO19su EI7GL IO51tu 28.126063 5 -9 0 1156
2021-05-26 02:16 DP0POL JO19sv EI7GL IO51tu 28.126062 5 -16 0 1159