The Polar Prince has been making its way northward along the Labrador Coast visiting communities and places of interest. It is interesting to access the live camera feed to observe the coastline: https://canadac3.ca/en/expedition/live-feed/
While daytime propagation at this time is limited, the CG3EXP beacon receptions are being uploaded by the receiving stations at a rate of up to 800 in a 12-hour period. Some of these stations have requested QSL cards and TCA columnist Robert Mazur, VA3ROM, has volunteered to be the CG3EXP eQSL Manager. Robert has designed an attractive eQSL card which is available via the online eQSL service or on request via direct email sent to: . For more information please see the text provided by Robert below.
To join the stations that are using WSPR to track the Canada C3 Expedition in the remaining 95 days of the voyage, you only need a standard SSB HF receiver, an inexpensive ($10) USB sound adapter and a PC running the WSPR 2.0 software. You can download the software from https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wspr.html.
We particularly need more northern stations to join the project.
Chip Chapman, VA3KGB, has refined the CG3EXP Award logging spreadsheet and we have posted an updated version on the Canada C3 Expedition Award webpage at https://www.rac.ca/operating/rac-awards/canada-c3-expedition-award/
eQSL Instructions
Robert Mazur, VA3ROM, has volunteered to be the CG3EXP eQSL Manager. He has designed an attractive e-QSL which is available via the online eQSL service or on request via direct email sent to:
Robert has provided the following simple instructions:
A) If you have an eQSL.cc account, please send your report to CG3EXP as per the usual method (eQSL.cc users know how to do this). eQSL accounts are free for the basic version which is sufficient for most casual users.
B) If you don’t have an eQSL.cc account (most non-Amateurs do not), please send your report via email to . I will accept either a screen capture of the WSPR or WJST-X decoding programs showing the CG3EXP decoded beacon (attached to the email) or a regular text report with the beacon details listed from either of those two programs. The subject line can be “CG3EXP QSL Request”, but I’m not particular since the account is only used for CG3EXP QSLs and I’ll go through all received emails to see what they are requesting.
C) You can also submit the same report using both methods since the direct email QSL has the complete front (which I personalized) and back of the QSL card with the CG3EXP WSPR C3 Expedition details. CG3EXP has eQSL.cc “AG” (authenticity guaranteed) so eQSL users can count those towards the various eQSL eAwards.
73, Robert Mazur, VA3ROM
Background information
A Canada 150 Signature project, Canada C3 is a 150-day expedition (June 1 to October 28) from Toronto, Ontario to Victoria, British Columbia via the Northwest Passage. It will bring awareness to Canada’s coastline and inspire a deeper understanding of Canada’s coastline our land, our peoples and our country.
The purpose of the award is to track the voyage of the Polar Prince as she travels from Toronto to Victoria via the Northwest Passage and to study radio propagation in the Arctic regions of Canada. The Polar Prince has a radio on board which transmits her progress using the WSPR mode. The special event call sign CG3EXP is being used on the 40, 30 and 20 metre bands.
Note: WSPR (pronounced “whisper”) stands for “Weak Signal Propagation Reporter”. It is a computer program used for weak-signal radio communication between Amateur Radio operators. Additional information is provided below.
Stations will listen for WSPR signals from CG3EXP and record the 6-character Maidenhead Grid Square transmitted and the location of the ship at the time of the reception.
Alan Griffin
RAC MarCom Director
720 Belfast Road, #217
Ottawa, ON K1G 0Z5
613-244-4367, 1- 877-273-8304