The CG3EXP WSPR beacon on board the Canada C3 Expedition vessel Polar Prince continues to attract a high volume of reception reports. The vessel has been making its way northward along the Labrador Coast, visiting communities and places of interest. Some stations have requested QSL cards, and The Canadian Amateur columnist Robert Mazur, VA3ROM, has volunteered to be the CG3EXP eQSL Manager. He designed an eQSL that is available via the online eQSL service or upon request via e-mail.

Thousands of Amateur Radio stations and SWLs have reported receiving the CG3EXP WSPR signal on 20, 30, and 40 meters. The Canada C3 Expedition, which got under way on June 1 and will continue until October 28, is part of Canada’s Sesquicentennial celebration. The Polar Prince is sailing from Toronto to Victoria via the Northwest Passage.

The WSPR beacon consists of a QRP Labs Kits U3S beacon transmitter. The antenna is a MyAntennas.com 30-meter resonant end-fed dipole, sloping at 62° up to the mid-mast.

Group Leader Barrie Crampton, VE3BSB, explained why the Polar Prince is not carrying a full-blown Amateur Radio station. Logistics, space, technical requirements, and many other groups also wanting their research projects on board meant a WSPR beacon was far easier to implement, he said. Also, he quipped, it “doesn’t eat, sleep, get seasick, or need a bunk.”

“It’s less intrusive to ship’s operations and the many other people and projects onboard,” Crampton said. “It’s also not an easy task to install SSB equipment and antennas on a ship bristling with all kinds of other electronics and antennas, and not have something interfering with something even running ‘only’ 100 W into a dipole.”