Just realised that you need to be logged into the WSPRnet website to be able to view the previous link.
Here's the text
Regards,
Martin - G8JNJ
Station Info
DP0GVN is located at the German Neumayer Station III Antarctic research station at 70°40´S, 008°16´W (IB59uh) -- find more on this outpost of global research at https://www.awi.de/en/expedition/stations/neumayer-station-iii.html. The setup consists of a receiver and a transmitter which independently of each other operate in the WSPR segments of the amateur radio HF bands.
Receiver
The receiver is located at the "SpuSo" which is the station's air chemistry laboratory. SpuSo's main purpose is to collect continuous, year-round as well as long-term data records for important gaseous and particulate trace components of the troposphere. This observatory is located about 1.5 km south of the main station in order to have a really clean air environment which is uninfluenced by emissions from the main station.
This is perfect for a receiver setup because we here also find a very clean radio environment with a noise floor well 20 to 30 dB below of what we are used to in urbanized areas.
The receiver is a SDR based on the Red Pitaya (StemLAB 125-14 with preamplifier) running Pavel Demin's WSPR software. It permanently observes eight WSPR band segments between 160m and 10m in parallel and uploads the spots to wsprnet.org and wsprlive.net. Which concrete bands are monitored varies between seasons and daytime, prioritizing the lowbands when the sun is below the horizon. Plans are underway to extend the receiver capabilities so that all WSPR segments between 160 amd 10m can be monitored in parallel.
Two triangle-shaped loop antennas are used: The lower bands are connected to a antenna with a circumference of 171 meters, the upper bands use a shorter loop of 61 meters.
The antennas are mounted on short masts about one to two meters above the ice shelf. This is not "above ground" as the ice shelf is almost invisible to HF. You can even use antennas lying flat on the ice to do HF QSOs! The real ground is about 200 meters below as this is the average thickness of the ice shelf in this area. Every year precipitation adds about one meter of snow and ice. Therefore the antennas have to be reestablished regularly to not risk them being covered by snow.
Transmitter
The transmitter is located at the main station and is based on the U3S multiband WSPR TX provided by QRP Labs. It runs on the 5, 7, 10, 14 and 18 MHz bands with about 6 watts output power on 5 MHz and about 1 watt on 18 MHz. The bands are used round-robin followed by one 2-minute period for frequency calibration, so a complete run takes twelve minutes. Time and frequency are GPS-synchronized.
The antenna is a plain vertical radiator with 5 meters length located on the main station's roof about 20 meters above the ice shelf. It has no radials which makes matching a bit of a challenge. A broadband matching network is used which covers the whole range from 5 to 18 MHz.
The Project
This setup is a long-term project realized by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Hochschule Bremen City University of Applied Sciences (HSD) in cooperation with the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI) and the German Amateur Radio Club (DARC). AWI operates the Neumayer Station III and provides all the logistics. DARC built and maintains the receiver and transmitter setup.
The project is meant to run several years to gain long-term data on radio propagation and spectrum pollution in a very specific HF environment as the station is located within the southern auroral oval. The current setup will see changes in the future as further additions and improvements are already planned -- we will keep you updated here. As the station is inaccessible from the outside world for about eight months during south polar winter modifications will usually happen during the Antarctic summer season between November and February.
I had approached someone about placing a Kiwi at Palmer Station (US base). But the conclusion was that it was unlikely to pass review (Internet access costs serious money down there). This despite the fact that they have an IRLP and lightning detection setup already.
Comments
http://wsprnet.org/drupal/user/111886
Regards,
Martin - G8JNJ
Here's the text
Regards,
Martin - G8JNJ
Station Info
DP0GVN is located at the German Neumayer Station III Antarctic research station at 70°40´S, 008°16´W (IB59uh) -- find more on this outpost of global research at https://www.awi.de/en/expedition/stations/neumayer-station-iii.html. The setup consists of a receiver and a transmitter which independently of each other operate in the WSPR segments of the amateur radio HF bands.
Receiver
The receiver is located at the "SpuSo" which is the station's air chemistry laboratory. SpuSo's main purpose is to collect continuous, year-round as well as long-term data records for important gaseous and particulate trace components of the troposphere. This observatory is located about 1.5 km south of the main station in order to have a really clean air environment which is uninfluenced by emissions from the main station.
This is perfect for a receiver setup because we here also find a very clean radio environment with a noise floor well 20 to 30 dB below of what we are used to in urbanized areas.
The receiver is a SDR based on the Red Pitaya (StemLAB 125-14 with preamplifier) running Pavel Demin's WSPR software. It permanently observes eight WSPR band segments between 160m and 10m in parallel and uploads the spots to wsprnet.org and wsprlive.net. Which concrete bands are monitored varies between seasons and daytime, prioritizing the lowbands when the sun is below the horizon. Plans are underway to extend the receiver capabilities so that all WSPR segments between 160 amd 10m can be monitored in parallel.
Two triangle-shaped loop antennas are used: The lower bands are connected to a antenna with a circumference of 171 meters, the upper bands use a shorter loop of 61 meters.
The antennas are mounted on short masts about one to two meters above the ice shelf. This is not "above ground" as the ice shelf is almost invisible to HF. You can even use antennas lying flat on the ice to do HF QSOs! The real ground is about 200 meters below as this is the average thickness of the ice shelf in this area. Every year precipitation adds about one meter of snow and ice. Therefore the antennas have to be reestablished regularly to not risk them being covered by snow.
Transmitter
The transmitter is located at the main station and is based on the U3S multiband WSPR TX provided by QRP Labs. It runs on the 5, 7, 10, 14 and 18 MHz bands with about 6 watts output power on 5 MHz and about 1 watt on 18 MHz. The bands are used round-robin followed by one 2-minute period for frequency calibration, so a complete run takes twelve minutes. Time and frequency are GPS-synchronized.
The antenna is a plain vertical radiator with 5 meters length located on the main station's roof about 20 meters above the ice shelf. It has no radials which makes matching a bit of a challenge. A broadband matching network is used which covers the whole range from 5 to 18 MHz.
The Project
This setup is a long-term project realized by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Hochschule Bremen City University of Applied Sciences (HSD) in cooperation with the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI) and the German Amateur Radio Club (DARC). AWI operates the Neumayer Station III and provides all the logistics. DARC built and maintains the receiver and transmitter setup.
The project is meant to run several years to gain long-term data on radio propagation and spectrum pollution in a very specific HF environment as the station is located within the southern auroral oval. The current setup will see changes in the future as further additions and improvements are already planned -- we will keep you updated here. As the station is inaccessible from the outside world for about eight months during south polar winter modifications will usually happen during the Antarctic summer season between November and February.