DP1POL

I am an electrical engineer by profession, and have travelled to both the Northern and Southern polar regions of the world on board of the ice breaking research vessel "Polarstern". Additionally, I have been deployed to the German scientific base "Neumayer" in Antarctica three times. My first assignment at Neumayer Station lasted from December 2002 to January 2004. I have returned to Antarctica in December 2007 and stayed until February 2008. Currently, I am a member of the 29th wintering team at Neumayer. I came here in December 2008 and expect to stay until February 2010. My field of work includes operation of Neumayer's HF station (call signs DB9020 and DLA21), administration of the IT network, and maintenance of electronic equipment.



The Antarctic summer (December to February) is an extremely busy time of the year for everybody at Neumayer, so there is no time for leisure activities, but during the winter (March to November) I try to be active on the ham bands in my free time. My call sign is DP1POL. The prefixes DPØ, DP1, and DP2 are issued by the German telecommunications authority (RegTP) exclusively for extra-territorial German stations. Only a few of these call signs have been issued so far, mainly for Antarctic (DPØAA, DPØGAE, DPØGF, DPØGVN, DPØLEX, DP1KGI, DP1ICE, DP1ANF,...) and spacecraft (DPØSL, DPØMIR, DP1MIR,...) stations.

I use the following equipment on the HF amateur bands:

My favorite mode is CW, but I also try SSB, RTTY, PSK31, HELL and the newer digital modes from time to time. All of the major ham population centers (NA, EU, JA) are more than 10,000 km away from Antarctica, and geomagnetic activity has a major impact on HF conditions in this part of the world. Thus, it is not always easy to make myself heard. However, I try to make good use of band openings, and join major contests for at least a few hours, if at all possible. But please keep in mind that I am not on a DXpedition. This is a tour of duty, and all amateur radio activity is strictly limited to my free time.


If you have contacted DP1POL, I will gladly exchange QSL cards with you. My QSL manager is DL1ZBO. You can send a card to him either via bureau or direct to his mailing address: Rainer Hilgardt, Hans-Sachs-Weg 38, D-64291 Darmstadt, Germany. SWL reports are welcome, too! All cards received with sufficient return postage (1 new IRC, valid until 2013, or US-$2) will quickly be answered through the postal system, all others receive a reply via the QSL bureau. Please do not send any so-called "e-QSLs", as they will not be collected. However, I regularly upload my list of contacts to ARRL's "Logbook of the World". You can also check my log book for contacts made in 2009 and later at the Club Log web site.


A contact with DP1POL counts towards the following awards:

DP1POL

2002-2004

2008-2010

DXCC (DX Century Club):

Antarctica (CE9/KC4)

Islands on the Air:

IOTA AN-016 (Antarctica Mainland)

Zones:

CQ 38, ITU 67

Location:

"Neumayer II"

"Neumayer III"

World Wide Antarctic Program:

WAP DEU-02

WAP DEU-08

Antarctica Award:

AA DL-03 (Sector 6)

AA DL-09 (Sector 6)

World Flora Fauna:

DLFF-021

DLFF-022

Grid Locator:

IB59VI

IB59UH

 
DP1POL and ZS7/ZS4AGA UGSE
DP1POL and ZS7/ZS4AGA in the radio room of Neumayer station In the radio room of "Kapitan Khlebnikov" (UGSE), a visiting touristic vessel

To learn more about Neumayer station and Antarctica in general, I recommend the following web sites:

Click for Neumayer Forecast

Latest News (watch this space for updates)
01 Jul 2009 QSL cards have been received from the printers. Thanks are due to Max, ON5UR, for an excellent layout and superb printing quality! All direct QSL requests have already been replied to by DL1ZBO. Bureau QSL cards will be sent out soon.
24 Sep 2009 Log checking for DP1POL QSOs made in 2009 and after is now available at the Club Log web site.
27 Feb 2010 I am leaving Antarctica today, DP1POL is now QRT after more than 14,000 contacts.