Reports 2011
Feedback from Entrants and others in the 2011 ILLW event.
After the event. Comments by entrants and others:-
From Peurto Rico:-
My first experience!
I did my first lighthouse event and I may say that it was great!.I built my station in front of El Morro Fortress(old spanish military fortress in San Juan Port-PR0011) at 12:00 saturday morning with my wife Rosa. Then some radio operators partners; KP3BR,KP4BC and KP4NTC arrived to give me a hand with the DX contacts and to give information about the event to the international and local tourists.
The only that I had was the tropical storm IRENE coming in sunday at noon toward Puerto Rico and we had to dismount the station on saturday evening(02:00 utc). The good news were that the US National Park Service wrote me later asking for making the event again the next year. CUL and 73's.
KP4CPC- Carlos Padilla
(Well done Carlos - Editor)
The Tableland Radio Group, based on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland, once again travelled the 300 kms north to Cooktown to be a part of this wonderful Amateur Radio Weekend event, this is our seventh year of being involved. We had 11 members, including family, who travelled north in a 5 car convoy.
On the Friday night we presented Certificates of Appreciation from the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend Co-ordinator and Ayr Amateur Radio Group to the Cook Shire Council, for their efforts in preserving the old Grassy Hill Light and incorporating it into a new scenic lookout, and to the Cooktown Lions Club, who have a long term project in looking after the Grassy Hill Lighthouse . Both organisations were extremely grateful to both be recognized and presented with same.
We set up a dipole, centre supported, and a pergola with solar charging of our battery which run the FT897D for the duration of our stay. We commenced operation at 2330Z on the 19th August and continued until 0025Z on the 21 August at which time we decided it was timely to pack up and get all gear ready for the trip home again on Monday.
We made about 130 contacts,, some on different bands, and made contact with 55 Lighthouses in New Zealand, Malaysia and Australia plus other contacts in overseas countries. All involved were impressed with the 'family type" athmosphere that has become a part of this event and the number of visitors who visited us.
We look foreward to 2012.
Kevin VK2CE as co ordinator deserves praise for his efforts in achieving the growth of this great event which has grown each year and developed into the friendly radio activity which sees stations assisting each other. The Ayr Radio Group has a great memorial to Mike who commenced this event.
Our thanks goes out to all who participated and we hope you all have a safe trip back to your homes.
Mike Patterson
for the Tableland Radio Group
For station VK4GHL- Grassy Hill lighthouse COOKTOWN
Please feel free to look at our complete photos on the club web page http://www.jtrg.org/Photoalbum/Events/Jupiter_Lighthouse/index.html
73's
Mike Stowe, KV4MS, JTRG
Kevin, we did our first Lighthouse event and if I may say we did well. We made over 300 contacts. We started around 1300 UTC Saturday and ran it until 1600 UTC Sunday. I have attached a few photos of our Jupiter lighthouse US0025. Looking forward to signing up next year, when does the sign up begin.
73's
Mike Stowe KV4MS
Well we took over the South Oil House of the Grays Harbor Lighthouse Friday at 5 through Sunday at 5--it was great! The weather was fantastic! (Not even 1 cloud in the sky.) The week before we painted the inside of the south oil house for the Lighthouse association, and then this weekend we set up in there. We had 4 rigs set up for the entire 48 hours, many of our club members went 17+ hours straight. We had a BBQ at noon on Saturday where almost everyone came and just enjoyed the fellowship and did some PR with the crowds of tourists.
500+ people went through the lighthouse during the 48 hours we were on
and probably about a 1/3 of them stopped in and found out about HAM Radio and our club. We even have one out of state guy (tourist/
camper) that was so impressed he joined our club--he's an actual dues paying member now--and he lives 3 states over from us! We had 3 dipoles hung from the lighthouse upper rails and the other ends attached to tall trees nearby. One of our club members brought a boomtruck and we parked it in front of the lighthouse with a 3 element yagi mounted on it--56 feet in the air (now that's the way to do a mobile tower). We've over 150 contacts with absolutely horrible band conditions, but it was great! We even got local press coverage!
Look for the report on GHARC.ORG in the next week or so.
Les N7GH
GHARC Activities Manager
We did it again!
Last year we were able to activate the old lighthouse of Harderwijk, NL0038. It was a great experience and resulted in an avid group of lighthouse enthusiasts who where begging to activate this lighthouse again in 2011. And so we did…PG6HK again on the air!
Friday we started building up the stations in this lighthouse, named ‘De Vischpoort’. This year we used for HF a mobile antennatower with a 2 element 3 band beam (10-15-20m). We also used a Windom antenna an some single band end-fed antenna’s. We also were active on 2 meter.
The team was active on several bands in phone and in BPSK31. We closed down the stations on Sunday 19.00 UTC due to a bad weather forecast. We made almost 700 QSO’s, including a lot of QSO with other lighthouses. Some local HAM’s jumped by for a short visit in our lighthouse and some even made a few contacts with the special callsign. That’s the spirit of the ILLW: no contest but just fun operating! Thanks to all who made this ILLW possible.
Next year we hope to be active again during the ILLW. We’ll keep you posted.
For those who worked PG6HK: the QSL information is on QRZ.com
73, team PG6HK
Hello Kevin,
The Cape Town Amateur Radio Centre ZS1CT (ZA0006) had a very successful operation during this year's International Lighthouse and Lightship weekend. Our lighthouse is the Green Point Cape Town lighthouse where we have activated it each year since 1999.
In all, 15 members came to operate and support the station and we worked well over 300 stations around the world, including many other lighthouses.
We had a visit from a local newspaper reporter who took many photos and interviews for an upcoming article on the public service and emergency preparation aspect of our hobby. Due to Green Point's ease of accessibility in central Cape Town, we had many people visit us and become exposed to our hobby.
73
Rob ZS1SA
Special Events Coordinator
Cape Town ARC
Hi Kevin,
We had a great time on "our" Lighthouse Hoheweg this year again, being two ops DL3BJ Uwe and me. We had about 250 CW 14 MHz and 250 SSB 40 meteres. We covered dx with LU, PY, W, VE, UA0, JA, BA, VU, ZS1 and even one VK4, and we satisfied Germany and Europe with SSB on 40.
On my figures you will see
5810 the LH Hoheweg DE076, my shack is behind the upper window in the building left from the balkony. If you zoom up the photo you will see our simple dipoles for 20 and 40. Uwe's shack is behind the round windows under the upper balkony.
5982 me in my shack and room with my tiny TEN TEC Scout 555.
5758 my dipole. I am still always surprised when after calling with my 50 W and this simple wire JA, IZ and LU are answering at the same time. It reminds me to the butterfly in the Amazonas area, causing a hurricane far away...
Kevin, tnx fr ur work organizing ILLW!
brgds
greg DL1BFE (aka DA0L)
From VK2EH at Nobby's Lighthouse:-
This was the first time the club has entered the ILLW and numbers were diminished by the fact that we also have an emergency communications operation with WICEN happening at the same time.
The original plan was to active the lighthouse for a few hours on the Saturday (at the start of the event 00:00 UTC which is 10am local). The weather conditions and forecast on Friday was so bad that I rescheduled from Saturday to Sunday on the basis of the weather forecast. As any of the NSW lighthouse teams will tell you, if anything Sunday turned out to be worse than Saturday. We had winds gusting over 55 Km/h and when we weren't getting soaked with rain, we were being sandblasted and all the time talking to lighthouses in other states who were praising what perfect beautiful weather it was with them!
In any case we soldiered on of course and it was a successful day with about a dozen lighthouse contacts across all states and New Zealand, several faults found and worked around in our portable equipment and a couple of passing people enlightened about lighthouse preservation and the great hobby of Amateur Radio.
We'll be back next year and hopefully it will be our turn for the nice weather ......
Attached are a selection of photos from the event.
--
73 Ed obo CCARC - VK2EH
VK2ARE / G8GLM
From VK2MB at Barrenjoey Lighthouse:-
Hi Kev,
Have a look at our efforts here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gibuJppkDcE&hd=1
We got a whole lot of HF newbies on air this year as VK2MB, great fun!
dom
From Light Vessel 15, Chelmsford ARC:-
http://www.essexham.co.uk/news/lv15-light-vessel-tollesbury.html
As the sole operator of GB4BPL, Burry Port lighthouse, in South Wales
(UK-0044) I am delighted to report that I had SSB QSOs with 101 DXCC entities over the weekend from 150 QSOs in total. This was a significant improvement of my record for the previous 7 years of 68 DXCC. This brings my total DXCC worked to 145, up by 14.
It was great to contact lighthouses in VK, ZL, V5, VU, CV, K, ZS, EA8, and many European countries (although there seemed to be fewer Europeans audible so in total I only managed 35 lights). Thanks to all those lighthouse operators who managed to hear me. For those that didn't, don't forget next year that in your pile-up there may be a low power DX lighthouse trying to break through.
I write the countries worked on a whiteboard outside my van and it attracts considerable interest from people passing. I'm thinking of having another white board next year to illustrate how radio signals travel around the earth as this seems to be a complete mystery to most people, yet they are curious.
Does anyone else do this sort of thing?
2011 station details: approx 100W, V-dipole for 40, 20, 15, 10m and sloping dipole for 17m. Mobile whip briefly for 80m. DX cluster for the first time.
Sleep minimal.
Roll on the sunspot maximum...
73 Mike
Hi there!
This is to inform you that we, Peter & myself, had a good weekend at Gravelines (Petit-Fort-Philippe). Exact details will follow (if you wish) but we ran some 170 - 180 QSO's, contacting an estimated 20 lighthouses and 25 different entities. The rest were interested hams all over Europe. Except for one Morocco QSO, we did not reach any other continent . . . sunspots????
Anyway, the hobby was good, the food was good, and we survived the Belgian weekend traffic . . . what say!
See also: http://www.qrz.com/db/tm0lhg
Before too long, we will register for 2012 . . .
Keep up the good work,
Helmich, PAØHEL, also on behalf of Peter, PAØRLM, + his XYL
Hello Kevin,
The Cape May County Amateur Radio Club is pleased to report that the 2011 event showed an upswing in contacts. We operated from the Cape May Lighthouse our usual point of operation. The club operated two rigs that produced the following contacts: Lighthouses/Lightships 11, total contacts 207. Our contacts came from 33 US states, and 5 DXCC entities. Our best catch was Eritrea. Participation included 14 club members, 4 licensed amateur visitors and numerous visitors from the general public. Attached are photos from the event. We look forward to next year.
73'
--
Bill Cole, N2CSA, North Cape May, NJ
Hi Kevin,
I see that Peter, MM0BQP, has sent you a wonderful picture of Turnberry lighthouse at 20.30 hrs on the Saturday of the ILLW weekend.
Well at exactly the same time at GB2LS in Southerness only 80 miles away we were being soaked with torrential rain and in a gale
trying to take down our tent before it vanished along the beach. All activity was stopped until the following morning
when we restarted but without our tent.
Despite this we had a good weekend with lots of contacts and getting some new members on the air for the first time.
On QRZ.COM our GB2LS page has a link to our Facebook where you can see pictures of our setup before the storm.
http://www.gm4riv.co.uk
73
Eric GM0FSZ Wigtownshire ARC
We got the station setup Friday afternoon aboard the Lightship Swiftsure at Lake Union Park, Seattle, but didn't hear much all day with lots of local QRN on the band. With a case of serious discouragement we considered bagging it, but then 20 meters opened up to Europe and the DX started flowing down the wire. In a few hours we had logged contacts with Ukraine, Lithuania, Romania, Estonia and Hungary. Roxane (XYL) KB7ELO and I spent the night aboard the tug Arthur Foss tied up next door. Saturday morning brought dead bands again. We decided to bag it and went to Everett to work on some boat projects that needed attention.
I did hear a VK4 discussing the activation of a light house down there somewhere.
73's
Dan - WM7W
Hi Kevin,
The activation of Currie Lighthouse (AU-0016) on King Island, Tasmania went very well with 170 contacts being Logged including 33 Australian Lighthouses, 3 New Zealand Lighthouses and 1 USA Lighthouse. 108 VK Contacts across 40/20m and 62 DX Contacts on 20m from 23 DX Entities. The Antenna used was an Inverted V suspended from the gantry of the Lighthouse and the rig was an Elecraft K3 at 100W. Prior to the event I was approached by 3 DX stations requesting Skeds and I am pleased to report that I made good contacts with all 3 stations who were chasing the Lighthouse and the IOTA location. The weather was exceptionally kind to me with light breezes and sunny skies on the weekend. I look forward to returning in 2012.
73
Tony VK3VTH 
Rockhampton and District Amateur Radio Club returned to Cape Capricorn, AU0059, Central Queensland, Australia, for the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend, one of our major events for the year.
Cape Capricorn, grid square QG56OM, IOTA IC142, is situated approximately 50km ESE of Rockhampton and is quite remote, requiring a five hour boat trip each way between the Cape and Rosslyn Bay near Yeppoon.
Eleven keen bodies left the mainland on Friday on two vessels, a 20ft motor boat and a 40ft motor sailer. Conditions were great for the journey out, but winds of 25 to 30 knots developed for the return trip in good following seas. An APRS (APRS.fi VK4KLL-9) was installed on one of the vessels, which allowed club members and friends to monitor the trip.
Those involved stayed in the old light keeper’s cottage, with antennas at the same position as the original communications mast. As well as the usual array of wires and beams erected at the lighthouse for long distance work, a cross band repeater was also installed to allow those sightseeing and fishing to maintain communications in the hilly terrain.
During the weekend, operators spoke with over 400 other radio stations in about 30 countries including Germany, Namibia, USA, Japan, Spain, England, Chile and Northern Marianas. In excess of 40 lighthouses stations were contacted, including a good number for the third consecutive year in which the club has participated.
One of the highlights was a call on 14.225MHZ on at 0632 UTC 20 August from Kevin Mulchay VK2CE, ILLW Webmaster and event Coordinator. It was great to be able to personally thank Kevin for the weekend which is growing both in numbers of registered sites and in interest from operators all over the world. Well done Kevin!
Congratulations on a great weekend – in my personal opinion, the greatest thing going in amateur radio.
Cheers and thanks,
Les Unwin VK4VIL
Thanks also to our hosts from Cape Capricorn Lighthouse Capricorn Escape which lease and maintain the Capricorn Lighthouse precinct as a retreat enterprise.
PS. We have already registered for 2012.
Hi Kevin,
On behalf of the CR5L team (CT1DSV, CT1DZR, CT1ENV, CT1ETE, CT1FJL, CT1HFS and CT2IWW) I'm pleased to inform that we've made more than 500 QSOs with 54 different DXCC entities, using just a dipole for HF and a 4 element yagi for 6 meters. We've installed the setup on my campingcar, in the lighthouse backyard, and it was really pleasant to participate once more. The team is great, the facilities were good … and the restaurants located nearby had wonderful food. Said so, being our second participation in the event (last year we were in another lighthouse) and having so much fun, I guess this will be part of our future summer holidays.
73's
Jose Araujo, CT1DSV
Many thanks to all people involved in activating lighthouses/ships last weekend.
I had a really enjoyable weekend working 37 UK lighthouses and lightships,mainly on 40 metres. The pile-ups seemed even bigger this year, showing the increasing popularity of the event.
Now comes the hard part-finding out the QSL routes of the new ones I worked! Unfortunately quite a few are not on QRZ.com and I don't have much success with the buro for lighthouses.
Thanks again to all concerned,
Paul M0XDX
With the weather being near perfect, a small team of operators made the trip up north to the most northerly Lighthouse on the ‘Isle of Man’ situated at the Point of Ayre.
We setup two station, one using either a G5RV or a W3DZZ for 80/40/20 meters and the second to handle all the remaining bands using either a Cushcraft Beam or a Vertical 5 Band antenna.
We did not expect too much with the bands being what they were, but it turned out to be a cracking weekend, with the two stations making 1077 contacts in total, which considering that we only worked during the daylight hours was pretty good, more importantly, fun was had by all, and a dam good laugh as well.
Many thanks to all the operators, and thanks for the hard work put in by all, the team consisted of: Mike Jones (GD4WBY), Ralph Furness (GD4IHC), James Sawle (MD0MDI, Colyn G. Baillie Searle (GD4EIP), Ann Baillie-Searle (MD0DMV), John Butler (GD4NFN) and finally the ever hard working Brian Brough (GD4PTV).
We would just like to thank all of the Amateurs that contacted GT8IOM during the weekend for their time and often patience , it was very much appreciated and we hope that you had as much fun as we did for this International Lighthouse on the Air weekend, which we also think was one of the best activated Lighthouse weekends ever with loads of Lighthouse stations out there in so many different countries, so cheers people and many 73’s from the team at the Point of Ayre (GT8IOM).
More information can be found at : http://www.md0mdi.com/pages/ham_radio/events/GT8IOM_LH_2011.html
All the best
James
Amateur Radio Victoria - VK3WI consisting of four operators activated the Time Ball Tower & lighthouse in Williamstown, Melbourne, again this year and has done so each year since 2005. Normally the weather is not very kind to us being the middle of winter but this weekend was the exception to the rule. The skies were clear and sunny with the temperature being about 6 degrees above average with little or no wind which was just perfect.
The HF transceiver was a Kenwood TS2000 running 100 watts. The antennae set up consisted of separate 40 metre and 80 metre inverted vee’s slung from the Time Ball Tower and a ground mounted 5 band vertical. Two Yaesu transceivers covered both the 2 metre and 70 centimetre bands.
The noise floor is quite considerable at this location and sometimes can be as high as 10 db over S9 on 80 metres and an S8 on 40 metres but with perseverance we still managed to log about 220 contacts Australia wide, some DX and 30 lighthouses. All that attended deemed this year one of, if not the best.
Amateur Radio Victoria will participate in the ILLW next year by activating the Time Ball Tower again.
Terry VK3UP
Hi Kevin,
Please have a look at the following two Blogs for reports on last weekend. Both teams really enjoyed the occasion, and are already making plans for next year.
http://ve3clq.blogspot.com/2011/08/international-lighthouse-and-lightship_21.html (This is the 2nd entry on my blog for this event)
http://ve3frg.blogspot.com/2011/08/international-lighthouse-and-lightship.html
73,
Bill VE3CLQ
Kingston, Ontario
From Eshaness Lighthouse, Scotland.
Conditions were definitely better this year than the past few years. Had a great time at Eshaness again, Tony GM3GFL, Nicky MM5YLO, Hans DJ6AU/M, M0XAU and the three Peter's - GM4JPI, GM0CXQ and MM5PSL (me!), plus a few visiting radio ops. We had around 1200 QSO's, a new record, with two major pile ups into US early Saturday and Sunday. Some new DXCC contacts this year. From memory, Australia, Hawaii, Falkland Islands, New Zealand, Jordan and Namibia. In addition to the usual European stations (hundreds) we captured Venezuela, Trinidad, Chile, Japan, Mexico and Colombia. I worked a QRP station from Canada who was 1-watt SSB. We also worked 30 stations on 6m which is quite unusual from this far north.
Oscar Charlie, the Shetland based rescue helicopter landed not far from the lighthouse for an exercise with the cliff rescue people. Later in the day it was back for the real thing. A 32-year old woman fell 90-ft and had to be brought up by the cliff rescue team, transferred to Oscar Charlie then flown south . Lucky girl - not much more than a few bruises. So we had a busy weekend all round.
Peter MM5PSL
Now back from 10 days sailing round Scottish lighthouses on the west coast, and with >680 QSOs in the log from 5 lighthouses.
While we didn't manage Dubh Artach (due to wave height), we did manage Skerryvore. That is an amazing piece of civil engineering, made all the more amazing considering the technology of the time, and it has stood the test of that time too!
I'm putting together a talk of the lighthouse DXpedition as I did last year (2010 = Hyskeir Light and others), for radio clubs. We took hundred of images and several hours of video, which when edited should make an interesting talk. We saw many whales, seals, sharks, dolphins, porpoises, fish, birds. If it lives there we saw it!
Radio conditions were not great, but were OK. Good to make contact with many BARLS members, and also with those at lighthouses such as Fair Isle.
Geoff MM5AHO marine mobile
A quick update. Four of us from Mumbai activated Uttan Point Lighthouse last weekend and had a blast. Though we had only one station running, we made 1070 QSOs with only a dipole and 100watts. We were surprised to raise pileups on almost every band. More details can be seen here> www.qrz.com/db/at0ulh
Given the interest shown by amateurs from around the world in contacting light houses, we hope to be QRV again next year.
73!
Deepak VU2CDP
The Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club (http://www.n1nc.org) was a first time participant in the ILLW. Four members of our club travelled ~160 miles (257 km) to the Highland Light (http://www.capecodlight.org/) in North Truro Massachusetts USA.
Highland Light – Photo courtesy NR1G NVARC operators - Photo courtesy NR1G
We had fantastic weather, good company, and many visitors; some were fellow Amateurs Radio operators that noticed our makeshift 20M Slanted Dipole hanging from the railing of the Lighthouse. We operated “Field Day” style with a screen room tent for our operating shelter. We used an ICOM 746 Pro connected to our 20M Dipole, and a Laptop running N1MM as our logging software.
Despite a lot of QSB and QRN we were able to make 217 QSOs. This non-contest operating event allowed us to make contacts in a leisurely fashion. When we weren’t operating we spent time speaking to the public that stopped by; as we were positioned within 10 feet of the entrance to the Lighthouse tour! We took this opportunity to promote Lighthouse preservation and to discuss Amateur Radio.
Public information table – Photo courtesy NR1G Highland Light - Photo courtesy NR1G
A special and unique QSL card is has been created to commemorate this event. Let’s hope you are one of the lucky ones to receive it.
QSL Card – Courtesy Joyce Younberg
Many thanks to Bruce K1BG for organizing NVARC participation in this event. We are looking forward to this being an annual club event.
73 de Roland NR1G for Bruce K1BG, Skip K1NKR, and Jim K1PTF.
Point Perpendicular Lighthouse was built in 1898 and is located on the northern entrance to Jervis Bay, on the south coast of NSW Australia. It was 
decommissioned and replaced by a more modern solar-powered beacon back in the early 90’s, but over the ILLW for many years now, “Lighthouses of Australia” have been granted special permission to relight the original old lighthouse, while at same time the Illawarra Amateur Radio Society, in conjunction with the Blue Mountains Amateur Radio Club, have for many years been also “lighting” the RF from the site!
About 15 members attended the site from Friday through to Sunday, with 8 hardy soles toughing it out in the old Lighthouse Keeper residence. Under the IARS callsign of VK2AMW, two stations were put on the air using a Kenwood TS-2000X and a Kenwood TS-440 with four different antennas available, they being a G5RV, two helically wound verticals on 40m and 80m, plus a 13m tall non-resonant vertical fed from an SG-230 antenna coupler which was remotely controlled from the operating position.
Much media publicity had let the local communities know of the lighting of the old girl and there was a steady stream of visitors on both days, plus quite a few on Saturday night, when the piercing beams from the light’s Fresnel lenses were mesmerizing as they rotated around hitting the sea mist coming up from the Pacific Ocean 100m below down the sheer-walled cliffs, the reason for the point’s name.
From this high coastal vantage point, a total of 265 contacts were made. Just about all Australian and New Zealand Lighthouse stations were contacted, plus many VK, ZL and overseas stations were worked including France, Italy and the US. All the bands from 20 to 80 metres were used and they also provided very good propagation making the weekend even more enjoyable, plus the RF quiet environment was an absolute pleasure!
Overall, it was a really fun and friendly event to be involved in and our two Clubs will definitely be involved in the future.
Rob – VK2MT
Vice President IARS inc
Ciao Kevin,
for your web site, some pics of IR0LH activity during the ILLW 2011 from Monte Orlando Lighthouse in Gaeta, central Italy, operated by IQ0FM DX Team.
Maybe, in the next year we'll can active other references, another lighthouse in Gaeta or will be on-air like IB0LH, from Ponza island.
Many thanks for now.
Kindly, Carl IZ0EGC, the Team Leader for lighthouse activities.
From the Hills Amateur Radio Group, Western Australia:
http://www.harg.org.au/news/20110820-internationallighthouseandlightshipweekend
Kevin,
I neglected to mention in my previous message in which I sent the photos that we operated from Mukilteo using the callsign of the Snohomish County Hams Club, WA7LAW. Participants at the Mukilteo light included: Keith AD7FT, Curt N7OBI, Jack KC7YE, Frank K7GSE, Dave KA7RRA, Steve KJ7YL, Dave W9LD, JoAnne KE7NBZ, Paul KD7EJI, Melisa KE7KRS, and myself Eric AD7BF.
We operated Saturday only and were on the air from shortly after local sunrise until about 20:00 local time (0300UTC). We logged 51 contacts including one DX contact but I think we only managed to contact four other lighthouses. Bands were very crowded due to contests that were taking place at the time which made it tough to make lighthouse contacts but the weather was warm and beautiful and we all had a great time. We're looking forward to doing it again next year.
73,
Eric, AD7BF
Hello to Australia,
i just returned from my LH activity from EA7/DH6DAO at ES0009.
It was a fun but the russian contest during the weekend made it difficult for weak stations to run piles or even to be heard.
Nevertheless i made around 100 QSOs into EU, NA, SA, AS (JA and RA9) and AF (5N,EA( and CT3), nil from OC :-((
Hot temperatures made it difficult to run more than 60 minutes in an over. I had more than 40 degr. celsius in the shack!!
73s es cu
Ray DH6DAO
From Old Fort Niagara,
KC2YYL would like to thank all the amateur radio operators who contacted us on ILLW weekend. We contacted over 200 stations. The station locations 
were in the USA from New York To California (including Alaska) and Europe (Russia, Holland, Belgium, Norway, and Madeira Isle.) We spoke to over 10 lighthouses. Operators include: Rick (N2KJC), Event Chair - John (AC2DD), Jay (K2ZT), ED (K8CVZ), Mark (N2XXH), and Paul (NA2ZI). We are very lucky to operate from within the Fort Niagara Lighthouse. We can’t thank the Old Fort Niagara for such a privilege. This year we only ran a Yeasu 857D, Heil GM-4 desk mic, LDG AT-200Pro Autotuner, and a G5RVMAX. Our antenna center point was suspended from the lighthouse at 55 feet. We had many hams visit us to support the event with snacks and moral support. Check out our YouTube site for videos and our QRZ site for past and future events. If you want to be put on the list to help at our lighthouse events please email AC2DD at ARRL.NET. Please type in the subject line “KC2YYL - Fort Niagara Lighthouse.”
TNX,
John - AC2DD
This it was our 10th year by activating the Noordwijk Lighthouse
Not only the many worldwide contacts where important. But because of the nice weather we did present our hobby outside in the tourist area.
The day before activation of the ILLW weekend we got visit from elephants
Reports are also on the website http://pg6n.jouwweb.nl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9nBCTXSaFY
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OoyWoOWXGU
Point No Point Lighthouse, Hansville, WA
Report: 147 contacts, 36 States, 3 Canada and no foreign contacts due to QSO party contest that weekend. We did better than last year when we only had 46 contacts. Next year better conditions and no QRM. NKARC KC7Z club call, and my call is K9CCZ--organizer for the ILLW event. 73 .
Kevin,
Here is our log for the ILLW weekend, (click lighthouse log 2011). Also you can read about our adventure in our club newsletter "The Modulator"
http://www.fmarc.net/edu/Modulator_Aug11.pdf
Thanks for an interesting weekend.
Paul Ramsden President of FMARC
1930 Cornwallis Parkway
Cape Coral FL 33904
From Scotland’s Fair Isle – G4IAR
Our event was planned as a two-fold expedition. Firstly to activate the rare Worked All Britain squares on Fair Isle as well as the two even rarer lighthouses there, Skadan and Skroo. We took a team of 5 people, Judith G4IAQ, Steve G0SGB, Bob G4GEE, John G8SEQ and myself, Dave G4IAR.
Fair Isle is the most remote inhabited island in the UK, with only approximately 70 residents. Despite being remote we were well catered for in the accommodation – the keepers’ cottages at Skadan – with three full blown meals a day, endless coffee and even wifi internet access. The only down side was that the electricity was turned off at night, but some hefty batteries catered for this.
Due to transport constraints, (our car even had to be craned onto the ferry from Shetland to Fair Isle), we were only able to take simple wire antennas. Despite this and only running 100w, some 2,000 QSO’s were made, with a bonus of a 6m opening where about 200 contacts were made in two hours.
On one of the days the entire school (9 children between the ages of 3 and 11) visited us and some were even bold enough to take the microphone to pass greetings messages.
All in all a good time was had by all, we even had time to do a “reccy”*of next year’s target, where we’ve already booked accommodation – stay tuned for details!
73, Dave, G4IAR
*English slang for reconnoiter
From WR2DX at Sea Girt Lighthoue:-
Quote:"From the porch of Sea Girt Lighthouse an amateur radio operator broadcast the international CQ signal – calling any station. “This is special event station WR2DX – Whiskey, Romeo, 2, Delta, X-ray – at Sea Girt Lighthouse in New Jersey on International Lighthouse / Lightship Weekend, calling CQ.”".
Ssee full article at their web site http://www.seagirtlighthouse.com/post/2012/02/17/Broadcasting-From-Lighthouse-In-International-Radio-Event.aspx
Last updated 17 February 2012