International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend

August 17, 2009 Chicago/ Evanston, Illinois.

Lighthouse Event a Huge Success for the Metro Amateur Radio Club

It was a beautiful day on August 15, 2009 when a dozen or so members of the Metro Amateur Radio Club participated in the "International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend."

We met at the Grosse Point Lighthouse at 8:30am to set up a 4 band Hustler vertical antenna. We set up a few tables, plugged in some radios and we were on the air. Contacts included a few other lighthouses, along with nice signal reports from British Columbia to Fire Island, NY. When we switched to a low power 35 watt solar powered system the first contact was another lighthouse from Denmark! Over 40 contacts were made as members took turn being the operator. At least one contact was made using CW.

Steve Little was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune (see link): http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-talk-ham-radio-lighthouseaug15,0,5805491.story

Because of the article in Saturday's Tribune, we had a steady stream of visitors to our location, which was literally in the shadows of the lighthouse. One lady said her son and grandson were hams in Florida and wondered if we can talk to them.

The event was launched 12 years ago by a ham radio club in Scotland, and since then more than 400 lighthouses and lightships around the world have taken part.

The MARC event was a huge success. Everyone involved had a great time. We look forward to next year's event.

Henry Schleichkorn, K9KDE return to www.K9KDE.com