ILLW Lighthouse Station Chasing

The ILLW (International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend) was on so instead of looking for SOTA and WWFF Parks Activations went looking for lighthouse stations instead on Saturday.

Worked the following lighthouses

Callsign                   Band       Mode     Name                      QTH

VK3ATL/P              40m        SSB       Ken                      AU0028 Port Lonsdale Lighthouse

VK7LH/P                 40m        SSB      Unknown             AU0048 Low Head Lighthouse

VK2HBG/P             40m        SSB       Gerald                  AU0035 Warden Head Lighthouse

VK3YSP/P               40m        SSB      Joe                        AU0051 Queenscliff White Lighthouse

VK4WIR/P              20m        SSB       Brandon               AU0124 Old Sea Hill Lighthouse Gladstone

VK3IH/P                  40m        SSB      Paul                      AU0037 Cape Liptrap Lighthouse

VK3DJ/P                  40m        SSB      Dallas                   AU0050 Queenscliff Black Lighthouse

VK3WI/P                40m        SSB        Tony                    AU0036 Gellibrand Time Signal Williamstown Lighthouse

VK3SPL/P               40m        SSB       Byrce                  AU0032 Split Point Lighthouse

VK3OLS                  40m        SSB       Bandar                AU0011 Cape Otway Light Station

VK3EG/P                 40m        SSB       Col                      AU0027 Point Hicks Lighthouse

VK2BV                    40m        SSB       Laurie                 AU0022 Macquarie Lighthouse

All were on 40 m, apart from the one 20 m contact with VK4WIR in Gladstone. Conditions did not seem that good this year. Bands above 20 m seemed dead. At least 40 m wasn't too bad.

Once the RD (Rememberance Day) contest started it got hard to find lighthouse stations amongst the contest stations, so gave it away. Busy on Sunday so didn't get a chance to do more chasing.

I have visited some of these lighthouses. One near to Canberra is Warden Head, at Ulladulla. This is at the end of a road with a seaside lookout nearby, good for whale watching.

Another is to the South in Victoria, Point Hicks. Bit of a walk for me to get to from Thurra River, although the activators from the East Gippsland Radio Club got access to drive in.

Lighthouse chasing from Caseys Beach

After stopping overnight at Batemans Bay headed South on Beach Road, looking for a suitable spot to chase Lighthouse/SOTA activations.

Casey's Beach, about 4Km South of Batemans Bay, looked like a good spot, with a picnic table for the radio and a fence nearby. Set up the 7m squid pole with the 40m dipole running along the fence.

Set up the FT817 and SLA battery on the picnic table.

Lots of strong stations in the RD (Remembrance Day) contest but not many lighthouse stations. Worked VK2EP, Russell at Smokey Cape Lighthouse with a good strong signal. The wind came up strong mid morning and threatened to damage the squid pole, so gave it away and packed up.

Still a pleasant spot to play radio from for a while.

Lighthouse chasing from Surf beach

Went down to Batemans Bay for the weekend, took my SOTA radio gear with me to do some chasing of stations in the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend ( http://illw.net/ )

Drove down to Surf Beach, about 7 Km south of Batemans Bay

Just above the beach was a picnic area with tables. Set up my 7m squid pole, 40m dipole on the end of a table and set up my radio on the table.

Ran one leg of the dipole out to the fence and the other to a nearby tree.

Got on 40m and worked

VK2HBG, Gerald, Warden Head Lighthouse

VK3IH, Paul, Cape Liptrap Lighthouse

VK3VTH/7, Tony, Curry Lighthouse King Island

VK3ILH, Jack, Cape Schank Lighthouse

VK2MB, Carlo, Barrenjoey Headland Lighthouse

VK2BV, Raffy, Macquarie Lighthouse

Packed up around midday as the wind was getting stronger and time for lunch. Still a pleasant morning operating on the beach. Temperature around 20c, bit warmer than Canberra.