Aug 15 2018

International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend – ILLW

This Weekend !!! https://illw.net

Next year: 00.01 UTC 17th August to 2400 18th August 2019

For some reason or other August seems to have become the international weekend for lighthouses. Countries all over the world have become involved in one for or another of lighthouse activity. Some years ago the United States Congress declared August 7th as their National Lighthouse Day and during that first week in August amateur radio operators in America set up portable stations at lighthouses and endeavour to make contact with each other. This event is known as the US National Lighthouse Week.

In Britain the Association of Lighthouse Keepers, ALK, conducts International Lighthouse Heritage Weekend on the 3rd full weekend in August. Their objective is to encourage Lighthouse managers, keepers and owners to open their lighthouse or lightstation and related visitors centres to the public with a view to raising the profile of lighthouses, lightvessels and other navigational aids, and preserving our maritime heritage.

malarrif

Malarrif Lighthouse, Iceland. New to the ILLW this year. Erected in 1946 (station established 1917). Active; focal plane 30 m (98 ft); four flashes every 30 s, white, red or green depending on direction. 24 m (79 ft) round cylindrical concrete tower with four buttresses, lantern and gallery. Lighthouse painted white, lantern red. Located on the south coast of the Snæfells peninsula about 15 km (9 mi) southwest of Gröf. Accessible by road.

However, the major event which takes place in August is the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend, ILLW, which came into being in 1998 as the Scottish Northern Lights Award run by the Ayr Amateur Radio Group. The history of this event can be found elsewhere on this site. The ILLW takes place on the 3rd full weekend in August each year and attracts over 500 lighthouse entries located in over 40 countries. It is one of the most popular international amateur radio events in existence probably because there are very few rules and it is not the usual contest type event. It is also free and there are no prizes for contacting large numbers of other stations. There is little doubt that the month of August has become “Lighthouse Month” due largely to the popularity and growth of the ILLW.

Please note, an ILLW Flyer is available for download and printing if you want to hand out to visitors. See links in sub menu on the left.

Jul 26 2018

Holy Cow! Random Wire Calculations Made Easy!

 

TenTecR4030

Been hacking around lately looking for more fun antenna projects to do with my QRP rigs.

In the meantime, I’ve been having a blast with this old Ten-Tec R4030 which I recently picked up.

I’ts been quite awhile since I have been experimenting with QRP antennas or been in the mood to build stuff but lately I have been doing a bit both for some odd reason…

Anyway, to avoid boring you to death with my idiosyncrasies, I have been reading a lot about theory of UNUN’s, random wire lengths and other weird combos or for the nerdy ham in me.

In doing so,  IMHO I found a rather priceless article on random wire lengths.  One of the keywords on the page which lends itself to my idiosyncrasies is UNORTHODOX.  Perhaps you will get out of this article as much as I did. (Yup, I even compiled and ran the C Code on my Raspberry PI!)

The Article is titled Random Wire Antennas. 72 and Enjoy de KE2YK

 

 

 

 

 

Jul 10 2018

Ham Radio Special Events – July 9-15

  • 07/09/2018 | 65th Anniversary of Wisconsin Farm Technology Days

    Jul 9-Jul 13, 0000Z-2359Z, W9MRA, Wisconsin Rapids, WI. Mid-State Repeater Association. 21.365 14.265 7.265; FT8. QSL. Mid-State Repeater Association, PO Box 1001, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54495. msra.w9mra@gmail.com or www.facebook.com/midstaterepeater

  • 07/14/2018 | 300th Anniversary of the Founding of New Orleans

    Jul 14, 1400Z-2300Z, N3O, Metairie, LA. The Rare Ones of New Orleans. 21.074 14.074. QSL. Harry Rees, 2917 Clifford Dr., Metairie, LA 70002. https://therareonesofneworleans.loga.us

  • 07/14/2018 | 300th Anniversary of the Founding of New Orleans

    Jul 14-Jul 15, 1400Z-2000Z, various, Metairie, LA. The Rare Ones of New Orleans. 28.420 21.300 14.260 7.260. QSL. Please QSL, to station, contacted. Rare Ones members will be operating from their home stations. Certificate available for working 8 Rare Ones. therareonesofneworleans.loga.us

  • 07/14/2018 | Red River Bridge War Special Event

    Jul 14-Jul 22, 0000Z-2359Z, W5I, Sherman, TX. Grayson County Amateur Radio Club. 14.250 7.200 14.040 7.040. QSL. Grayson County ARC, PO Box 642, Sherman, TX 75091. Commemorating the Red River Bridge War, a dispute between Texas and Oklahoma over a new bridge that was built across the Red River in 1931. www.graysoncountyarc.com

  • 07/14/2018 | USS San Diego

    Jul 14-Jul 22, 0000Z-0000Z, W2NMY, Babylon, NY. Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club. 18.150 14.235 7.255 3.910; All bands, All modes. Certificate. Club Log or direct to GSBARC, P.O. Box 1356, West Babylon, NY 11704. We will be operating as W2NMY which is a historical Fire Island call sign used by the Navy and US Coast Guard . USS San Diego, ex-California, armored cruiser (No.6), mined, laid by U.156, sank 10 miles SE of Fire Island, New York on July 19th only 12 miles off Fire Island NY. July 19th 2018 marks 100 years since the day it was sunk. The reason is uncertain as many believe it was a Mine sent a drift from a U boat . Some people believe it was torpedoed by a U boat. We are running this as a memorial station for the six sailors that lost their lives that day. BLAINE, CLYDE CHESTER, Fireman, 1st class DAVIS, THOMAS EVERETT, Engineman, 2nd class HARRIS, PAUL JOHN, Seaman, 2nd class, drowned MUNSON, ANDREW, Machinist’s Mate, 2nd class, killed (BN – 18th.) ROCHET, JAMES FRANCES, Engineman, 2nd class, NNV THOMAS, FRAZIER ORAN, Machinist’s Mate, 2nd class We will be on all bands and modes. Many operators and logs will uploaded to club log each day. A downloadable certificate will be available once we have confirmed your successful QSO. We take pride in doing this very special event station. We have very experienced operators who be ready for you to get this once in a lifetime special event. We would love to hear you all give W2NMY a call. check out our website, Facebook or twitter. info@gsbarc.org or www.gsbarc.org