[DX] INTERNATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE/LIGHTSHIP WEEKEND 2004.

[Carlos Cortês]

 This highly popular annual August event attracts hundreds of amateur radio stations at lighthouses and lightships (369 in 48 countries for the 2003 weekend .)world-wide.  It is organised by Mike, GM4SUC, and Kevin, VK2CE is the web-master.  This year the period of the event is from 0001 UTC on Saturday 21 August until 2359 UTC on Sunday 22 August 2004.

The event is NOT a contest.  It is a special event weekend when amateur radio stations are established at lighthouses or lightships, they do not have to be adjacent to salt water, and each group decides how it will operate the station with regard to modes and bands.  Participants are not committed to being on the air during the entire period - operate as much as you can.  There are no restrictions on aerials or power.  We wish operators to enjoy themselves and have fun while making contact with as many stations as possible whilst giving priority to other lighthouse/lightship stations. Please take some time to work the slow operator, the newly licensed and QRP stations.

As available space in many lighthouses is filled to capacity, participation in this activity does not have to take place inside the tower itself.  Field day type set-up at the light or other buildings next to the light or adjacent field is OK.  Permission MUST be obtained from any interested parties.

The International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend is used to obtain maximum exposure for our hobby.  We invite the press and, QTH permitting, also the public and try to underline the parallel between the international aspects in lighthouses, lightships, and amateur radio.          As from last year, the World Lighthouse Day is held on the Sunday of the event and lighthouse keepers/managers/caretakers all around the world open their lighthouses to the public.
http://www.lighthouse.fsnet.co.uk/events/intlighthouseday.html

We use the event segment of the 5 Classic bands, consider the following as a range of suggested frequencies.

CW
80m: 3.510 - 3.540 kHz
40m: 7.005 - 7.035 kHz
20m: 14.010 - 14.040 kHz
15m: 21.010 - 21.040 kHz
10m: 28.010 - 28.040 kHz

PHONE
*80m: 3.650 - 3.750 kHz
*40m: 7.040 - 7.100 kHz
20m: 14.150 - 14.290 kHz
15m: 21.150 - 21.250 kHz
10m: 28.300 - 28.400 kHz

* Some of the frequency ranges listed above are NOT legal in the United States of America. As a substitute, USA operators should consider these alternatives.

USA PHONE
80m: 3.950 - 3.990 kHz
40m: 7.250 - 7.290 kHz

However because the ILLW is NOT a contest, you can operate on any authorised QRGs as per your licence, including the WARC bands.  Please be sure to observe band limits for your class of licence and your country.

To assist other stations in the identification of lighthouse/lightship stations, we request that participating stations using CW add LS after their callsign at a lightship and LT at a lighthouse.  SSB and other modes should use LIGHT, LGT, LIGHTHOUSE or LIGHTSHIP after their call.  UK stations normally obtain a GB callsign with the letter L in the suffix and USA stations can request a Special Event callsign from the ARRL.

A list of the lighthouses/lightships of the world, currently 10,764 in 209 DXCC countries, plus their Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society (ARLHS) Number can be found at     http://arlhs.com/awards/arlhs-numbers.html       The list is constantly being updating and added to as more data become available. You can help: If you see a correction or an addition needs to be made, please send an e-mail with the information to K2JXW at arrl.net    

If you decide to join us, please register on-line at     http://illw.net/index.html   with details of your name, callsign to be used, lighthouse/lightship, Country, qsl route etc.   Although registration is not compulsory, doing so enables us to maintain a detailed list of participants at     http://illw.net/2004.htm   showing QSL address, web site and any special event calls they may be using.   E-mail addresses will be modified with unicode to minimise harvesting by spammers.

So come and join us in the fun of the weekend, already over 100 stations have confirmed their participation, establish a station at a lighthouse, lightship or maritime beacon.    

If you are unable to find a lighthouse or lightship you can still join in the fun of the weekend by contacting the world-wide special lighthouse/ship stations. The more the merrier.


73 Mike GM4SUC
gm4suc at compuserve.com
gm4suc at btinternet.com