24 Aug 2014

CLUB PARTICIPATES IN LIGHTHOUSE WEEKEND

Report of ILLW - GB5HCL Hurst Castle

Day 1 saw Spencer G0NIQ and me on the first ferry (10:00 !) from Keyhaven to Hurst Castle to set up all the gear so we weren’t ‘up and running’ until after lunchtime. Working conditions this year were Kenwood TS570/Tokyo Hypower transistor linear amp, 400W to G5RV on the Castle roof. On powering up we found 80 and 20m 'dead' but 40m was ‘humming’ so much so we couldn’t find a gap and were reduced to ‘search and pounce’ looking primarily for other Lighthouse Stations.

Day 2 again found Spencer G0NIQ, Dave M0ZDB, Chris 2E0DUK, Julie M6ZJB and me on the ferry. The earlier start on-air (no setting up !) meant we could find a space on 40m and started calling CQ, we were in business with initially good inter-G condx moving to continentals later in the day which meant a steady stream of entries in the log. When things quietened down on 40m we moved to 20m and made many more contacts throughout Europe, Russia and even the US, when that ‘tailed off’ we went back to 40m for the final hour or so.

The final QSO count was 154, well up on last year with 14 UK lighthouses logged, 2 each from Germany and Holland, and 1 each from Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Belgium, Eire, Sweden and Italy. Furthest distance was Dan KD3CQ in Leonard Town, Maryland US and the closest was a ‘toss up’ between the Beaulieu River Beacon and the Needles Light ! UK lighthouses worked were Walney, Needles, Happisburgh, Barns Ness, Withernsea, Beaulieu, Orkney (Birsay), Trinity Buoy London, Thorngumbald, Cross Ness, Portland, Harlepool, Peterhead and lastly the lightship ‘Planet’. Twenty different countries were contacted including an EA9 from Melilla (Spanish controlled town in Africa [Morocco]) which is a rarity as was the DL maritime mobile station in a yacht off the coast of Sweden. I should also thank James 2E0XAZ the only Club member to support the station by calling in and Ian M0HVO for brining along the family.

We had a few interested members of the public stop and talk to us and the staff also received positive reports of us being there. As a result we’ve been invited back next year so it’d be nice to see a good turnout - the date for your diaries is 15/16th August !

Many thanks to Steve G1ZVC for handling negotiations with the Castle/ALK.

QSL information on the GB5HCL QRZ.com page.

73
Martin (M0KZC)