ILLW 2014

Lighthouses QSL Card

Introduction

Former TRINITY LIGHT VESSEL 55, the 'John Sebastian', is moored in Bathurst Basin in the centre of Bristol and has her own postal address, namely: 'The John Sebastian, Bathurst Basin, Bristol BS1 4RL'. However, there are some specific details that will be of interest to radio hams:

  • Lat/Long: 51.446579°,-2.595022°
  • IARU: IO81qk
  • IOTA: EU005 (UK Mainland)
  • WAB: ST57 – England
  • ILLW Reference: UK0176

Location

Operation

This years International Lighthouses and Lightships on the Air weekend took place over the 16/17 August. Once again we were fortunate to be guests of the Cabot Cruising Club on the John Sebastian (Former Light Vessel 55) in Bathurst Basin, part of Bristols historic City Docks.

Our operation followed the principles of last years operation with the following equipment being employed:

  • Yaesu FT 840 100W HF Transceiver
  • MFJ 934 Manual ATU
  • Manson EP-925 25Amp PSU
  • Club laptop running Ham Radio Deluxe for logging only
  • 20m Full Wave Delta Loop

Changes from last year were more from the point of view of practicality than any particular operational requirement. The main change being the substitution of a Delta Loop antenna in place of last years half size G5RV, the main reason for this being that we were not able to tether the far end of the G5RV, and with a limited turnout the Delta Loop is more easily erected, especially as the deck had a convenient metal eye screwed into the gunwhale to take the foot of the single roach pole used for support.

Henryk M0HTB OperatingHenryk M0HTB Operating assisted by Julian M6JCEReady for Action - Henryk M0HTB and Julian M6JCE prepare for the pileups

Saturdays operation took place from the foredeck, very similar in arrangements to last year. On Sunday however, early morning rain caused a retreat to the interior of the John Sebastian.

We were slow off the mark on Saturday, not getting on air until about 11:30 local time. Our first log entry was Dungerness Lighthouses giving us 2 for the price of 1. Following a brief chat with Gert operating PA1200PA we secured Loop Head in Ireland. This was followed by a quick contact into Anglesey before spending about 1.5 hours bagging a string of UK, Dutch and Irish lighthouses.

By the end of the day we had contacted 54 other stations including 16 (30% of our contacts) with other lighthouses in the UK and Europe.

FT-897 with auto ATUDelta Loop Antenna on the deck of the John SebastianThe John Sebastian in Bathurst Basin

There was a momentary lapse of reason or some other cosmic perturbation on Sunday which slowed us down for some reason. We suddnely found ourselves with a dead band, the causes of which remain something of a mystery but over the course of a couple of hours we:

  1. Swapped the feeder;
  2. Switched the club FT-840 for an FT-897 brought by a club member;
  3. Put up a second delta loop antenna and connector box;
  4. Tried out a FT-857 and ATAS 120 in a members car which promptly stopped auto tuning the antenna.

As we said the reasons remain unclear, but at the end of about 1.5 hours we were back on air. This setback, however drastically reduced our QSO count for the Sunday. As a result Sunday closed with only an additional 13 contacts of which 10 (77%) were other participating lighthouses.

Overall, therefore, we managed 67 contacts as GB0CCC of which 26 (39%) were participating lighthouses. Based on the entrants list for ILLW 2014, there were a total of 543 participating stations, although some of these are noted as cancelled on the entrants list. This means we managed only 5% of the possible entrants. UK and Ireland participants accounted for 80 stations of which we managed to contact 22 or 28%.

Logbook

Date of Contact Time Station Worked Band or Freq (MHz) Mode TX RX Operator’s Name QTH IARU Locator Distance (km) Notes
RST No. RST No.
16/08/2014 10:38 GB1DLH 40m SSB 59   59   Phil Dungeness     UK0059 and UK0060 – Dungerness Lighthouses
16/08/2014 10:47 PA1200PA 40m SSB 59   58   Gert Netherlands      
16/08/2014 10:53 EI0LHL 40m SSB 59   59   John Eire     IE009 – Loop Head. WAL Square Q64
16/08/2014 10:55 GB2TD 40m SSB 59   45   Alan Anglesey      
16/08/2014 11:03 GC4BRS/P 40m SSB 59   59   Ken Wales     UK0072 – Nash Point Low. WAB SS96
16/08/2014 11:11 GB8SL 40m SSB 58   58   Pete Shoreham     UK0023 – Shoreham (Kingston Buci)
16/08/2014 11:21 GB4EUL 40m SSB 59   59   David Newport     UK0159 – East Usk Lighthouse. ST38
16/08/2014 11:24 PA9M 40m SSB 59   59     Netherlands     NL0026 – Blokzijl
16/08/2014 11:31 GB0NFL 40m SSB 57   57   Ian Broadstairs     UK0128 – North Foreland Lighthouse
16/08/2014 11:47 GB6HPL 40m SSB 59   59   Karl Hartlepool     UK0188 – Hartlepool Lighthouse
16/08/2014 11:51 GB0NLH 40m SSB 59   59   Dave Isle of Wight     UK0067 – Needles Lighthouse
16/08/2014 12:03 GB4WIL 40m SSB 59   59   Chris Barrow in Furness     UK0160 – Wlaney Island Lighthouse. SD26
16/08/2014 12:18 EI2WRC/P 40m SSB 58       David Eire     IE0003 – Hook Head Lighthouse
16/08/2014 12:28 PD1JFB 40m SSB 59   53   Frisel Netherlands     NL0035 – De Ven
16/08/2014 12:34 OT6A/P 40m SSB 59         Andenne Belgium     ONFF425
16/08/2014 12:38 ON4OS 40m SSB 59   59   Luc Oostende Belgium     BE0008 – Lange Nelle Oostende
16/08/2014 12:55 GB4SPL 40m SSB 57   59   Graham Sea Palling Norfolk     40 years of Palling Lifeboat (QRZ.com)
16/08/2014 13:00 PA/DL3SFK/M 40m SSB 56   59   Bea        
16/08/2014 13:03 ON4ACJ 40m SSB 59   59   Marcel Wilsele Belgium     25km East of Brussels
16/08/2014 13:07 GM4VUG 40m SSB 59   59   John Kinross      
16/08/2014 13:10 G0UZL 40m SSB 59   58   Chris Blandford Forum      
16/08/2014 13:15 PA1MV 40m SSB 57   58   Jaap Delf      
16/08/2014 13:17 G3PXT 40m SSB 59   57   Gordan Norwich      
16/08/2014 13:20 G0FEX 40m SSB 59   58   Ken Leicester      
16/08/2014 13:22 2E0LJT 40m SSB 59   59   Eddie Bristol      
16/08/2014 13:27 G0WWD 40m SSB 56   57   David SW UK      
16/08/2014 13:28 M1EYA 40m SSB 57       Richard Hinkley      
16/08/2014 13:34 G3TKF 40m SSB 59   47   Robin Kelston Bath      
16/08/2014 13:46 G8YPL 40m SSB 59   59   Pete Liverpool      
16/08/2014 13:56 GB2LSH 40m SSB           Wales     UK0049 – Stumble Head
16/08/2014 14:13 MU0GSY 40m SSB 59   58   Lionel Gurnsey      
16/08/2014 14:16 M0PBZ 40m SSB 59   59   Phil Swindon      
16/08/2014 14:19 EI4HBB 40m SSB 57   45     Galway      
16/08/2014 14:20 G0TRB 40m SSB 59   57   Roger Tamworth      
16/08/2014 14:21 G4SQA 40m SSB 59   59   Dave Peterborough      
16/08/2014 14:22 DL2EF 40m SSB 59   58   Frank Kerfeld Germany      
16/08/2014 14:25 2E0GBK 40m SSB 59   56   Keith Leatherhead      
16/08/2014 14:26 ON4IZ 40m SSB 59   59   Dek Ghent      
16/08/2014 14:27 MOPER 40m SSB 59   59   Alan Chester      
16/08/2014 14:29 ON3ND 40m SSB 59   57   Jack Charleroi Belgium      
16/08/2014 14:31 PD1CW 40m SSB 59   59   Patrick AE Hulst Netherlands      
16/08/2014 14:32 G1PIE 40m SSB 59   42   Mark Procter Preston Lancashire      
16/08/2014 14:34 G6JVT 40m SSB 59   59   Colin Worthing      
16/08/2014 14:36 G1YRV 40m SSB 57   57   Rob Bromley Kent      
16/08/2014 14:38 DL5MU 40m SSB 55   55     Ilsenburg Germany      
16/08/2014 14:41 F/G0PLA/M 40m SSB 59   57   Tim Vendee France      
16/08/2014 14:43 EI8CE 40m SSB 59   59   Aiden Waterford      
16/08/2014 14:44 DL1BFR 40m SSB 59   59     Georgsdorf Germany      
16/08/2014 14:48 EA1ATH 40m SSB 56   55     A Coruna Spain      
16/08/2014 14:48 DL1BL 40m SSB 59   59     Schmelz Germany      
16/08/2014 14:51 GB5BL 40m SSB 55   59   David Carrick Fergus     UK0032 – Blackhead Lighthouse
16/08/2014 14:54 GM0GOV 40m SSB 59   59   Fred Glasgow      
16/08/2014 14:58 HB9BQR 40m SSB 55   47   Roland Switzerland      
16/08/2014 15:17 GB0TNL 40m SSB 57   53   Jack Inverness     UK0151 – Tarbet Ness Lighthouse
17/08/2014 10:55 GB0BMB 40m SSB 55   58   Rod River Beaulieu     UK0002 – Beaulieu Millennium Beacon
17/08/2014 11:13 EI1K 40m SSB 59   59   Billy Eire West Coast      
17/08/2014 11:30 GB2LBN 40m SSB 59   59   Billy Scotland     UK0034 – Barns Ness Lighthouse
17/08/2014 11:36 GC6BRC 40m SSB 59   59   Ken Wales     UK0071 – Nash Point High
17/08/2014 11:52 GB2LK 40m SSB 59   59   David Scotland     UK0164 – Killantringan
17/08/2014 12:09 GB0HL 40m SSB 59   57   Jack Norfolk     UK0007 – Happisborough Lighthouse
17/08/2014 12:25 GB0NL 40m SSB         Barry Newhaven     UK0190 – Newhaven Lighthouse
17/08/2014 12:43 G8HBS 40m SSB 55         Great Yarmouth      
17/08/2014 14:19 GB6HPL 40m SSB 59   59   Karl Hartlepool     UK0188 – Hartlepool Lighthouse
17/08/2014 14:26 DL/ON6EF/P 40m SSB 59   57   Eddy       DLFF003
17/08/2014 14:32 GB2WLH 40m SSB 59   59   David Yorkshire     UK0013 – Withernsea. Local Museum Lighthouse
17/08/2014 14:55 EI1NC 40m SSB 59         Co Cork Eire     IE0010 – Roches Point
17/08/2014 15:05 DL0RWE 40m SSB 59   59     Essen Germany     DE0046 – Alter Leuchtturn Borkum