ILLW 2016

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 20/21 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.

Typically we plan to operate from about 10:00 – 16:00 and the plan on Saturday was to get to site about 09:30 to give time to set up the rig and antenna. The usual thing happened and at 09:30 Andy G7KNA was just leaving home. To inform the Clubs Special Events Manager a call was made on GB3ZB, one of our local 70cm analogue repeaters, to try to contact Mark M0SKV to inform him that it would be closer to 10:00 before Andy G7KNA arrived on site.

Mark M0SKV wasn't contactable at first but Martin M0JEA popped up, he too was in the process of getting to site but being equipped with a 2m capability was able to try to reach Mark M0SKV via GB3WR where Mark M0SKV was known to operate. Mark M0SKV also joined the conversation shortly afterwards, he too was late leaving home.

Despite this Andy G7KNA was first on site which was useful as both Mark M0SKV and Martin M0JEA required talk-in in the final few hundred yards of their approach to the site.

Mark M0SKV as Special Events Manager had planned to operate an 80m doublet, his intention had been to hang the feedpoint from just below the lantern using one of the existing lanyards and then to secure the ends in an inverted vee configuration to the bow and stern of the lightship. Prior to the event he had asked Andy G7KNA to calculate what height the feedpoint had to raised to to allow such a configuration to be implemented.

Data on the height of the lantern and its position relative to the bow and stern was difficult to obtain, however Andy G7KNA calculated that the antenna was too long for this installation and would have about 1500mm to long at the stern.

The John Sebastian with scaffold tower around lanternThe John Sebastian with scaffold tower around lantern

When we arrived on site the lantern was in the process of being refurbished and a scaffold tower had been erected around the lantern and its mast. Hanging the feedpoint of the doublet level with the base of the lantern resulted in the end of the antenna being some 450mm – 500mm longer than the stern of the ship. Given the lack of hard data about the dimensions of the ship and the lantern it was felt that this was a good estimate.

The scaffold tower, however, gave us the option to get the feedpoint higher than would have otherwise been possible. By getting the feedpoint to the top of the tower the antenna could be rigged as originally intended. This was connected to our new FT991 via a manual tuner which was required as we had no balun.

View of the doublet feedpointView of the stern from the feedpoint

Our station was set up on the stern of the 'John Sebastian' under the overhang of the upper deck. Although this appeared to offer little cover it was more than adequate for the weekend even with the occasional showers that we experienced.

Mark M0SKV operating with Steve M6LWRMark M0SKV operating with Steve M6LWR and Martin M0JEA on the stern of the John Sebastian

The day went well once we were set-up. The log shows we made 75 contacts with the best DX being K9PPY in Illanois. 40m wasn't really open for inter-G in the morning but we made 59 of our contacts on this band in the first day. We found that the 40m contacts were good for a bit of a chat about the respective stations. By contrast the 20m contacts were very prescriptive "59, 73 QRZ" with many operators not even bothering to give their name in the 1 over QSO. We also managed a contact on 80m just to prove that we could to one of our members who had been scathing of our intention to operate an 80m antenna.

We were joined on the day by Martin M0JEA, Eddie M0LJT and former member Steve M6LWR and thanks to them for their help on the day.

Martin M0JEA operatingView from the feedpoint over the bow

Sunday was to prove more challenging. We had left the antenna up overnight with the plan that we would then be able to simply plug back in the following day and pick up where we had left off. Sadly things didn't work out that way. We plugged everything back in but couldn't get a decent SWR match. Thinking that water might have affected the feedpoint we tried to operate on 40m but once again couldn't match the antenna.

We took the decision to replace the antenna, erecting a 20m/40m fan dipole in its place. After trying a couple of different feeders we once again had an operational antenna and got back on air at about quarter to twelve. Although this antenna was good it was clearly outperformed by yesterdays doublet. Local members who had worked us and listened to us on both days reported that our signal strength was down on Sunday compared to Saturday.

Bathurst BasinBathurst Basin

During the day we were joined by Gary 2E0HCC, John 2E0VTT and Nigel currently undertaking a Foundation Course with the Club.

By the end of the operation on Sunday we had made 109 contacts over the weekend including 24 registered lighthouse/lightship stations, our sister club North Bristol ARC and the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park.

We are indebted to our hosts, the Cabot Cruising Club who once again went out of their way to make us welcome and accommodate us in their Clubhouse. All things being equal we look forward to returning to their Lightship for this event next year.

GB0CCC Log

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.
20/08/2016 10:19 GB0NL 40m SSB 57   57   Aharod Newhaven     UK0190 – Newhaven Lighthouse
20/08/2016 10:26 G4WWH 40m SSB         Phil Portland      
20/08/2016 10:29 G0FEX 40m SSB 59   59   Ken Leicester      
20/08/2016 10:31 M0LJT 40m SSB 59   59   Eddie Bristol      
20/08/2016 10:33 G4DSD 40m SSB 59   59   Ron Newcastle      
20/08/2016 10:34 OK1DOL 40m SSB 59   59   Libror Kozolupy      
20/08/2016 10:36 G6ZBV/M 40m SSB 59   59   Adrian West Yorkshire      
20/08/2016 10:37 MW0ATI 40m SSB 59   59   Geoff Wrexham      
20/08/2016 10:39 G7CDK 40m SSB 59   59   Alan March Cambridgeshire      
20/08/2016 10:40 G4VMX 40m SSB 59   59   Tony Newport Pagnell      
20/08/2016 10:44 2E0KDB 40m SSB 59   59   Dave Kidsgrove Stoke on Trent      
20/08/2016 10:47 F5IDJ 40m SSB 59   59   Val North France      
20/08/2016 10:49 GB3RS 40m SSB 59   59   Henry Bletchley Park     National Radio Centre Bletchley Park
20/08/2016 10:51 G4EDR 40m SSB 59   59   David Filey North Yorkshire Coast      
20/08/2016 10:55 F/G7HFS/M 40m SSB 59   59   Ian Port of Calais France     Home QTH Eastborne
20/08/2016 10:57 G0LHD 40m SSB 59   59   Bob Nailsea     QRP
20/08/2016 10:59 EI5HIB 40m SSB 59   59   Noel Ballyfin Co. Laois Ireland      
20/08/2016 11:02 M0JCE 40m SSB 57   59   Julian Weston super Mare      
20/08/2016 11:07 GB2LBL 40m SSB 59   59   Bob Liverpool     UK0192 – LV23 Planet
20/08/2016 11:09 G4AYO 40m SSB 59   59   Mike Sheffield      
20/08/2016 11:11 G1DFN 40m SSB 59   59   Fred Darlington      
20/08/2016 11:12 G0BFJ 40m SSB 59   59   Brian Huddersfield      
20/08/2016 11:14 GW6STK 40m SSB 59   59   Robert Colwyn Bay      
20/08/2016 11:15 M0XLT 40m SSB 59   59   Kevin Skipton      
20/08/2016 11:19 GB8SL 40m SSB 59   59   Alan Shoreham-by-Sea     UK0023 – Shoreham Lighthouse
20/08/2016 11:22 GB5FLM 40m SSB 59   59   Derek Fraserburgh     UK0094 – Kinnairdr Head Castle Lighthouse
20/08/2016 11:24 G0BOR 40m SSB 59   59   David Manchester      
20/08/2016 11:25 GM4TOE 40m SSB 59   57   Barry Banff      
20/08/2016 11:27 M0BUI 40m SSB 59   59   Les Bude      
20/08/2016 11:30 MW0JWP 40m SSB 59   59   John Bangor      
20/08/2016 11:31 M0RBM 40m SSB 59   59   Rodney Bude      
20/08/2016 11:36 G0JPS 40m SSB 56   59   Chris Bristol      
20/08/2016 11:40 M6LWR 40m SSB 59   59   Steve Brstol      
20/08/2016 11:44 M5AOI 40m SSB 56   59   Neville West Kirby Wirrel      
20/08/2016 11:45 M0KED 40m SSB 59   59   Andy Lincoln      
20/08/2016 11:58 G1RLT 40m SSB 59   59   Peter Alston      
20/08/2016 12:03 G8GRO 40m SSB 59   59   Roy Penzance      
20/08/2016 12:09 M1FCV 40m SSB 59   59   Clive Stroud      
20/08/2016 12:12 G8WPL 40m SSB 59   59   John Manchester      
20/08/2016 12:13 EI6IZ 40m SSB 59   59   Brendan Castlebar Co. Mayo      
20/08/2016 12:15 MD0XAL/P 40m SSB 59   59   Alan Douglas      
20/08/2016 12:19 G0DRM 40m SSB 54   59   David Leicester      
20/08/2016 12:22 DL8HGZ 40m SSB 59   59   Paul Hamburg      
20/08/2016 12:28 DL1JKK 40m SSB 59   59   Karl Mylau      
20/08/2016 12:38 GM0GOV 40m SSB 52   45   Fred Dunlop Ayrshire      
20/08/2016 12:39 G4BSW 40m SSB 59   59   Nigel Margate      
20/08/2016 12:44 GB4FL 40m SSB 59   59   Robin Flamborough     UK0006 – Flamborough Lighthouse
20/08/2016 12:45 GB4FCL 40m SSB 59   59   Robin Flamborough     UK0005 – Flamborough Chalk Lighthouse
20/08/2016 12:49 GB2TCL 40m SSB 59   59   Patrick Hull     UK0149/UK0150 – Thorngumbald Clough High/Low
20/08/2016 12:53 F5VLO 40m SSB 59   59   Garry 30 miles inland of St. Marlo Brittany      
20/08/2016 12:55 M0XOC 40m SSB 57   59   Mike Wigan Lancashire      
20/08/2016 12:57 G1NLQ 40m SSB 59   59   Dave Margate      
20/08/2016 13:10 GB2LCL 40m SSB 42   59     Little Cumbrae Scotland     UK0172 – Little Cumbrae Lighthouse
20/08/2016 13:11 GB2BHL 40m SSB 59   59   Graham Wirrel     UK0180 – Bidston Hill Lighthouse
20/08/2016 13:17 GB2KAA 40m SSB 59   59     Kent     Kent Air Ambulance Special Event Station
20/08/2016 13:18 M0GAE 40m SSB 59   59   Graham Whitley Bay      
20/08/2016 13:21 G0EGW 40m SSB 55   59   Vernon Saxmundham      
20/08/2016 13:25 F4VPL 40m SSB 59   59   Dave Brittany      
20/08/2016 13:42 EI1K 20m SSB 59   59   Declan Cromwell Point     IE001 – Cromwell Point LH
20/08/2016 13:59 GW0AGZ 80m SSB 59   56   John Powys      
20/08/2016 14:08 IK2WRV 20m SSB 59   59            
20/08/2016 14:10 HB9CCL 20m SSB 54   59            
20/08/2016 14:11 LZ4GL 20m SSB 52   57            
20/08/2016 14:12 ES5QD 20m SSB 59   59            
20/08/2016 14:13 IZ4AIF 20m SSB 59   59            
20/08/2016 14:13 LY5O 20m SSB 59   59            
20/08/2016 14:15 K9PPY 20m SSB 44   55            
20/08/2016 14:17 OE4MDA 20m SSB 56   59            
20/08/2016 14:18 IZ7YDL 20m SSB 59   59   Luigi        
20/08/2016 14:20 EA3AYK 20m SSB 56   58            
20/08/2016 14:22 IN3NJB 20m SSB 59   59   Roberto        
20/08/2016 14:25 LA6K 20m SSB 59   59     West coast of Norway     N0014 – Stavenest Lighthouse
20/08/2016 14:25 9A5O 20m SSB 59   59   Sado        
20/08/2016 14:28 MX0NBC 20m SSB 44   59   Tony Portishead     Battery Point North Bristol Club
20/08/2016 15:06 EJ0L 40m SSB 57   56   Jim Arranmore     IE0017 – Arranmore Lighthouse
21/08/2016 10:47 PA6FUN 40m SSB 59   59   Ray Amsterdam     NL0051 – Trinity Lightvessel 12
21/08/2016 11:07 DG6YY 40m SSB 55   58            
21/08/2016 11:11 GM7ESM 40m SSB 59   59   Harold        
21/08/2016 11:21 PA3ATZ 40m SSB 59   59   Mim        
21/08/2016 11:22 DF0MF 40m SSB 57   57           DE0059 – Lightship Amrumbank
21/08/2016 11:23 DL0AVH 40m SSB 59   59   Tom        
21/08/2016 11:23 DL5FBB 40m SSB 57   57            
21/08/2016 11:24 DJ6NI 40m SSB 59   59   Gunter        
21/08/2016 11:25 DF9OO 40m SSB 59   59   Helm        
21/08/2016 11:25 2E0HPI 40m SSB 59   59   Carl       UK0021 – St Marys Tyneside
21/08/2016 11:26 DK6VCO 40m SSB 57   57            
21/08/2016 11:27 DL1LSH 40m SSB 53   57            
21/08/2016 11:29 GM3TKV/P 40m SSB 59   59   Bill Lossimouth     UK0204 – Coversea Skerries
21/08/2016 11:31 GB0NHL 40m SSB 59   59   Harry       UK0039 – Noss Head Lighthouse
21/08/2016 11:34 DB8BG 40m SSB 59   57   Horst        
21/08/2016 11:36 MM1FAS 40m SSB 55   59   Richard        
21/08/2016 11:37 G1NFT 40m SSB 55   59   Dave Newcastle      
21/08/2016 11:41 DL3ZBD 40m SSB 59   59   Dieter Vellmar near Kastle      
21/08/2016 11:44 MI6PGI 40m SSB 57   59   Peter        
21/08/2016 11:55 DJ2RO 40m SSB 57   58   Reinhard        
21/08/2016 12:06 MI6BKD 40m SSB 42   59            
21/08/2016 12:31 EM25M 20m SSB 59   59            
21/08/2016 12:36 GB2LBN 20m SSB 59   59   Robin Dunbar     UK0034 – Barnes Ness Lighthouse
21/08/2016 13:04 GB2GNL 40m SSB 59   59   Alan       UK0037 – Girdnleness Lighthouse
21/08/2016 13:18 MI1AIB/P 40m SSB 59   59           UK0056 – Rathlin East
21/08/2016 13:27 DF9LW/P 40m SSB 59   59           DE0077 – Tinsdal Oberfeur
21/08/2016 13:38 OP16A 40m SSB 59   59            
21/08/2016 13:57 EI9FN 40m SSB 59   59   Percy Co Galway      
21/08/2016 14:14 DL0LNW 40m SSB 59   59   Dieter       DE0016 – Neuwerk
21/08/2016 14:23 DK0RA 40m SSB 59   59   Ansgar       DE0050 – Altenbruch Unterfeuer (Old)
21/08/2016 14:41 DJ1BWH 40m SSB 59   59   Bridget Vemer     South East of Dortmund
21/08/2016 14:43 DH8KW 40m SSB 53   58   Werner        
21/08/2016 14:45 PA3BOE 40m SSB 57   58   Reni Central Netherlands      
21/08/2016 14:48 F4TPV 40m SSB 55   59   Cristian South of France