[Waverley ARS] Lighthouse wrap

[Gordon & Kizny]

What a glorious two days of sunshine & propagation for the intrepid Lighthouse Crew!

We made over 100 contacts over the two days (far more than previous years) including 31 lighthouse stations. Some contacts were logged at both sites, mostly on 40metres.

The fun began on Saturday, meeting in the Camp Cove car park at 10am. All gear had to be carried up the 500m path as our requests for access through HMAS Watson fell on classified ears & were denied. The Parks and Wildlife folk were more amenable and we were able to borrow a power point from one of the "keepers" in the cottages next to Hornby Light. We used extendable fibreglass rods & a couple of handy trees to raise a 20m and a "random" dipole at roughly 90 degrees to each other. Band pass filters and judicious choice of non-harmonic frequencies allowed operation on 20 as well as 40m. Contacts were made fairly constantly over 4 1/2 hours of operation by Brad VK2LR, Raffy VK2RF, Alan VK2TUI, Laurie VK2JAH and Daniel VK2FDGW, all using the club callsign VK2BV. I think it would be fair to say that Daniel has well earned his wings on HF, at times handling quite a pile-up on 40. Equipment included an Icom 706IIG and a Yaesu FT857.

A few other club members made the hike and we appreciated their contribition (Matthias, Eddie, John) -  not to mention help ferrying gear back and forth.
An adventure of this kind is a lot of fun and a great experience...who's game next year? 

On Sunday we began early at Macquarie Light, erecting a substantial mast for our dipoles and setting up operations in the  marquee kindly provided by the Sydney Harbour Trust. If Hornby was an adventure, Macquarie was looxury! Sipping cappuccino with ocean views while operating HF on a warm winter's day must be a unique Sydney experience.  Once again we were lucky to borrow some 240, this time via an extension lead plugged into the very top of the lighthouse itself. We lost no time fillling the log sheets, staying mostly on 40M but with the FT920 also able to tune 20M.  The microwave ATV experiment was judged a success with Jack VK2TRF and helpers carrying the gear to the lighthouse balcony. Jack's computations had figured the 70 or so km distance could be achieved if we had the height and it wasn't long before we had vision from Norah Head lighthouse from VK2GG. Lighthouse to lighthouse microwave amateur television - definitely a memorable, if not historic event! 

As our station was part of the open day, we also had many members of the public popping over for a chat. We did our best to answer questions and promote the hobby. DX conditions wavered along with our stamina and we began packing up about 3.30. A good number of club members also arrived during the day to take part in the activities. Sorry I didn't record all attendees, but besides the Hornby crew and Jack, we had at various times (among others) Jim, Simon, John, Colin & Michael.

Thanks to all those who contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable weekend!

Laurie VK2JAH
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