Brede Steam ARS (BSARS) Lighthouse weekend August 2011

Call sign GB1DLH

 

Brede Steam ARS (BSARS) again took part in the Lighthouses on the Air weekend in August using GB1DLH. AS usual the Dungeness Lifeboat station allowed us to use the downstairs communications room as our base. The Lifeboat station is next to two Lighthouse EU0060 and EU0059. EU0060 is the old Lighthouse and EU0059 is the new Lighthouse. EU0059 had to be built because when the Dungeness power station was built it was found to be in the way of the beam of the old Lighthouse.

We arrived on the Friday to erect the antennas and as usual if something is going to go wrong then it will always be with the antennas. This year we had to use a Carolina Windom (CW) because we were short of a few active members to take the trailer and 3 element beam to the site. Other equipment used for the event was a Kenwood TS200, an 811 linear and the HRD software.

On erecting and testing of the CW it could not be loaded on any band. On looking for the fault it was found that the pl259 at the base of the balun was not connecting probably. Once sorted and tapped it loaded reasonably well. All the other equipment performed well.

On Saturday the operators started on 40 and then switched to 20 meters and soon the log book began to fill up with other Lighthouse on the Air stations. The weather was very sunny and warm and the coast of France could be seen at a distance of about 31 miles from the window of the operating room.

On Sunday the weather was not as good and visibility was down quite a bit, although it was still very warm. The station attracted a few visitors who were out walking on the beach with their dogs. The Lifeboat crew also paid regular visits to make sure we were all ok and to see what was going on.

During the Sunday afternoon the Lifeboat went out on an exercise. This was carried out in conjunction with a helicopter which would winch a lifeboat operator of the boat make a circuit and drop them back on the boat. All was going well until the helicopter was called away on a shout and had to leave quickly. It would appear that this exercise happens only once a year with the helicopter and all new recruits to the Lifeboat crew are encouraged to take part. Needless to say there was not much operating of radio while this was going on.

The operator's switched form 20 to 40 meters and back again during the day to find those elusive lighthouse stations and the weekend ended up with 168 calls in their log. The BSARS members do not like to think of this weekend as a competition. It is a time to have a chat with others and exchange details and generally have a good time.

All in all the weekend was a great success. All the members from BSARS had a good time and they were made very welcome by the Lifeboat station crew. We shall be back next year so watch out for GB1DLH. See this years logbook in PDF file.