Our amateur radio club (Metro Area Radio Club, www.metroarc.org) had a great time participating in the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend on Saturday, August 21. Over a dozen club members came out to the Gross Point Lighthouse, located on Lake Michigan in Evanston. A big thank you goes out to everyone who helped make this a successful event.

We set up a Kenwood tranceiver and a Hustler 4band 26 foot vertical antenna. The weather was great. Band conditions were better! We spoke with several countries including Russia, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Canada and lots of states near and far.

The objective of ILLW is stated as "to promote public awareness of lighthouses and lightships and their need for preservation and restoration, to promote amateur radio and to foster International goodwill"
From Wikipedia:

The event was started by the Ayr Amateur Radio Group in 1995 as the "Northern Lighthouse Activity Weekend", with stations being set up at Scottish lighthouses. In 1997, to reflect participation by Danish and German amateur radio groups the event took on its current name. The event now sees worldwide participation, in locales as diverse as Long Beach, Washington, USA, Liverpool, England and Boca Grande, Florida, USA. ILLW now coincides with the worldwide open day organised by the Association of Lighthouse Keepers, which sees public access to many of the featured lighthouses.

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