We operated with KA8FFM and his XYL, and Jerry K8CFY and Betty N8SIH at the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse in Eagle Harbor, Michigan, in our first International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend which was August 18-19th, 2001. The Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, ARLHS #USA-253 in Eagle Harbor, Michigan, was on the air for the 2001 International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend, August 18 – 19, 2001.
You can find more information on this and other lighthouse events at VK2CE's web site and the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society website.
We want to thank George Hite for allowing us to operate on the grounds of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse. We also want to thank Vince KA8FFM and his XYL for allowing us to share this special event weekend with them.
Our first ILLW...
We had no idea what to expect as we headed into the town of Eagle Harbor, Michigan that sunny Friday afternoon in mid August 2001. The culmination of months of phone calls and e-mails to people we had never met was about to commence and we had no idea who our fellow operators were or how we'd identify them. Ahh! We'd just look for vehicles with callsign license plates or antennas on the roof.
North M26 leading into Eagle Harbor
Why Eagle Harbor?
Our volunteer operating of the special event station at the Trenton (Michigan) Midsummer Festival a month earlier with the Motor City Radio Club had inspired us to participate in a special event of our own. Lynette and I were just itching to do similar operating somewhere...anywhere.
Walking around the Midsummer Festival, we happened upon a vendor who sold pictures of lighthouses. One of the pictures was of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse. Lynette found the picture particularly interesting, as her father was stationed there for 18 months while in the Coast Guard. She only saw the lighthouse once, many years ago, while the family was on vacation.
On our way back home, I remembered that the growing public interest in lighthouses was not limited to photographers. A few years earlier, amateur radio operators began what was, and still is, called International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend. Maybe we could get our fill of special event operating while visiting the lighthouse in Eagle Harbor. But was the lighthouse still operational? Rumors were flying about the lighthouse being closed and up for sale. But inquiring minds wanted to know for sure.
The first order of business was to look up the lighthouse on the internet. What else could one do on a Sunday afternoon inquiry? The result of an internet search was hundreds of web pages - mainly photographers and dealers of miniature lighthouses.
Then we called information and asked for the number to the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse. Moments later we were talking to a volunteer worker who was actually in the lighthouse! Yes! It was open and operational!
The volunteer worker told us that the lighthouse was open as a museum and there were tours available. But if we wanted to inquire about actually operating from there, we had to talk to George Hite, the caretaker of the lighthouse/museum. The worker gave us George's phone number and wished us luck on our quest to operate from the lighthouse.
Soon afterward, we were talking with George Hite. He told us that he was aware of the amateur radio event in mid August and that he thought another group of hams were already putting something together for the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse. He suggested we talk to Denny, K9GIR, who was Eagle Harbor's only local amateur radio operator. Denny was acting as the coordinator for the operation. George gave us Denny's phone number and wished us luck in our quest to operate from the lighthouse.
A short while later, we were talking to Denny. He reaffirmed that he was the local coordinator for the operation and that the people who were from Iron River, Michigan, some two hours south of Eagle Harbor. Denny told us that if we still wanted to drive from Detroit to Eagle Harbor to operate, we should really talk to the guy in Iron River, who was the planner for the operation, Vince, KA8FFM. Denny gave us Vince's e-mail address and wished us luck in our quest to operate from the lighthouse.
KA8FFM
An e-mail or two later and we were on Vince's list of operators for the event. We had initially thought we would be two solitary hams, inexperienced at putting our own special event together and operating from a possibly empty/abandoned lighthouse. We were now relieved that we were going to be part of a group experienced in mobile operating from Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The road leading to the lighthouse. Turn right to stay on M26.
Another flurry of e-mails was sent over the internet, in preparation for the event. We kept in phone and e-mail contact with Denny, making sure that we were all current with the information and that none of our plans had changed. The trip from Detroit to Eagle Harbor is 580 miles through roads we had only heard about. Antennas, radios, coaxial cable, logging computers, pens, paper, satellite schedules ... we wanted to be sure that we had everything in order.
So this is Eagle Harbor...
As we drove into Eagle Harbor, we were struck by its textbook "small town" look. Surely this was just an image the locals wanted to give to the summer tourists. We dropped off our luggage at the motel and walked to the lighthouse.
On the way, we saw a van with the callsign license plate "K9GIR" and our local lighthouse liaison inside. The man behind the now familiar voice told us that he had been looking for us and was glad we had arrived safe and sound. He told us that he had checked with the motel once in awhile to make sure we still had reservations. After that we told him we were headed for the lighthouse to check the place out for dipole placement. He agreed to meet us there.
Entrance to the lighthouse complex.
The short walk to the lighthouse showed us that it was quite an attraction. A steady flow of vehicles, most of which were from out of state, drove past us as we walked to the our destination. We scoped out the terrain, with visions of unobtrusive wire antennas dancing in our heads. We also took the opportunity to tour the complex. We needed to become familiar with the buildings and their meanings so that we could relay the information to the amateurs we would contact throughout the weekend.
Denny showed us around, introducing us to the volunteer workers and guides at the lighthouse. Then he introduced us to George Hite, the curator of the museums. George was congenial and quite receptive to our operation, even without completely knowing just what this group of hams was up to. He knew Denny personally and Denny was able to give George and the Keweenaw Historical Society a brief description of ham radio and what we would need in order to operate from the lighthouse.
One thing that was apparent - we would not be able to operate from the inside of any of the buildings. Summers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are short, and the winters are long and cold. Therefore, some of the buildings did not have windows that could open enough to accommodate a few runs of coaxial cable to pass through them. Another thing was the size of the rooms. There was little or no available space for the equipment and operators, and we were not going to disturb the displays nor the look of the 120-year old building for our setup. We would have to resort to setting up operation outside.
This ham is prepared!
When Vince, KA8FFM and his wife Ange arrived, we were relieved to know that we had at least one of us was a veteran at mobile operating. They brought two complete HF stations, a VHF station, a 6-Meter beam, a VHF/UHF vertical and alot of assorted goodies that only veteran mobile operators would know enough to bring - all of which was carefully packed into (and onto) a Ford Aspire. Once I had learned that Vince was a fellow CW operator, I knew that we were truly amongst friends.
Setup and preparation
Vince was undaunted by the fact that we would have to operate from the outside. We spotted a relatively unused picnic table at the neighboring house - one of the lighthouse keeper's assistants houses that the Historical Society rents out to tourists during the summer. We respectfully asked the resident renters if they would be using that table at all over the weekend. Once they told us that they would not be using it, we thanked them and pulled our operating table over to its new temporary resting place. Our inquiry piqued the interest of one of the resident renters of the house, who reminisced that he once had plans of getting his amateur radio license. He told us that he'd like to sit in and watch us operate during the weekend. We told him that he was most welcome and to stop by any time.
This photo shows our G5RV (left side near trees) and tripod for VHF/UHF vertical (to the right of the lighthouse). The operating position is in the shadow of the white house to the right.
Antenna setup was easy and full of possibilities. We strung the G5RV from the railing of the lighthouse tower (with permission from the Historical Society) to a pine tree at the opposite end of the complex. This gave us a great north-south pattern off the sides of the dipole. An end-fed 20-Meter Beverage antenna of Vince's design was installed from the front porch of the white house to a tree in the rocky peninsula at the water. This antenna pointed to the south-east.
Coaxial cables were placed along the ground and routed along places where foot traffic was at a minimum. Wherever there was a possibility of people stepping (or tripping) on our cables, great care was taken to ensure that accidents were impossible. Duct tape was used to tape the coax down to the cement walkways they crossed over. Other cables were routed along the perimeter of the house, well out of the way of tourists. The cables that could not be hidden or safeguarded were marked with eye-catching tape or flags.
Radios included a Kenwood TS-830S and a Yaesu FT-100. The Kenwood was complimented by an Astatic microphone and performed quite well on SSB, while the Yaesu was set up with a keyer and performed well on CW. We were ready for the ILLW.
On the air...
A crowd gathers to see what all this hamming was about.
On Saturday, the propagation was not what we had hoped for, but was none the less good for stateside signals. International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend participants had stiff competition from U.S. contesters from the North American QSO Party. We were making contacts with many people in the continental 48 states, most of whom were in the contest. Many interested tourists, perusing the lighthouse grounds, stopped by to see what all those wires and cables were connected to. But two people in particular seemed to have a bit more of an interest in what we were doing than most.
Vince, Lynette, Jerry and Betty (in the red jacket) at the operating position
Jerry K8CFY and his wife Betty N8SIH were from Clinton Township, Michigan and were amateur radio lighthouse veterans. In previous years, they had the pleasure of operating from the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse in Port Huron, Michigan. This year, however, they found themselves forced out of that lighthouse. A local amateur radio club had reserved the Fort Gratiot lighthouse before Jerry had a chance to do so. This hostile takeover left the couple in search of a new lighthouse to put on the air. Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula has ten lighthouses and they had set out to find just the right one. We told them that they were most welcome at our operation and that they would be able to provide the rest of us some valuable break time.
Jerry, Betty and Lynette operate the ILLW
We operated CW and SSB on most HF bands. The Slow Scan TV setup was not cooperating, but the rest of our operation more than made up for it. We operated FM Satellite via AO-27 and UO-14 from the lighthouse, giving Maidenhead Grid Square hunters a chance to make a contact with the rare Grid Square of EN57.
Sunday, we had more fun with the absence of the contesters. We were all happy to see Jerry and Betty return to help us out a second day in a row. The weather was terrific - sunny and temps in the low 70s F. The shadow of the white house made the breezes from Lake Superior seem a bit cool, but it was refreshing in comparison to the hot, humid weather of the Detroit area.
We operated both days, making over 150 contacts in five different countries over the weekend. We also made some great friends and were hooked on operating from the lighthouse. Do it again next year? You bet! Everybody had fun and was planning for the 2002 ILLW after the event. The 11.5 hour drive was worth the fun and excitement of putting this special place on the air. The small town of Eagle Harbor was now known to hams around the world. And more of them will be able to talk to future operations from the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse.
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