This was our seventh ILLW in a row and the second year in a row that we'd spent more than three days in the area. We're starting to learn more on how to operate lighthouses mobile, as well as how to balance activations with our sightseeing and geocaching. And as usual, we had a wonderful time.

This was our second year in a row for our HF mobile operation. I bought and permanently installed an Icom IC-7000 in the car, making all the required ground connections not adequately provided for last year. We used the same Hamsticks and mag mount that we used last year. Weeks before the trip, we found many lighthouses along our route to and from the lighthouse. With the help of Google Maps, we made a list of these lighthouses along the route, in addition to entering them as waypoints in our GPS.

On our way up, while crossing the Mackinac Bridge, we spotted in the Straits of Mackinac to our east, a structure we hadn't noticed in the previous six years. Consulting the maps we had brought along, we found that it was Round Island Lighthouse. We missed the opportunity to activate a lighthouse while mobile in the truest form of mobiling, but we were determined to not overlook it on the way home, even though we didn't know its ARLHS number.

Naubinway (USA-1083)

The first lighthouse to be activated on this bright and beautiful day was Naubinway Lighthouse - a 30-foot cylinder in the middle of Naubinway Island, less than a mile off the shore of Naubinway, MI. Quickly starting up the old, trusty laptop, I tuned the antenna for the 20 Meter Phone band and called CQ. And called...and called and called, for 20 minutes. After calling, to no avail, other stations whom were calling CQ, it was obvious that something was terribly wrong with my new radio. We wanted to keep on schedule and arrive at Eagle Harbor by supper time, so we carried on down the road, not making one QSO at Naubinway.

After about ten miles, lots of reading the manual and getting used to the menu system of the IC-7000, I discovered that the microphone gain control was set to 0%. Once set to a more proper 50%, I called the first station calling CQ. To my relief, the station replied instantly, giving me great signal and audio reports. We were confident for our next mobile lighthouse activation du jour.

The next lighthouse on our agenda were the Munising Range Lights. Having set the mysterious microphone gain settings to an audible level, we stopped at the front range light. However, luck was not with us again, as we could not get anyone to hear our CQs. After 15 minutes of trying, we decided to move on. It was, afterall, the bottom of the solar cycle.

Christmas Range Lights (USA-980 and USA-981)

Just a few miles west of Munising on M-28 is the tiny town of Christmas, Michigan - home to several Santa Claus-related shops, a giant casino and the Christmas Range Lights. Duty called Lynette, and she called in return, having to telephone her place of employment for some (hopefully) quick IT support. As we parked at the side of M-28 - a place where the cell phone signal was best - I activated the first lighthouse(s) of the trip. Being the mid afternoon and the bottom of the solar cycle did nothing for our signal, as we only were able to QSO with four stations. Onward and upward.

Indian Country Sports Light (USA-1154)

Our next stop, on our road to Eagle Harbor, was the town of L'Anse, Michigan, home of Indian Country Sports, a nicely-outfitted store dedicated to all sorts of outdoor sports. We stopped in the parking lot between the store and Keweenaw Bay and called CQ. Again, we only made about two QSOs, none of which were particularly interested in the fact that we were activating a lighthouse that sees relatively little ham radio activity. It was only 1940 UTC when we left. Maybe we were on the air too early for most stateside stations?

It was getting relatively late in the day for our schedule and we made the decision not to activate at any other lighthouses. We could always activate them during the week...or maybe next year. Our priority was getting to Eagle Harbor and assessing our operating conditions for this year's ILLW. On our way up through Houghton and Keweenaw counties, we noticed the fire warnings were set to "Extremely High." The area had seen little rain throughout the summer, which turned the lawns into low-lying hay fields.

We made little effort to make our setup any different from last year's. The 80-Meter dipole was hoisted up the flagpole and the 20-Meter vertical was set out on the manhole cover,  just feet away from a fairly calm Lake Superior. Vince's FT-920, SB-200 and antenna tuner went together quickly, and we had an operational station on the air in record time. Having six years of experience behind us, we know works. The only variables being the condition of the picnic table at the lighthouse (and this year, we were treated to a new table by donor to the Keweenaw Historical Society), and of course, the Big Lake itself.

Operating conditions were far better this year than last year. The bands were about as active as one could hope, seeing as we were near the bottom of the solar cycle. 20 and 40 Meters were the bands to be on, and we made sure we had a presence, with the help of the SB-200 amp. Despite the decent solar terrestrial conditions, Mother Superior decided to keep us cool by directing a steady 10 - 20 MPH breeze right off the lake and right into our faces. Despite the wind and occasional fog, we had no rain - something the Keweenaw peninsula was in dire need of. Good thing we packed those hooded sweaters.

Last year, I made a note to myself to bring along "gloves with fingers" to the 2007 ILLW. After about a year, I lost the meaning of that statement and dismissed the memorandum as trivial. Once I started operating CW for awhile in the cold wind, the true meaning of that note hit home, as well as my hands. My hands were shaking so much that it caused me to send really poor code. My apologies to those who were trying to figure out my fist.

We made 294 QSOs during this year's ILLW, 50 of which were CW. We contacted 28 lighthouses and 22 DXCC entities. Lots of ARLHS members were contacted. Lots of freighters were spotted on Lake Superior.

The next two days were spent exploring more of the Keweenaw peninsula. We checked out more popular sites, such as Central Mine, while making time for some geocaching adventures. The Keweenaw peninsula is rife with fresh, active geocaches, and Sal helped us discover a few.

Along our meandering through the region, we stopped at many of the rocky shorelines of Lake Superior. The huge conglomerate rocks provide an interesting lesson in the geological makeup of the Keweenaw, as well a great exercise for both humans as well as adventure-seeking canines.

Eagle River Lighthouse (USA-257)

Sand Hills Lighthouse (USA-721)

Both Eagle River and Sand Hill lighthouses were activated on both August 21st and 22nd. Sand Hills is a tough place to activate, as the grounds have limited hours that are open to the public. Outside of these hours, which are in the middle of the day, lighthouse activators are relegated to the thickly-wooded roadside outside the entrance. We made a total of three QSOs at Sand Hills, one of which was SV9CVY, Michael in Crete. Eagle River, on the other hand, is easy to activate. You can activate it from next to the beach (a low-lying area blocked by a ridge to the east) or from the Eagle River Falls parking lot at the top of the ridge (a much-better choice). We made a total of eight QSOs at Eagle River. 

Mendota Lighthouse (USA-489)

The famous smokestack in Gay, Michigan

Lessons Learned

The lighthouse activations started in earnest on August 23rd. We drove to Bete Gris, activating Mendota Lighthouse for seven QSOs, then proceeded southward, down Lac La Bell/Gay Road, through the old mining town of Gay, Michigan to the bottom of the Keweenaw. The drive was fascinating, as we'd never been down that side of the peninsula and the terrain and scenery were quite varied. It is also the first time we'd ever seen small heards of deer roaming the fields at 2:30pm.

Jacobsville Lighthouse (USA-658)

We carefully activated Jacobsville Lighthouse from near the grounds (but within 1000 meters). Guests to the were admitted free, but visitors were instructed to leave $5 in a metal box near the gate. It looked as though the lighthouse was under renovation and the lack of stations (only three) we were able to raise at this activation prompted us to move on.

Keweenaw Lower Entry (USA-418)

Within moderate walking distance of the Jacobsville Lighthouse is the Keweenaw Lower Entry light, also known as Portage River Entry. Whether it was the time of day or our location along Keweenaw Bay, we made eight QSOs, some of which with surprised ARLHS members. It was later in the afternoon and people on the U.S. east coast were just getting home, while others were just discovering us. The pileup waned as the clouds moved in, and we moved on to our next lighthouse, just north of us.

Keweenaw Upper Entry (USA-419)

By the time we hit the road to Keweenaw Upper Entry light, spotty rain started to hit the windshield. This lighthouse is in McLain State Park, just north of Hancock. We arrived to see a lighthouse surrounded by evening fog. At this point we had been spotted on the DX clusters and I ran a small pileup as Lynette snapped several photos of the light in the misty cloud. It was getting dark and rainy, and (after 13 QSOs - one from Alaska and another from the Ukraine) we decided to stop for the evening, but not without some valuable lessons for next year:

                            1.) Make our activations known by announcing it over the ARLHS reflector before setting out for the lighthouses.

                            2.) Make better use of our time by starting the activations after 4pm EDT (2000UTC), leaving the daytime for sightseeing.

On August 24th, after learning our time scheduling lessons from the previous day, we visited several waterfalls and rocky shoreline. There was still some residual fog left from the previous day, which made for an interesting walk. The Keweenaw actually got a trace amount of rainfall, which was substantially more than they'd gotten in the last few weeks. Though, this was not enough to help the grass.

Copper Harbor Lighthouse (USA-193, USA-1073)

At 6:00pm, I set out for Copper Harbor, to activate the next set of lighthouses. Luckily, I found a parking lot adjacent to the Copper Harbor Range Lights. Also lucky was the fact that the parking lot was relatively vacant, allowing me to park in a spot that gave me a quick view of Copper Harbor Lighthouses (old and new). Fifteen QSOs from all across the U.S. were made from the four lighthouse entities.

Copper Harbor Front Range Light (USA-1074)

Copper Harbor Rear Range Light (USA-1153)

Naubinway (USA-1083)

Another stop at Naubinway Lighthouse gave ten stations a chance to put this light in their logs.

St Helena Lighthouse (USA-794)

Just as we did last year, we stopped at the nice roadside park near Gros Cap, with a nice view of St Helena Lighthouse. 17 QSOs were made at St Helena. While there, I announced that we would be driving back home, over the Mackinac Bridge, allowing us a view and therefore a quick activation of Round Island Lighthouse (USA-706), but didn't know the ARLHS number for it. KD3CQ quickly provided what he thought was the correct number (and he was correct). We told everyone to QRX for about 15 minutes, until we were at the Big Mac. By the time we had arrived at the bridge, we heard several stations waiting on frequency, chasing away people trying to use that frequency and calling for us. We told them to QRX until we were on the bridge, within sight of Round Island Lighthouse.

The speed limit on the Macknac Bridge is 45 MPH for passenger vehicles, which would only allow us time for very quick, contest-style QSOs. Sharp-eyed Lynette spotted a truck moving at the posted truck speed limit of 25 MPH and about to cross the bridge in front of us. She drove right in behind the truck and followed it all the way across, the slower speed allowing us time to get in 15QSOs - a few more than we'd expected.

I didn't realize it, but there is also another lighthouse close to the Round Island that we activated - Round Island Passage Light, USA-710. Had I known that, I could have given out two lighthouse numbers on our drive across the bridge. This was yet another lesson learned, and another lighthouse for us to activate next year.

Thanks to everyone who contacted us. As of November 14, 2007, all of the K8E QSL cards and certificates for the ILLW have been mailed. K8E QSLs and certificates for lighthouse activations outside the ILLW will be created and mailed shortly. This will be our last year for certificates, but we will definitely continue to reply to all QSL requests with out lighthouse-themed postcard/QSLs.