International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend

August 21 – 22, 2004, the North Kitsap Amateur Radio Club set up and operated a special event station, KC7Z, in conjunction with the International Lighthouse Weekend. The purpose of the weekend was to commemorate lighthouses around the world. The club set up its emergency communication van at the Point No Point Lighthouse Station at (where else?) Point No Point near the northernmost tip of Kitsap County (WA) at the entrance to Puget Sound.

Project coordinator Bob Tomas, N7KTP, was called out of town by a family emergency 2 days before the event and asked Bill, W7ARC to take over the operation at the last minute. Through email and the club’s Yahoo Internet reflector, Bill put together a small crew and we were off to the races.

The meager group collected 101 contacts with other hams and lighthouses from as far away as Brazil (PT2ND). We did manage to contact 4 lighthouses/lightships during the hours we were on the air. We did have one major distraction…the North American QSO party was also operating Saturday.

The lighthouse at Point No Point was constructed in 1872 and was gradually improved as technology evolved over the years. During the weekend, the lighthouse was manned by volunteer docents (tour guides) who explained the history and operation to visitors. This undoubtedly helped increase the number of visitors to our station.

The event brought out several ham visitors, as well as curious passersby. Some were attracted by the sound of KI7IPG’s melodic CW emanating from the club trailer, including one 5 year old, who had read about Morse code, but had not heard it before.

Among other visitors, were Bob, KA6MWR, and XYL; Bob, W07B ; Gerry, W7YLG ; and Dennis, KJ7EL.

Participating in the setup, operation and/or teardown of the station, were W7ARC, Bill; NF7M, Malcolm; KI7IPG, Russ; K7ORY, Horace; WA7EKK, Forrest; AC7QI, Margo; WL7E, Joe and N7EM, Ron.