2019, Boca Grande Lighthouse Activation

The club (W4AC) agreed to operate/activate the lighthouse (USA 910) in Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island on Thursday, January 3, 2019, as part of the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society (ARLHS) Christmas Lights Program which ran from December 15, 2018 through January 4, 2019. We also activated Islands of the Air (IOTA) (NA069). The call sign W4AC is now registered with ARHLS, member number 2007.

Andy Durette (KB1HIP) and Chet Fennell (KG4IYS) visited the lighthouse on December 31, 2018, and surrounding areas to assure we would be able to use the facilities and area for radio operations. This was followed by Andy in a phone call with the Director of the facility giving us permission before we embarked.

Particpating in the lighthouse activation were Andy Durette (KB1HIP), Frank Wroblewski (W2XYZ), Paul Nienaber (KG4BAR), Chet Fennell (KG4IYS), and Tom Shrilla (W8QJF). Four different portable stations were setup during the day. Three stations were positioned underneath the lighthouse where electrical power was provided; one was setup in the picnic area next door to the light house and was powered by battery supplemented by a solar panel. One station was initially setup as QRP for CW operations, then later was setup as a regular CW station, both operated by Frank on 20 and 40M, QRP 5 Watts. Andy assisted during the day with the various setups and then powered up his portable station for 20 M SSB phone. Chet setup his station as a FT8 station on 20M. Paul setup his station as a 20M SSB phone operation. Tom assisted Chet in setup and tear down and assisted Paul in CQ’s on his station.

Propagation was apparently poor for CW operations as there was no successful QSO’s. Paul managed to get three QSO’s while testing his setup on his own call sign, but when using the club call sign, only managed one successful QSO. Andy managed a QSO, a maritime mobile checkin. Chet managed to get 12 successful QSO’s using FT8, mostly northeast corridor as far as Maine; was contacted unsuccessfully from Switzerland once. Bob Schneider (W5GJ) was spotting Chet on DXSummit and listening from his home station. He indicated that several California stations heard Chet, but Chet never heard them. While propagation was probably poor easterly and ok westerly, Chet forgot to turn on his preamp which might have improved the reception sensitivity. Lesson learned!

All in all, while results were somewhat desultory, we learned about our equipment, antennas, receiver sensitivity characteristics, how to setup FT8 in field conditions, and proved the value of FT8 in these poor propagation conditions. The weather was excellent; a balmy 78 degrees, sunshine, light breezes about 10 mph. We met with the Director and it appears they were happy with our operation and hopefully will welcome us back for another time.

Equipment Inventory

FT8 Station (Chet):
ICOM 7100, Tuner, Power Supply, Buddipole Antenna in the Vertical configuration, 20M band

QRP/CW Station (Frank):
Yaesu FT-817, external tuner homebrew, End-Fed PARZ (40, 20, 15M), ATT Model 1A, 1918 telegraph key, operated mostly 20 and 40m

SSB/Phone (Andy):
ICOM 7000, LDG IT100 tuner, End-Fed PARZ (40, 20, 15M), and the Buddipole, primarily 20M

SSB/Phone (Paul):
Yaesu FT-450D , Battery Power with solar panel charging, Super Antenna Vertical, 20M Band