2019 – January Christmas Lights LOTA at Boca Grande

The W4AC club members agreed to activate/operate 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, scheduled to run from December 15, 2018 through January 4, 2019. We also activated Islands On 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 to assess whether we would be able to use the facilities and surrounding area for radio operations. Andy followed up with a phone call to the Director of the facility to request permission before we embarked.

Participating in the lighthouse activation were Andy, KB1HIP, Chet, KG4IYS, Frank Wroblewski, W2XYZ, Paul Nienaber, KG4BAR, and Tom Shrilla, W8QJF. Four different portable stations were set up during the day. Three stations were positioned underneath the lighthouse where electrical power was available. One was set up in the picnic area next door to the light house, and was powered by battery with a supplemental solar panel. Another station was initially set up as QRP (5W) for CW operations, and then later powered up as a regular CW station, both operated by Frank on 20 and 40M.

Andy assisted during the day with the various setups and then activated his portable station for 20M SSB phone. Chet set up his station as an FT8 station on 20M. Paul set up his station as a 20M SSB phone operation. Tom assisted Chet in setup and tear-down and assisted Paul logging QSO‘s on his station. Propagation was apparently poor for CW operations, as there were no successful contacts. 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 QSO. Andy logged one QSO, a maritime mobile check-in. Chet managed to get 12 QSO‘s using FT8, mostly northeast corridor as far as Maine; was contacted unsuccessfully from Switzerland once. Bob Schneider, W5GJ, spotted Chet on DXSummit – listening from his home station. He indicated that several California stations heard Chet, but Chet never heard them. While propagation was apparently poor easterly, and ok westerly, Chet forgot to turn on his preamp, which may have degraded reception sensitivity. Lesson learned!

All in all, while results were less than stellar, we learned about our equipment, antennas, receiver sensitivity characteristics, how to setup FT8 under field conditions; and we proved the value of FT8 in spite of poor propagation. The weather was excellent – a balmy 78 degrees, sunshine, light breezes. We met with the Lighthouse Director, and it appears they were happy with our operation, and we hope they will welcome us back again.

Station configurations:

• FT8 station (Chet): ICOM 7100, tuner, power supply, Buddipole antenna in the vertical configuration, 20M band.
• QRP/CW Station (Frank): Yaesu FT-817, homebrew external tuner, 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.