Lighthouses of Australia Inc

ILLW 2006 - Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 August 2006

Macquarie Lighthouse, New South Wales

Waverley Amateur Radio Society (WARS) is an Amateur Radio club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs. On our patch is the wonderful Macquarie Lighthouse which we have "activated" each of the past few years.

To help celebrate the Lighthouse weekend, each year we set up an operating position in the grounds of the lighthouse, usually on the Saturday. For 2006, the club plans to operate during the Saturday afternoon from the Hornby Light at the southern entrance of Sydney harbour and on Sunday from the Macquarie Light in Vaucluse, to coincide with the open day for the lighthouse.

Our contacts are mostly with other Amateur Radio operators that "activate" lighthouses around Australia and New Zealand. Propagation of the airwaves is always variable, and good conditions favouring longer distance contacts have not coincided with the event in recent years.

As well as using short-wave transmissions that enable worldwide contacts, we also use other modes/frequencies such as amateur TV. Last year we transmitted pictures from the base of Macquarie Lighthouse to a club member who was located in the Blue Mountains. This year we hope to be able to establish a distance record for the transmission of amateur TV for a different frequency/band. We also hope to be able to "work" another Amateur Radio station located at the Norah Head Lighthouse (Newcastle).

Brad Crowe VK2CEC
Waverley Amateur Radio Society (VK2BV)