Lighthouse 2015
Lighthouse Dxpedition 2015 from Jaffna Point Pedro
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Article Summary
Jaffna was a conflict area for nearly 3 decades. When the situation became peaceful after 2008, there was opportunity for the HAMs to operate Radio from the nothern province. The RSSL took the initiative to operate the Lighthouse event from Point Pedro, the nothern most point of Sri Lanka.
Article Highlights
- First time activation of Point Pedro Lighthouse
- Fun on the way
Kamal Edirisinghe
4S7AB / KA5MAL
Author Nov 2015
Having More than 35 years of experience in the Field of Amateur Radio, I have published many articles in prestigious international publications like, QST, CQ-DL, NCJ, Six-News etc.. Here in this web site, these write-ups are intended to give you knowledge about my designs and projects related to the hobby. The articles about foreign HAM activities are intended to share my experience.
- Full Solar Powered Radio Station
- SO2R and Multi-Multi Compatible
- Operate on All Bands/Modes/SATS
- DXCC #61,271
- IOTA AS-003, CQ-22, ITU-41
The event was planned well in advance and transport / logistics were arranged accordingly. A team of nearly 50 people, mostly hams particitaed in this historic event.
On the way to the lighthouse, we have stopped for Breakfast near Kilinochchi. There we have decided to put up our gear and quickly run a station on 40m. We were able to do that with an enthuisiastic team of young and old hams. Within minutes, we were transmitting on 7060Khz our usual morning rag chew frequency and having QSOs. The ‘quick deployment’ abilities of Ham Radio were witnessed by all of us there. In the picture, sitting behind me is the chief organizer of the event SWL ‘Mr.Wimalawansa’.
By the evening of the same day, we were able to reach Point Pedro. Puting up antennas was another challange since the Lighthouse itself is not accessible to us. So we had to select a location within 500m to the lightouse. The empty beach was available for us to do whatever we wanted to do but the time wasn’t. It was getting darket. Then again the enthusiastic team got together and put up the yagi on the beach . Station was powered up on the ground using batteries and we were good to go. Sucessfully we were able to make nearly 50 QSOs. That was a thrill and a good learning experience for the new hams who have seen this type of operation for the first time.
