[RAC-Bulletin] International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend: this weekend August 18-19

https://wp.rac.ca/international-lighthouse-lightship-weekend-this-weekend-august-18-19/

The International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW) has been held on the third full weekend each August since 1998. This year the event will be held this coming weekend on August 18-19.

The ILLW website (https://illw.net/) describes the event as follows:

“The ILLW attracts over 500 lighthouse entries located in over 40 countries. It is one of the most popular international Amateur Radio events in existence probably because there are very few rules and it is not the usual contest type event. It is also free and there are no prizes for contacting large numbers of other stations. There is little doubt that the month of August has become ‘Lighthouse Month’ due largely to the popularity and growth of the ILLW.”

Plans are underway for a number of lighthouse activations on Prince Edward Island by the Maritime Lighthouse Amateur Radio Group (MLARG) using the call sign VY2PLH.

One planned activation will be at Point Prim (CAN 809) and there is also the possibility of an activation at Cape Bear (CAN 092).

MLARG activities can be followed on https://www.facebook.com/groups/MLARG/. The MLARG extends an invitation to any Amateur who would like to operate and they will also facilitate individual activations at other locations.

The PEI Lighthouse Society (http://www.peilighthousesociety.ca/) lists in excess of 50 sites. If you would like to do an activation please contact George Dewar at vy2gf@rac.ca or dewarg@bellaliant.net.

Last year, a special activation was held at East Point which has been designated the Confederation Lighthouse (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-confederation-lighthouse-1.3765495). For more information visit https://www.eastpointlighthouse.ca/

A complete list of over 400 entrants for this year’s event is available online at:

https://illw.net/index.php/entrants-list-2018

Next year’s event will be held on the weekend of August 17 and 18, 2019.

For more information on the ILLW event please visit: https://illw.net/

Alan Griffin
RAC MarCom Director