Lots of folks announcing their activations on the BeaconBot for this weekend’s NLLW event.
The Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society was honored to recognize long time veteran members Jim Buffington (K5JIM), Jim Elliott (KA3UNQ), and Dan Hatcher (KD3CQ). Each was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award plaque issued by the ARLHS Awards Committee in recognition of their distinguished achievements over the years, and their dedication to promoting and advancing the interests of the ARLHS. The following is a brief about each recipient.
Jim Buffington member #150 joined the ARLHS in 2000 and served as vice president of the society virtually the entire time the founder, K2JXW, was president. He originated the idea for ARLHS conventions and served as chairman for the several years in which they were held. Jim accomplished numerous lighthouse activations along the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast, in spite of the fact that he resides almost 300 miles from the nearest lighthouse; he has over 50 field light beacon activations under his belt. He is also an enthusiastic lighthouse hunter and is a regular in the log of many activators. Jim is currently a member of the Advisory Council at ARLHS.
Jim Elliott member #278 began lighthouse activations in 2003, and after retiring in 2006 that became his primary interest and ham radio activity.
During that period, he assisted Jim Weidner with the editing of the LENS newsletter. Jim also wrote and published numerous articles about his LH exploits in the newsletter. He created and moderated what was known as “The Monday Nite Chat”, a weekly chat room gathering on the ARLHS website. This lasted just over three years and entertained check-ins from around the country as well as Australia, India and The Shetland Islands.
Throughout the years Jim has field activated over 200 lighthouses on the East Coast, many were first time on air activations, including special event stations with other members of the society. He is also an avid chaser with over 1450 confirmed lighthouse QSL’s in his collection. In 2009 he was the first recipient of the ARLHS Activator of the Year Award and had since received several certificates from the ARLHS awards program, and other organizations.
As of late Jim has been key in promoting Lighthouse activities and keeping other members apprised of upcoming activations as well as spotting on-air activities on the clusters and the ALRHS BeaconBot email. He is currently a member of the Advisory Council at ARLHS.
Dan Hatcher member #979 joined the ARLHS in 2002 and has been serving as the World List Of Lights (WLOL) Committee Chairman since 2006 where the duties include reviewing lighthouse proposal application worldwide and adding to the WLOL database.
Dan served as the local coordinator for the last yearly ARLHS Convention in 2009, held in Solomons, MD; arranged accommodations and developed local maps and direction info for visiting at least 6 area lighthouses.
Dan has been promoting the ALRHS at several occasions, he developed banners and placard displays, as well as brochures to advertise the ARLHS at area hamfests, and at his field activations which have included Open House LH opportunities in Maryland.
Throughout the years he field activated 178 individual lighthouses in 15 States mainly on the East Coast, 72 of which where first time on air activations. He is also an avid LH chaser with almost 1800 confirmed QSL’s from US, Canada and DX lighthouses. He was the recipient of several certificated from the ARLHS awards program. Dan is also a member of the ARLHS Advisory Council.
U. S. Lighthouse Society
Jeremy D’Entremont interviews ARLHS members John Huggins and Dan Romanchik about the society in their “Light Hearted” podcast.
Light Hearted ep 118 – John Huggins & Dan Romanchik, Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society
Hello all.
In preparation for Spring Lights…
- Begins: 0000Z 15 April, 2021
- Concludes: 2400Z 22 April, 2021
…don’t forget to announce your activation on the World List of Lights so you show up on the http://wlol.arlhs.com web page under…
ARLHS WLOL Lighthouse Radio Activations List
It’s easy. Just visit the WLOL web page for the light you intend to activate and fill in the form at the bottom. Example…
ARLHS WLOL Lighthouse Radio Activation Data Entry
Once submitted, there is an approval step (SPAM occasionally tries to slip in).
The Beacon Bot is also a good place to announce, but a nice concise list is a good addition to the flow of activation details.
Hope to work folks during Spring Lights 2021.
73
John, kx4o
In September 2020, the ARLHS was pleased to present Robert Doherty aka Whitey, K1VV, and Don Tanguay, N1DT (SK) collectively known as “The Cape Crusaders” with the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of their significant achievements over the years and for giving Light beacon enthusiast many activations in the Northeast / New England region. Whitey was gracious to accept the award on behalf of the team.
It is with profound sadness that I report the passing of Bob Crawford, VE1REC, ARLHS member # 271, of Dartmouth, NS, Canada. Bob was 78. For those of us in the society that go back to the very early days of lighthouse activations, that call sign was, without a doubt, featured in all of our log books. Personally, I’m sure I have over 300 Canadian lighthouse confirmations attributed to Bob’s years of traveling all over Nova Scotia and beyond to seek out and provide us with a new one.
On most of his lighthouse adventures, Bob was accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, who sat in the back seat of the car reading a book while Bob worked the airwaves seeking one more call for his log. Although based in Nova Scotia, Bob’s travels took him to other provinces in Eastern Canada, such as Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and even Quebec where he would stop along the way to put on a lighthouse as they traveled to visit one of his sons living in Montreal.
On the air, Bob was the model of decorum providing us neophyte activators a wonderful example to follow. I guess if there was one thing that was memorable about Bob’s on-air persona was his laugh. It was great to hear…loud, distinctive and absolutely genuine. Here was a man totally enjoying what he was doing and wasn’t shy about letting you know about it.
As years passed, it has always bothered me that Bob was never the recipient of the AOY award from the ARLHS. Recently the society awarded Bob a life-time achievement award and sent him this plaque seen below. Rest in Peace, old friend. You were an inspiration to many of us and are truly missed.
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- VE1REC with plaque
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- Plaque
Online obituary…
It is with great sadness to share the news about the passing of Jim Weidner, the founder and enthusiastic leader of the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society.
James Weidner giving ALRHS award
I first met Jim online around 2000 when I volunteered to help with the WLOL. Jim’s charisma was obvious and it was clear the idea of a lighthouse amateur radio group was successful due to his energy and focus. The ARLHS old and new simply would not exist without his steadfast stewardship.
Ever pragmatic, Jim’s recent years were spent in full recognition of the limits of life here on earth. With this in mind he set out to ensure his beloved ARLHS continued. The result was passing of the baton to yours truly and I am ever appreciative of the trust he placed in me to captain the ship. Jim’s friends are numerous and many continue to help me fulfill his goals of the ARLHS… so in a very real way, Jim lives on in all of us as we continue to make ARLHS what it is today.
Thank you Jim. We all will miss you very much.
John, kx4o
From information provided by family
On September 1, 2018, age 77, of Merchantville, NJ. He was the beloved husband of Regina (nee Stewart) and father of J. David Weidner, Jeffrey Weidner and Timothy Weidner.
He is also survived by 6 grandchildren Heather Lee, Dillon, Gavin, Jillian, Hannah Lynn and Nicholas and one sister Patricia Goodwin.
Jim was born in Carlisle, PA and was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He was an English teacher for over 30 years in the Northern Burlington Regional School District. He was the founder and creator in 2000 of the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society using the call sign K2JXW.
Jim was and active member of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Office of Emergency Management for the Borough of Merchantville. Relatives and friends are invited to his visitation on Friday evening from 7:00-9:00 PM and on Saturday morning at 10:00 AM in the Alloway Funeral Home 315 E. Maple Avenue Merchantville, NJ. Interment will be held in Locustwood Memorial Park.
From a local news outlet
James H. Weidner of Merchantville, N.J. passed away Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018. He was 77. He was the beloved husband of Regina (Stewart) Weidner and father of J. David Weidner, Jeffrey Weidner and Timothy Weidner. He is also survived by six grandchildren, Heather Lee, Dillon, Gavin, Jillian, Hannah Lynn and Nicholas, and one sister, Patricia Goodwin. Jim was born in Carlisle, Pa. and was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He was an English teacher for over 30 years in the Northern Burlington County Regional School District. In his earlier years, Jim enjoyed outdoor photography, fishing and bowhunting and later was the captain of his vessel, the “Sandy Claws”, making numerous trips with Regina to the Chesapeake Bay. He was the founder and creator in 2000 of the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society using the call sign K2JXW. Jim was an active member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Office of Emergency Management for the Borough of Merchantville. Relatives and friends are invited to his visitation from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, and at 10 a.m. Saturday, at the Alloway Funeral Home, 315 E. Maple Ave., Merchantville. Interment will be held in Locustwood Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the ASPCA – American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Alloway Funeral Home, Merchantville, N.J.
Well it took some time, but I finally got around to activating the old light, USA-1254, near my parents home in Maine for an actual ARLHS event. I tried a new antenna along with my KX3, made some noise and made a few contacts. It could have been better, but the conditions were certainly challenging. Some notes follow.
The rig – Elecraft KX3 and power source
An Elecraft KX3 with 10 AH LiFePO4 battery makes for a simple to deploy rig. I ran 10 watts the entire time. Yes I wish I had more power in these conditions, but it is remarkable what can be done with little power with some patience. Here it is in my transport bag…
Rose bag for the Elecraft KX3, battery and accessories.
Here is the tabletop deployment…
Elecraft KX3 HF/6m Transceiver.
The antenna – LNR Precision EF-QUAD
I needed a quick antenna to take to the beach so ordered one of these from LNR Precision. I’ve been a fan of LNR since the PAR days. Read more about my interactions with them on my ham radio blog.
There isn’t much to this antenna. The primary feature is the 50 ohm to thousands of ohms transformer box to properly feed an antenna at a current node… namely the usually free end of the antenna.
Feed end of LNR Precision EF-QUAD 40, 20, 15 and 10m end fed antenna.
The antenna is a halfwave in length at its lowest band of 40m. Here is the other end as deployed this weekend…
Other end of LNR Precision EF-QUAD 40, 20, 15 and 10m end fed antenna.
The polyethylene coated antenna 18 AWG wire is a real treat to use and behaves reasonably well stowed or while installing. That’s weed trimmer line on the right. It’s the only thing I could find in the house to install the antenna.
More details on LNR EF-QHAD here
The operating position
The operating “desk” is my mother’s outdoor table. I moved this around depending on the sun angle.
Elecraft KX3 and N1MM to store contacts.
N1MM to store contacts
I managed to locate and install a UDC customization macro file, made by KA1IOR for the 2010 ILLW, for ARLHS use in N1MM contest logger. Here is a screen shot of the “action” window (bottom) and log…
N1MM used for ARLHS NLLW event
I could kick myself for not brining my USB CAT cable as this works very well to sync the Elecraft KX3 and operating parameters including band, frequency and mode.
I think some improvements to the UDC macro file are in order, but am grateful to KA1IOR for making this back in 2010. Expect more details on how to make good use of N1MM for ARLHS events.
Conclusion
Well this isn’t what I would call a tremendously successful activation, but at least I got to make some noise on the bands and garner two lighthouse to lighthouse QSOs with Tim and the K8EPV crew.
All,
#2000 in the books
Just wanted to share the news the ARLHS has reached a milestone with assignment of number 2000. Check the online roster to see the lucky individual…
Lots of renewals and new members
Things have been busy in the ARLHS, LLC back office with many renewals and several new members. As well the activation announcements trickle in for:
- this weekend’s ARLHS NLLW,
- the ILLW 3rd weekend in August and
- many random light activations.
World List of Lights
The WLOL team continues to work through a backlog of proposals for entries to our light list. It seems our little WLOL list has become somewhat of a standard light reference. We regularly receive coordinate updates, corrections and other notes to help fine tune the information stored in our database. There’s no doubt the WLOL exists for amateur radio purposes, but has become much more to world at large. A big thank you to Dan (KD3CQ) and his merry gang of reviewers who analyze proposals and corrections with keen and careful eyes.
ARLHS Certificates
We can’t forget Tim (K4VDX) who has singlehandedly modernized the certificate process making it more efficient than ever. Many of you are already enjoying the product of Tim’s efforts. Thanks Tim!
ARLHS Cheerleader
Our cheerleader is, of course, Jim (KA3UNQ) who’s frequent messages keep us appraised of important details. I give Jim credit for giving the ARLHS flywheel a fresh spin just about every day. It certainly inspires me to keep doing what I do in the back office. Thanks and keep it up Jim.
ARLHS Activators
And of course our intrepid activators give us the contacts we desire for our logs. Thanks to all of them for the, all too often expensive and difficult, journeys to far away places in the pursuit of activating lights.
2018 has been a great year
Thanks to all for a great year so far. I hope to activate a light or two this weekend in Maine.
73
John, kx4o
ARLHS members gathered for a moment at the Richmond, Virginia Frost Fest amateur radio gathering at Richmond International Speedway. It was great meeting old, recent and a new member that joined just today as member 1949.
ARLHS members gather for a photo op at Frost Fest 2017 in Richmond Virginia
It’s not everyday someone with a really awesome Leica M 246 camera takes your picture. From left to right: former ARRL President N3KN/Kay Craigie, her husband N3AO/Carter Craigie, ARLHS, LLC president KX4O/John Huggins, and avid lighthouse activators KD3CQ/Dan Hatcher and KA3UNQ/Jim Elliott.
Photo courtesy Jeff Hughes.