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.
