IARS

The Illawarra Amateur Radio Society and The Blue Mountains Amateur Radio Club (BMARC) will be activating an amateur radio station at the historic, Point Perpendicular light house for the International Lighthouse and Lightship weekend of 18th and 19th August 2007.

The activation will be a combined club event operating on all bands and all modes. The club will be using their coast link repeater network for liaison over the contest period. For those amateurs that are not sure of the coast link details, they are VK2RMP 146.850 MHz, VK2RIS 146.975 MHz, and VK2RBT 146.675 MHz, covering an area, North from the Sydney basin, West to the Blue Mountains, and South beyond Bateman’s Bay. Other Amateur stations outside this area can access the coast link network via IRLP node 6018. If you would like to drop in for a coffee, view the temporary station or would just like to know how the weekend is going, give the club callsign VK2AMW a call for direction, or an up-to-date run down during the weekend.

Point Perpendicular lighthouse is situated on Department of Defence land at Beecroft Peninsula in the Shoalhaven area of the NSW South Coast. It was commissioned in 1899, to protect shipping in the Jervis Bay area.

Lighthouses Australia Inc. have special permission to light the original historic light house at Point Perpendicular to coincide with the International light house and light ship week end. Lighthouses Australia is a Society dedicated to the preservation and promotion of lighthouses along the Australian coastline.

Here’s some links for more information:

• Point Perpendicular lighthouse information from Currarong Holiday Resort
• More information from Seaside Lights
• And more from Lighthouses of Australia web site
• Latest weather for Point Perpendicular
• Official website for International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW)
• ILLW participating stations