
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 19-20, 2017.
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.
This year’s event takes place on the 3rd full weekend in August so if you haven’t done so already, find a lighthouse nearby and get a group together or do it solo and fire up a lighthouse station. In most cases if you don’t intend operating from within the lighthouse itself or one of its cottages, you really don’t need to get any approval. Most first time entrants are so enthused with the event that they return year after year.”
Plans are underway for a number of lighthouse activation’s on Prince Edward Island by George Dewar, VY2GF, using the call sign VY2PLH. One special activation will be for the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW) 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/
George extends an invitation to any Amateur who would like to operate and he will also facilitate individual activations at other locations. The PEI Lighthouse Society (https://www.peilighthousesociety.ca/) lists in excess of 50 sites.
You can hear an interview with George on Amateur Radio Newsline (https://www.arnewsline.org/) Report 2058 for April 7 at the 8:55 point on the audio portion.
For more information on the ILLW event please visit: https://illw.net/