Ballycurrin

                                               Ballycurrin Lighthouse

Myself, Joe, EI3IX, and John, EI7FAB, set up a station at Ballycurrin Lighthouse on Sunday the 28th of September. Ballycurrin lighthouse is the only inshore lighthouse of its kind in Europe. It stands approximately 22 ft high and the top section would have been used to burn timber as a beacon. It was probably built in the late 1700's by Henry Lynch to guide the Cong-Galway Steamer to the quay to drop provisions for Ballycurrin House.

The day was absolutely spot on when it came to weather. Brilliant Sunshine for most of the day and very little breeze. An early start was in order and by 9 am the 40 metre antenna was already completed and ready for hoisting by myyself and John . An initial check with the MFJ antenna analyser  revealed that it was a bit too long for the phone section so a quick adjustement had it spot on. In the mean time Joe, EI3IX had set up the generator, power supply, and FT100 ready for action.

Quite a number of stations were worked on 40 metres mainly into Europe and a few in the UK. Unfortunately conditions did not permit contact with any Irish stations. So 80 metres was our next choice. The antenna was already in the final stages of construction so it was just a case of hoising it up and checking it for resonance. Once again a little had to be chopped off before it was suitable for the lower end of 80 Metres. Well the difference was amazing when EI4DC was worked at a good strength 9 followed by many more EI and UK stations.

A call in to the IRTS 80 metre news resulted in us getting called back in second place which meant we must have been pretty strong. A small commercial whilst giving our report resulted in a mini pile-up on 3.667MHz. All of the EI stations and indeed the UK stations were stregth 9 which is probably due to the fact that the antenne was only about 20 ft off the ground and also over a very wet soggy counterpoise on the lake shore. Many very enjoyable contacts were made and, as activity died down, we gave 40 metres another shot.

40 metres was really not fantastic although many contacts were made into Europe and a number of UK stations were able to break through the QRM. At 3 PM we decided to head over to the local Pub for a pint and a sandwich.

We will be back to this location for another operation during the lighthouses on the air activity.