[Each lighthouse features a custom made QSL by Whitey K1VV][All photos are copyright by K1VV 2006.]
Adventures in Lighthouses; a neat way to share ham radio with the public and explore some of the tremendous scenery available in New England region.
My good friend, Whitey K1VV, has been operating with his partner Don N1DT from various lighthouses over the past few years. The two have activated many lighthouses for those interested in getting rare lighthouses in the amateur community. They have also been able to expose ham radio to many interested persons in public settings. I believe that the pair have become well-known and highly regarded for providing many different and special lighthouses during each year.
I once heard two fellows chatting on 20 meter SSB. One of the ragchewers remarked that Don would operate for half an hour on CW and that Whitey, whom absoutely loved SSB, would take over for a half hour. In reality, K1VV is a huge CW operator. He is a very compenent circuit builder and he has made many CW QRP projects.
Both, K1VV and N1DT are excellent CW operaters and capable of much higher speeds than I.
Yesterday, K1VV and another friend from the K1USN club, Henry K1WCC activated Highland Point. Whitey reported to me that they had 86 QSOs during the morning. 80 contacts were made on phone and the remainder were made on CW. Contacts were split between 75, 40, 20, and 17 meters. I couldn’t work Whitey from the K1USN clubroom, due to the close proximity. When he activated a closer lighthouse, I was only able to hear him at about S3 to S4 on HF. He bounces right over me. 
The W1AA mobile lighthouse setup is centered around K1VV’s truck. W1AA is running a 
IC-7000 with MFJ mobile transmatch. 100 Watts is sent to a 33′ vertical held by a fiberglass extendible mast; the mast just drops right into a custom made hitch. K1VV made this hitch and several other designs for portable operations. The two meter station runs packet.
The W1AA operation gathers many stares from the locals. This is a good thing, as K1VV is able to introduce them to ham radio.
K1VV has told me that the entire operation runs on two external batteries in the pickup bed that are fed in parrallel with the truck’s barrety. This allows the W1AA operation to run with the engine off, which is to a huge advantage in saving fuel.
Whitey and Henry reported that they had lots of fun despite poor solar conditions; they are unforunately little better, today. Check out the news at the EMA website for updates on the next activation. K1VV always releases operating frequencies and a schedule in advance. If you see hear W1AA, make sure to spot them on the DXCluster. K1WCC is operating phone in the picture, below.
N1EY
N1ZMD is checking out the work on the tower. He had not seen the tower base installed until Saturday. Many of our club members are former military with specialities in radio. N1ZMD is a former signal corps officer. Others are former Navy radiomen. He is reviewing our temporary grounding system. K1GUG has plans for a better grounding system that he wants to install. I thought that the current system was rather ingenious and made a good source of funds. The anticlimb system is still inplace. You might have noticed that last week it was raised several rungs from the bottom. 
In this picture W1BT is reviewing the grounding strap for the RF connections. K1GUG, W1BT, and myself worked on getting that strap ready. I had to turn the die to cut those holes. They are 5/8 holes. K1HLP provided a drill bit for drilling the holes.
In this picture, W1BT is working on drilling some more pilot holes. 
Up topside, WA1NYC was talking to Jim Fahey(Curator) about various Signal Corps practices and equipment. Tom LaLiberte was working on Jim’s computer. W1BT, KB1TOM, and I ran the cat 5e up to Jim’s computer awhile ago. Tom is readying the machine for general word processing and spreadsheet use. The Historical Society is looking for more computing power and hard drive arrays. 
In this picture, you can see the anchorbolts that I inserted last week when we had the big drilling project. The bolts are 16″ on the centers. Eventually, there will also be a plate on the outside of the building and the standoffs to hold the tower. 
These The tower sections are not heavy, but they are not light and they are awkward to handle by one’s self. KB1TOM assisted WG1L in orientating the tower section and getting it ready for installation.
Here is the base of the tower. As you might have noticed in previous segments, we managed to get one section installed. K1WN, K1GUG, and I worked on leveling this off to plumb. It took us awhile. We are very forunate to have Richard Gere as a member of our club. Even though he is an actor with a very busy schedule, he has contributed a lot of time and effort to the club. He is hardest worker and is there every Saturday. We also have a member that is very sharp lookalike for Sean Connery. WG1L also brought a Rohn 45 work platform. This would sure come in handy and save his feet After WG1L lifted the rohn 45 into place, the real challenge of the day began. He had to line up the tower sections to bolt them, together. We are using stainless steel hardware. Some of you might cringe, but we can always take the tower apart; yes, this might happen. Better to make one’s lives easier. In the next picture, KB1TOM has taken the work platform and brought it to work on the area for the stand-off bracket. In this picture you can also see the anticlimb panels that we worked so hard on. These are former library shelves. We drilled these the other week and hung them to prevent unauthorized access.
This is a picture of what it looked like last week. As you see from the previous pictures, we are making progress. Our club philosophy is to measure more than once and drill only twice. Haste makes waste. In the following picture is K1LWI and K1GUG. K1GUG is our project engineer. He has been making this all happen due to his sheer determination. Many have probably heard K1LWI on the air. For a time K1LWI was one of the premier 10 meter contesters in the country. He had received offers to work at some of the big guns on their 10 meter stations; he is that good. Please ignore the graffiti. We have not quite solved how the library is going to handle the defacing of the building. We do have video surveillance established. We hope to catch any future miscreants on high line count video.
I look forward to any questions that people might have about our club or the Watson Historical Library and Research Centre.
N1EY
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