AMATEUR radio enthusiasts from Limerick will ham it up at Loop Head Lighthouse this weekend as they wind back the clock and attempt to communicate via radio and Morse code with hundreds of radio clubs throughout the world.
The Limerick Radio Club, which also features members from Clare, Kerry and Tipperary, will broadcast non-stop for 48 hours from the West Clare lighthouse as part of the seventeenth International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW).
During the broadcast from midnight on Friday to midnight on Sunday, visitors to the popular tourism landmark will be able to listen into communications with some of the other participating ham radio operators broadcasting from 400 other lighthouses and lightships in 65 countries.
Last year, the Limerick Radio Club successfully made contact with lighthouses and lightships as far away as Brazil, Australia, Tonga, French Guiana, Asiatic Russia, Ecuador, The Azores and the US Virgin Islands. The majority of all radio contacts were made with operators in the United States (200), Germany (155) and Italy (76). Sixty one per cent of overall communication was conducted via radio with the remaining 39 per cent being conducted via Morse code.
The Limerick group also attempted to communicate with its twinned club in South Jersey using Earth-Moon-Earth communication, also known as “moon bounce”. First developed by the US Military after World War Two, the radio communications technique involves radio waves travelling from one transmitter to another using the Moon as a reflector.
Clare County Council, along and the Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL), is facilitating the broadcast from Loop Head Lighthouse while the Limerick Radio Club has also received approval from Ireland’s Communications Regulator, Comreg.
According to Simon Kenny of the Limerick Radio Club, Loop Head Lighthouse is particularly suitable for long distance radio and Morse code communications attempts due to its isolated location on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and the lack of radio interference in the general area.
“We will once again be basing ourselves on the edge of the Loop Head Peninsula at the lighthouse in an effort to open long distance communications with regions in Asia, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe,” Mr Kenny said.
“The club will operate two stations, one of which will be at the entrance to the lighthouse so members of the public can listen to some of the transmissions,” he revealed.
Further information on the annual International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW) is available from www.limerickradioclub.ie and www.illw.net.
