This information was supplied to me yesterday via email from the desk of Kevin vk2ce. Kevin has cleared up the confusion over ILLW. After reading Kevin’s message, it’s evident that illw.net is the official Web site of ILLW. The information I have previously posted (and removed) was part of a commercial enterprise which misrepresented the true spirit and original intent of ILLW.
Important Information from the ILLW founder:
The International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend was founded by Mike Dalrymple, GM4SUC and John GM4OOU in 1995 as the Scottish Northern Lights weekend. In 1997 it was renamed the ILLW due to increased international participation.
The official event web site at http://illw.net has full and accurate documentation about the history of the event as well as entrants lists from 1999 onwards. It has always been held on the 3rd full weekend of August and this years event is 15-16 August. It is not a week long event and it is not a contest. Any other web site purporting to be the ILLW is misrepresenting the truth and the fact that we have over 270 entrants this year so far is proof of these statements.
Kevin vk2ce
Webmaster and Organiser
http://illw.net
Fire Island Lighthouse
“Congress designated National Lighthouse Day on Aug. 7, 1989, marking the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Lighthouse Act and the commissioning of the first Federal lighthouse in the United States.
The purpose was to provide recognition for the important role which lighthouses played in the history of our country, and the values of safety, heroism, and American ingenuity which they represent, as well as honoring and encouraging continued restoration efforts for existing lighthouses, many of which had fallen into disrepair.”
With so many lighthouses on Long Island, it’s an event some members of my club, SCRC, have talked about be part of for the first time this year.
Other Lighthouse sites to visit:
Q&A:
Have you participated with an ILLW event in the past?
What is you opinion about preserving historical lighthouses?
Have you visited a lighthouse or light ship and what was your experience?
Filed under: Amateur Links, Amateur Radio And Its Oscillations, Amateur Radio Events
The opening sentence of the above article is not correct. The International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend was started by two members of the Ayr Amateur Radio Group as the Northern Lighthouse Award in 1995. They were GM4SUC Mike and GM4OOU John. This correct story is on the Ayr Group web site at:-
http://gm0ayr.org/about_illw.html
The ILLW is and always has been held on the 3rd full weekend in August. It is not a contest and it is not a week long event. The above story has been fabricated to confuse the Amateur Radio fraternity and disrupt one of the most popular events on the AR calendar. The fact that 270 entrants have already registered on the official web site is proof that the real ILLW is well and truly alive. Our target this year is over 400 lighthouses on the air.
Kevin vk2ce
Webmaster and organiser
http://illw.net
Jim Wideboy aka K2JXW has NOT and Never will be associated with the ILHW. No self respecting amateur would associate with this ego maniac who’s ONLY interest in Lighthouses is the money he can make from his false statements. The man is an embassment to the true ham spirit of our hobby.
Thanks for bringing the information forward. According to information located on the site: http://ialhp.org/, K2JXW was an ILLW founder. Our club intends to participate in ILLW this year for the first time and our members have been trying to understand why there were two separate ILLW events and Web sites with information that do not correspond. So then, is it also true that ARLHS http://illw.org is also nothing more than a money making scheme?
The International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend was founded by Mike Dalrymple, GM4SUC and John GM4OOU in 1995 as the Scottish Northern Lights weekend. In 1997 it was renamed the ILLW due to increased international participation. The official event web site at http://illw.net has full and accurate documentation about the history of the event as well as entrants lists from 1999 onwards. It has always been held on the 3rd full weekend of August and this years event is 15-16 August. It is not a week long event and it is not a contest. Any other web site purporting to be the ILLW is misrepresenting the truth and the fact that we have over 270 entrants this year so far is proof of these statements.
Kevin vk2ce
Webmaster and Organiser
http://illw.net
The ILLW was indeed formed by Mike but is NOTHING whatsoever to do with the ARLHS!!!!! Please visit http://www.illw.net this is the proper web-site.
The ARLHS are fooling people!
I did respond to this item but is seems to have disappeared. The International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend was founded by Mike Dalrymple, GM4SUC and John GM4OOU in 1995 as the Scottish Northern Lights weekend. In 1997 it was renamed the ILLW due to increased international participation. The official event web site at http://illw.net has full and accurate documentation about the history of the event as well as entrants lists from 1999 onwards. It has always been held on the 3rd full weekend of August and this years event is 15-16 August. It is not a week long event and it is not a contest. Any other web site purporting to be the ILLW is misrepresenting the truth and the fact that we have over 270 entrants this year so far is proof of these statements.
Kevin vk2ce
Webmaster and Organiser
http://illw.net
The International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend was founded by Mike Dalrymple, GM4SUC and John GM4OOU in 1995 as the Scottish Northern Lights weekend. In 1997 it was renamed the ILLW due to increased international participation. The official event web site at http://illw.net has full and accurate documentation about the history of the event as well as entrants lists from 1999 onwards. It has always been held on the 3rd full weekend of August and this years event is 15-16 August. It is not a week long event and it is not a contest. Any other web site purporting to be the ILLW is misrepresenting the truth and the fact that we have over 270 entrants this year so far is proof of these statements.
Kevin vk2ce
Webmaster and Organiser
http://illw.net
The ILLW event has been around longer than the ARLHS. I have operated in the ILLW since 1997 and was an early member of the ARLHS. I dropped membership after being unable (with others) to get an accounting of where the yearly dues (ARLHS is a subsidary of Weidner Publishing) were going or being able to have any say in how the dues should be used. The ARLHS is still under the ownership of Weidner so I understand. One person makes the rules for the group.
The ARLHS has done a lot to help publicize lighthouses and lightships which was its original aim. It was sad to see the ARLHS owner, in recent years, claim the ILLW event was the sole property of the ARLHS. Whether the ARLHS owner was a participant in early ILLW event activities (as were others) is not a valid reason for disrupting a well run event or attempt to wrest it from the Ayr Amateur Radio Group.
I would hope the ARLHS continues to work to get lighthouses and lightships ‘on the air’ and help promote other events which will further the publicizing of the lights and amateur radio.
Removing the information and conflicting sites which do an injustice to the ILLW event would be a great step forward in helping both the ARLHS organization and the annual ILLW event.
Thank you for sharing your well thought out and informative response with everyone Don. Doing so is not only appreciated but allows others to see more than two sides of an issue.