| Again this year the group of four Papakura radio club
members David ZL1DK, John ZL1ALZ, Dave ZL1AMN and John ZL1BYZ put the ZL6LH
callsign on air for the International lighthouse weekend. This time
it was Pouto lighthouse on the northern head of the Kaipara Harbour.
We took one vehicle and a trailer. We left from Paerata at 7am on
Friday 15th August and headed north. Initially some concerns about
getting through Auckland at that time in the morning, but the delays were
minimal and we were soon clear of Auckland making good time. We stopped
at Dargaville for a cuppa and a stretch, then off heading south down the
peninsular toward Pouto. It was wet and after we left the seal the
road was pretty slushy. Soon we arrived at Pouto and found the Customs
hall, which was going to be our accommodation for the weekend. It
looked pretty good, better than expected. We started unloading and
setting up, then ahhh! where is the phasing line for the tri-band beam.
Nearly 300km back at Paerata. So we had to fabricate another out
of some wire. This proved to work fine and so saved the day.
The weather cleared up for a bit and then settled down to fine periods
with squally showers for the rest of the weekend. Although we had
periods of good activity on the air the bands generally seemed poor and
we lamented not having a means of telling the world we were QRV for QSO's.
We had 3 complete stations set up with 3 ts440s transceivers our trusty
3 element yagi for 10m a recently refurbished 3 element tri-bander for
20 & 15m and a trapped dipole for 80/40m. We also had the 2 SB200
amplifiers that worked perfectly this year. On Saturday morning we
were taken on a trip up the beach to the lighthouse on a lite 4x4 which
was very exciting at times. The driver a local was a wealth of knowledge
and showed us some other interesting sites on the way. Eventually
we had to head back as the tide was coming in and our path along the beach
would be blocked. After getting back it was down to work to get the
QSO tally up. The bands not really doing there part. We had
a TV along this time and watched the rugby. All to soon it was Monday
morning, a few more QSO's on 10m then into the packing up for the return
home. It was fine for the trip home and again we shot through Auckland
with very little bother to arrive back in Paerata about 4pm. Another
successful weekend away, with 716 contacts and 29 lighthouses. |
Brief History:
The lighthouse is situated on the Northern outer Headland
of the Kaipara Harbour on an outcrop of sandstone nearly 85 meters above
sea level. Built by Mr D Scott in 1884 . First lit on 1st December 1884.
To accommodate the lighthouse keepers 2 small cottages
and some tool sheds were built nearby. The lighthouse was automated on
17th November, 1947 and on that very same day the harbour was closed to
ships. The lighthouse is now under the Historic Places Trust. |
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