The International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend is an amateur radio event held on the third full weekend of August. The event started in 1995, and now more than 470 lighthouses in over 55 countries participate.
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The objective of ILLW is stated as "to promote public awareness of lighthouses and lightships and their need for preservation and restoration, to promote amateur radio and to foster International goodwill".[1]
The event was started by two members of the Ayr Amateur Radio Group in 1995 as the "Northern Lighthouse Activity Weekend", with stations being set up at Scottish lighthouses. In 1997, to reflect participation by Danish and German amateur radio groups the event took on its current name. The event now sees worldwide participation, in locales as diverse as Long Beach, Washington, USA,[2] Liverpool, England[3] and Boca Grande, Florida, USA.[4] ILLW now coincides with the worldwide lighthouse open day organised by the Association of Lighthouse Keepers, which sees public access to many of the featured lighthouses.
The basic format of the event is that a local amateur radio club will set up a radio station either in, or adjacent to, a lighthouse. They will then operate from that station over the weekend, with the goal being contact other amateur stations, particularly those operating from other lighthouse sites. There is no fixed format, and no competition (such as contacting the most number or most distant stations); rather, the event is simply a networking event between amateur radio groups, with lighthouses as a focus.[5]. Amateur Radio operators may register their intention to participate in the event by completeing a short online form on the official web site which also contains a complete up to date list of participants for every year since 1998.