Pulicat, a sleepy fishermen hamlet some 50 km north of Chennai, has secured a place on the world amateur radio with a group of HAM operators setting up a special radio station (VU69) on this picturesque place on Saturday to commemorate the two-day annual international lighthouse/lightship weekend.
The trio K. Rajesh (VU3RGK), S. Narayanan (VU3GJP) and K. Premchand (VU2RPC) had set up the radio station and contacted over 500 similar groups across the world also commemorating the event in their places.
“Our objective is to promote public awareness about lighthouses and lightships and the urgent need for their preservation and restoration. At the same time, we want to promote amateur radio and foster global goodwill through HAM. We like to conduct this event every year in different light houses in Tamil Nadu. We contacted over 200 light house stations across the world as part of the event,” Mr Rajesh said.
The group started their transmission as early as 5.30 a.m. with sharing of messages about the significance of the event. “We got to know the history about light houses in various parts of the world and it also gave us a chance to share our best practices. This event also gave us an opportunity to create awareness about the dying hobby of HAM radio among people who visited the light house,” Mr S.Narayanan said.
This year, 531 HAM radio operators from various countries like Argentina, Australia, Canada, Canary Islands, England, Germany, India and Scotland had registered for the event that will close at 00.01 am on Sunday. - DC | N. ARUN KUMAR
Source: deccanchronicle.com
