On Sunday, August 21st, members of the Wireless Society of Southern Maine activated Squirrel Point Lighthouse, in Arrowsick, Maine, for 2022 International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW). This was the twelfth different lighthouse activated by the team during an ILLW weekend, and the fourteenth altogether.
Squirrel Point Lighthouse is located at the end of a 1.4 mile out-and-back trail, which is an easy hike, but the mosquitoes were particularly vicious, probably due to the time of day being morning and its location along the Kennebec River. Once out of the wooded area, though, and in the clear of the lighthouse property, the bugs subsided.
The team, consisting of Stefania (K1GJY) and Tim (KB1HNZ) Watson, along with their son Elliot, and Brad Brown Jr., (KC1JMH) and his son Jordan, setup two HF radios – a Yaesu FT-991A, connected to a Buddipole tuned to 20 meters, and a Yaesu FT-817, connected to an end-fed tuned to 40 meters. Being a Sunday, we also checked into the Dirigo Net on DMR. All radios used battery power.
The lighthouse is very secluded, and the hike out and back made it one of the more interesting ones we’ve visited.
“The property had a home and a barn to the right side, as one approaches,” Brad Brown said, describing the scene. “The lighthouse sat across from the trail on the water, and a utility shed down by the water far to the left that appears to be fed by a solar panel array. Everything was interconnected by boardwalk.”
Throughout the day, other hikers arrived and asked about what we were doing, and we were also visited by a drone that flew over from across the river. There was steady boat traffic as well, so there was always something to see.
At the end of the day, the team made nearly 40 QSOs, including with other lighthouses up and down the East Coast, and on the Great Lakes. Our location, being a small lighthouse along the Kennebec river, was unique, and it drew a lot of attention on the air.
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