FOR THE first time in the history of India, the Mahabalipuram lighthouse in India went on air from August 15. A group of amateur radio volunteers from the Bangalore Amateur Radio Club and Tamilnadu jointly put our country’s first lighthouse on air. The occasion is the 10th annual International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend, which is from August 15 to August 24, 2008. The International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend was started in Scotland by Mike Dalrymple and other members of Ayr Amateur Radio Group. This is an annual celebration, aimed at raising the profile of lighthouses and lightships across the world. It is a weekend for sharing stories about lighthouses, enjoying their magnificence and endorsing an awareness to preserve the structure and history and also to conduct some contests.

The amateur radio, also called the Ham Radio is a hobby that uses various types of radio communication equipments to communicate with other amateur radio operators. These radio operators set up their own small individual radio stations either for recreation or for public service. It also plays a very important role, especially during natural disasters, by providing crucial information to government agencies. Therefore, this hobby mixes personal pleasure with social responsibility. India has more than 12,000 members of Ham Radio. They also go on air to engage in contests with other radio amateurs and the competition is about who can make the most contacts in a limited period of time.

Amateur radio operators have to qualify in an examination conducted by the ministry of communications, government of India and obtain a licence for operating and possessing a radio station. Anyone over the age of 12 is allowed to appear for the Amateur Station Operator Licence Examination and it takes just about two months to qualify for the examination. One should succeed in a simple test conducted in three subjects - Morse Code (Transmission and Reception), Communication Procedure and Basic Electronics. The activities of the licence holder are monitored by the ministry. The radio operators can exchange greetings and talk on common interests on any topic except politics, religion and business to any of the other members spread across the globe. Hams are not allowed to use their radios for commercial purposes to earn money nor can they `broadcast’ to the public. Their transmissions are meant to be received only by other ham radio operators. But apart from these guidelines, however, hams are authorised to do just about everything that government and private radio stations are allowed to do.

The lighthouse of Mahabalipuram (Mamballapuram) in Tamilnadu is a world heritage site . It is built on top of a large rock at Mahabalipuram, an ancient celebrated port city about 60 km south of Chennai, Tamilnadu. Next to the new lighthouse stands the old light house. The new lighthouse was built in 1904 and it is a stone tower with the lantern dome painted red, whereas the old one was built around 640 AD by south Indian Pallava dynasty king called Mamalla. The old lighthouse is now a monument and belongs to the Archaeological Survey of India. In fact, during the 2004 tsunami, an ancient port city and parts of a temple built in the seventh century were uncovered. The number of operational lighthouses has declined to less than 1,500 worldwide.

One can hear AT8LH special callsign working from Mahabalipuram on all band and modes of amateur radio. The equipment support for the project came from the Lions Club International Amateur Radio Club Station. All through this 10-day event, members will be handing out reading material to the visiting public and above all, the members will be contacting amateurs from other countries. During this week, many lighthouses around the world will be open to public. The basic objective of the event is to promote public awareness about lighthouses and lightships and the need for preservation and restoration, to encourage amateur radio and to cultivate international goodwill.