Amateur radio operators share Sabine Pass Lighthouse restoration story

Published 12:08 am Wednesday, August 30, 2023

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Sabine Pass Lighthouse recently enjoyed a great run of radio activation during International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend.

The Lighthouse stands about two and a half miles south of the Cheniere LNG facility.

The Sabine Pass Lighthouse – Cameron Preservation Alliance is working to renovate this lighthouse so it once again becomes a symbol of local communities.

Andrew Tingler is the President of Cameron Preservation Alliance and works with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The public can learn more at facebook.com/SabinePassLighthouse.

Four amateur radio operators — Glen Rose, Steve Gomez, Verne King and Bob Rose — traveled to the Sabine Pass Lighthouse for the special weekend Aug. 19-20.

They obtained a special event call sign for the activation.

Tingler described the progress of excavating the subfloor space that had been created in earlier years so the foundation and central 12” cast iron column could be assessed.

Also discussed was the process that would be utilized to clean up the interior of the lighthouse so the circular cast iron stairway treads could be reinstalled.

The Cameron Preservation Alliance’s search efforts for the original Fresnel lens, which had been removed and carried away, was also described.

The radio operators were successful in reaching a few DX stations in Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Operators set up stations under the limbs of a shade tree. The difference in temperature between the open sun and the shade with an 8-10 mile-an-hour sea breeze coming in off of the Gulf of Mexico was substantial.

“After gathering our logs and checking our contacts, we made 19 lighthouse contacts, 2 lightship contacts, 9 parks on the air contacts and one contact with the USS Little Rock CL-92 museum ship in the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, New York,” Rose said.

“Our contact list of over 280 contacts included contacts from eight foreign countries, DX locations and 26 states. During our operation, we provided the public with information including the International Lighthouse and Lightship number for the Sabine Pass Lighthouse, the location of the Sabine Pass Lighthouse, the Sabine Pass Lighthouse Cameron Preservation Alliance’s work to restore the lighthouse and the Facebook page for the Cameron Preservation Alliance.”