Galway Radio Experimenters Club

Photos from the Volvo Event

Volvo GREC operated a special event station, callsign EI09VORon Mutton Island Lighthouse for the Volvo Ocean race stopover in Galway. The race fleet arrived in Galway on 24th May 2009 and we operated the station for the duration of the stopover. We were ably assisted by Galway City Council Heritage Department Mr Jim Higgins who provided access to the lighthouse through the Commissioners for Irish Lights CIL, the OPW and the operators of the Mutton Island waste treatment plant. We used wire antennae which sloped from the lighthouse to the shoreline and operated on selected dates during the yacht race stopover in consultation with Mutton Island Management Company. It was a successful radio event, not only for the yacht race but also in placing Mutton Island lighthouse on the air LH IRE107. We also made a VHF marine contact with Inisheer Lighthouse, this was the first time a radio inter lighthouse contact was made since the closing of Mutton Island in 1977.