Ham radio enthusiasts establish radio links from Sagar Island lighthouse

Kolkata: For the first time in the country, the occasion of the Gangasagar Fair witnessed a successful performance of ‘Lighthouse on the Air’ inside the lighthouse at Sagar Islands by the ham radio enthusiasts in the state.

The ‘Lighthouse on the Air’ will help establish an alternate mode of radio communication in case normal communication between ships and the lighthouse fails due to natural calamity. Lighthouse is a tower building found in the coastal region which emits light from a system of lamps and lenses and serves as a beacon for maritime pilots at sea or inland waterways. The lights or signals emitted from each lighthouse have different codes which can only be decoded by a ship’s pilot who subsequently deduces the source of it. The ‘World Lighthouse on the Air’ is an international challenge that consists globally to establish radio links with and from the lighthouses in seas. It is a part of amateur radio activities. During Amphan in May 2020, the Sagar Islands witnessed massive disruption in communication and it was the ham radio operators who had helped establish communication. “A situation may arise when a natural calamity may jeopardise the normal communication system of a lighthouse. In such cases, through Lighthouse on the Air, we will be able to establish an alternative mode of communication in a short time which will ensure that a ship sailing across the sea does not fall in danger because of unavailability of light from the lighthouse,” Ambarish Nag Biswas, secretary of West Bengal Radio Club said. The expedition inside the lighthouse at Sagar was led by Jayanta Baidya and Soham Chakraborty of the ham radio club.

The ham radio team expressed their sincere gratitude to Commander N K Biswas of Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Abhijit Ghosh, Director of Marine and Umesh Kumar, in-charge of the lighthouse, for the necessary permission to perform the operation.