Photos by Sue Cook – Chuck Lind, left, calls out to anyone listening and adjusts the equipment while Joe Gangi writes down the information. Behind them, member Doyle Wadhams watches.

By Sue Cook, staff reporter

POINT BREEZE – The Orleans County Amateur Radio Club OCARC was out at the lake on Saturday connecting to lighthouses and ham radio operators around the world. They set up their base of operation next to the Oak Orchard Lighthouse in Point Breeze.

By noon the first day, the club had connected with over 100 other ham operators.

In the United States they had made contact all the way to the west coast. They were also able to reach countries like Russia, Germany, Canada and Denmark.

“When we’re talking to people, I don’t think about other countries as enemies or anything like that,” said Joe Gangi, this year’s club member in charge of the event.

“Ham radio operators are different. We’re cut from a different cloth. Everybody looks at each other as equals and we have a lot of fun with this.”

The operators are within feet of the Oak Orchard Lighthouse.

The group is expecting to beat their count last year of 360 connections made.

Atmospheric conditions can affect the reach of the signal, but so far the club is doing very well and has another day ahead of them on Sunday.

Doyle Wadhams was recording for the radio operator in the afternoon. On paper, he was taking down the information of anyone they spoke with over the radio so they could verify online later.

“I try to get the call sign to verify the contact through Logbook of the World,” Wadhams said. “You also have to record the frequency you’re on and the time of the contact. All that matches up to what they input into the database and that’s how you get credit for the contact.”

The event encourages amateur radio clubs to connect with local lighthouses during the third weekend of August. Registered operators participating in the event are asked to be within 1,000 feet of a lighthouse, though they can make contact with anyone across the country in any other location.

“We do this for two reasons,” Gangi explained. “One is to promote lighthouses and their need to be kept and restored. Even though they’re not a necessity anymore, there’s still such a history behind them. This is also to promote the hobby of amateur radio.”

Gangi and the ham radio operators want to make it an annual event.

“This is a lot of fun,” he said. “This is to draw people here and let them see what we’re doing. We’ve had many people come up and just ask questions and want to know more about ham radio and its operation, and we also promote the lighthouse, too, while we’re here. It’s all a partnership of good will.”

This year’s custom QSL card for the weekend event.

To help promote the Oak Orchard Lighthouse further, OCARC has special postcards called QSL cards made with the lighthouse’s information on it alongside their own club information.

As operators across the country connected, the call signs can be used to obtain mailing information. OCARC then sends out cards to the addresses of other operators and receive QSL cards in return.

OCARC will also be at the lighthouse on Sunday from 8 a.m. until late afternoon or evening. The public is welcome to stop by.

Christophers ran site for three decades

Photo by Tom Rivers – Gatlen Ernst and his fiancée Danielle Daniels, right, are pictured with the Christophers, from left: Darrick, Gene and David. Ernst acquired Four C’s Marina on Thursday. In March he bought the neighboring Lake Breeze Marina. He will combine the two sites into one marina, Ernst’s Lake Breeze Marina.

POINT BREEZE – For three decades Gene Christopher and his family have been mainstays on the Oak Orchard River, running Four C’s Marina. They expanded the business over the years adding a café, lodging and storage for boats.

On Thursday, the business was sold to Gatlen Ernst. In March he acquired the neighboring the Lake Breeze Marina. He will combine the two marinas into Ernst’s Lake Breeze Marina.

“He’s a great guy,” Christopher said about Ernst.

Ernst started working at Lake Breeze Marina 10 years ago as a summer job when he was in college. He mowed the lawns and did other odd jobs at the marina. After earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Nazareth College, he decided to stay on the Oak Orchard. He enjoys the boaters and the people on the river.

With Four C’s, he will gain some efficiencies with staff and equipment.

“It makes sense to have one marina,” he said.

One of his first moves as owner of the two sites was removing a row of telephone poles that were laid down as a barrier between the two properties. They are gone and Ernst and his employees can now freely move boats and equipment on the two properties.

Christopher started Four C’s with his wife Judy and their two sons, Darrick Christopher and David Cristofaro. The marina was the boys’ first job.

After working most of his adult life at Four C’s, David this spring took a full-time job as service manager for Shumway Marine in Irondequoit, the largest marina on the south shore of Lake Ontario. He spent weekends helping his father at Four C’s.

Judy Christopher was a strong presence at the marina for its first 29 years. She died from cancer at age 70 last Aug. 3. Gene credited his wife for doing so much for Four C’s, especially when he was juggling his full-time job before he retired about 15 years ago.

Gene said he values the many relationships he and his family made through the marina.

“I will personally miss all of the friends,” he said. “It’s a bittersweet thing.”

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Oak Orchard Lighthouse will be part of International Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend, where ham radio operators communicate with each other at lighthouses throughout the world.

POINT BREEZE – Ham radio operators will be communicating with each other at lighthouses throughout the world this weekend, including at the Oak Orchard Lighthouse at Point Breeze.

The lighthouse and Orleans County Amateur Radio Club are partnering in the International Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Ham radio operators will be there from 8 a.m. to at least 5 p.m. on both days.

The event is open to the public and connects ham radio operators from around the globe. This will be the fourth time the local groups have joined for the event.

Last year, local amateur radio club made 350 international and domestic contacts during the lighthouse weekend.

The Oak Orchard Lighthouse was built in 2010 as a replica of a lighthouse from 1871. That structure was abandoned by the federal government in the early 1900s. The original lighthouse toppled in a 1916 winter storm.

The lighthouse has about 2,500 visitors sign its guest book each year when the building is open.