SOTA: Mt Taylor VK1/AC-037
/I keep saying it, another weekend and another summit!
The VK summer is definitely coming to an end, the weather is Canberra has started its usual turn for the worse in April. That being said yesterday it was a rather glorious day on the summit of Mt Taylor, VK1/AC-037 one of the tallest summits located within the ACT residential area at 850m ASL.
Taking Andrew (VK1AD)'s advice I stayed clear of the trig point as it gets VERY busy with walkers of all descriptions. This gave me a chance to test out not only my new 7m squid pole which was much lighter than my 10m one but, also my DIY free standing guying system. Up until now, I had always had the trig or another structure to strap the squidpole to.
Activation:
Another HUGE (by my standard) day with the summit qualified on HF 40m in under 5 mins!
Longest distance was over 950km just north of Brisbane (VK4).
I had not looked much into the WWFF or Parks program however the last 2 summits were also in parks. My (limited) understanding is 44 contacts are needed to activate the park over a UTC year, I managed to activate both parks in 1 sitting each!
4 2S2
Working VK1DI, Ian on 2 summits in one day!
DIY guying system:
I had been looking for a super lightweight guying system. I had seen some operators using 3D printed collars etc, but as I was building it on a Friday prior to a Saturday activation (I am a bad planner) to a trip to the local hardware was in order.
I managed to put together a system using a plumbing collar and 3 stainless steel wire key ring loops.
How did it work? PERFECTLY. It sits about 3m up so gives a good stability point.
*Video will be pasted here once uploaded*
Resources:
Log to Map: http://www.on6zq.be/w/index.php
Summit logging, I use a Lenovo tablet ($90AUD) and VK-Port-a-Logger
Hope you enjoy, look forward to hearing you on the air.
Wade
VK1FWBD
VK1FWBD.com