Summit number 2 of 3 this weekend, I shall remember Bullen Ridge for 2 things - its gates (5) and the BIG Buck Deer that snuck on on me in the AZ while I was setting up.
This summit also saw my first DX stations on my own gear on 5w - 2 ZL stations.
LOG:
Long video but its all good
I set myself the challenge of knocking over 3 summits over during the easter long weekend - and they are all more challenging than my others to date.
The Mt Mundoonan Summit is exactly 50km North of GPO Canberra city, just to the east of Yass NSW.
It was an absolute smashing day, no wind and with early low lying cloud - the summits was above them!
A great day on the radio, knocking over my 1st NSW summit along with my 1st of my weekend 3.
I mentioned in one of my more recent SOTA videos that I was going to write about how SOTA was helping me fight depression and anxiety. I understand that some might consider it a long bow or even not get it entirely.
Before I get into the how or why it is helping, lets get some definitions at least as they relate to my brands of anxiety and depression.
In basic terms, Anxiety is the miss-timed or miss-activation of the fight of flight response. Faced with a bear? Flight or flight is normal, having an heart racing, mind running at a million miles an hour and feeling out of breath, having that repeating thought that some one is out to ‘get’ you in the middle of the supermarket? Thats my anxiety. Supermarket, car, work, laying in bed, it springs up on me .
You know that thing you love? Being outdoors? Being with friends? Fishing? Building things? Exercising? You know that feeling you get even thinking or planning to do that? Yeah for me depressions is the colour sucked out of life, I simply do not get the same buzz from things that I know I love and enjoy. Some people see that as ‘Wade is just being lazy’ - I can tell you I WANT to do things, but my brain is all like “why bother”.
OK so those out of the way. Think mental health is just a ‘mental’ thing? Yeah tell that to the 10kgs that joined me this year since diagnosis because the normal active things I like have no ‘colour’ to them.
I recently obtained my Australian Amateur Radio License (Feb 2017) and since completing it, I discovered this section of the hobby that combines elements I really enjoy. Being outdoors, learning new skills and tinkering with different set ups. And it is making the depression and anxiety disappear - at least for the day I am outdoors!
There are designated mountain / hill summits world wide, in the ACT there are currently 48. They are assigned a rating based on height and difficulty, with some earning a bonus 3 points in winter due to possible snow.
The aim of SOTA is to make 4 contacts (voice or morse code) from the summit to consider it ‘activated”.
A station / operator on the summit is the activator, the home station is called a chaser. Summit to summits contacts between 2 ‘activators’ are a real bonus with points shared.
Every weekend (apart 1) since I have been licensed I have been out activating a summit. This involves selecting a summit, planning or researching a route, packing gear, planning the activation, recording video and photos to share with you.
How is it helping? Well many MH professionals suggest being outdoors and doing physical activities along with having goals that are achievable - guess what ticks all those boxes?? SOTA it is. Also side note have lost between 3-4kgs lighter!
What a day!!!
Far from being a joke, 1 April went down pretty awesome on Tuggerong Hill AC-038.
1 - 2 April is also AM weekend, I had never made a contact on AM.
A number of chasers didn't see the note on the AM mode to being able to pick when a chaser is on SSB was also a new skill.
NB I have only had my license for 7-8 weeks. I have managed now 7 summits, even if 1 pointers.
After a solid 4 hours working the band I managed a phenomenal 44 contacts and 9 or more contacts S2S.
It was a weekend, so you guessed it. I was out playing radio.
A few things waylaid me today by over an hour from my spot time, sadly this means 2 thing - Temp is up and the atmospheric layers have risen.
Never mind, more than activate. Managed more VK2s than ever before with even a station in Bondi coming back (VK2NNN from memory)
Time(Z) Freq Mode CS S2S?
0131 7.095MHz SSB VK3LED
0131 7.095MHz SSB VK3FQSO
0132 7.095MHz SSB VK2IO
0134 7.095MHz SSB VK2NNN
0136 7.095MHz SSB VK2YW
0138 7.095MHz SSB VK7FAMP VK7/SW-008
0142 7.095MHz SSB VK5IS
0145 7.095MHz SSB VK3WAR
0149 7.095MHz SSB VK1CT
0208 7.095MHz SSB VK3SQ
0218 7.095MHz SSB VK1DI
0228 7.095MHz SSB VK2UH
0318 145.9MHz FM VK1MA
There was not a breath of wind - was truly an amazing spot on the north border of ACT. I have included some pictures of the day. There wasnt much shade.. so I made my own!
A special thanks to the VK5 couple who waited on their summit before ceasing operations to work a summit to summit contact.
And YES there was another SNAKE! .. a big fat brown. Another top 10 deadliest.
Turning around right on the heels of Activating Mt Majura yesterday, I thought I would give Mt McDonald a try. This trail was a different type to Mt Majura with less shade. I am also learning that I am hitting the trail as well as the airwaves too late in the day - noon local. Not only from a safety perspective but from a band conditions point of view.
This activation was a "just get it done" one for me. It was hot, dry and exposed. I only made 1 HF contact this trip. But 4 contacts is 4 contacts!
On the way back I even came across a small snake crossing the path. I think it was an Inland Taipan. Nothing to worry about, only the worlds' number 1 snake.
Time Call Band Mode Notes 01:34z VK1MA 144MHz FM Matt S57 R59+ 02:07z VK7CW 7MHz SSB S52 R33 02:13z VK1DI 144MHz FM S59 R59 03:00z VK1XX 144MHz FM S59 R59+
Longest range contact on 5w again 700km:
Radio: Yaesu FT-817ND running on 5w using internal battery
Antenna: PAC12 QRP loaded vertical with ground radials
Radio: Baofeng UV5R, using SMA to BNC antenna connection
Antenna: 2m BNC antenna that came with the Yaesu FT-817ND
This was my first 'real' SOTA activation, where I walked up Mt Majura and operated my radio and made SOTA contacts.
This was my single most successful day operating my radio as well as my longest range VK (Australia) contact to VK7CW in North Tasmania - 700kms, and my first summit to summit contacts - 400kms all on 5 Watts.
It was a warm day in Canberra and the operating position is right next to the Canberra Airport as well as a shooting range is below which made for interesting exchanges on the radio..
Chasing stations:
Time Call Band Mode Notes 02:06z VK1AD/P 144MHz FM Andrew S59 R55 02:56z VK3ANL/P 7MHz SSB S51 R43 02:59z VK7CW 7MHz SSB Steve S59+ R55 03:02z VK3LED 7MHz SSB S59+ R44 03:04z VK5IS 7MHz SSB S52 R53 03:09z VK1MA/P 144MHz FM S59+ R57 03:25z VK1AD/P 7MHz SSB S58 R57 03:32z VK3FCMC 7MHz SSB S57 R54 03:35z VK1MA 7MHz SSB S59 R57 03:37z VK3PF 7MHz SSB Peter S57 R43 03:38z VK3FOTO 7MHz SSB Mike S53 R53 03:58z VK1ATP/M 144MHz FM S59 R55 04:00z VK1MH 144MHz FM S59 R59 04:15z VK3MRG 7MHz SSB S53 R41 04:22z VK2UH 144MHz FM S51 R32
Summit to Summit contacts:
Date Time My Callsign Station Worked Chased Summit Chased Summit Name Activated Summit Activated Summit Name Band Mode Distance (km) Chaser Points Activator Points Total Notes 11/3/17 02:06:00 VK1FWBD/P VK1AD/P VK1/AC-008 Mt Ginini VK1/AC-034 Mt Majura 144MHz FM 49 8 1 9 Andrew S59 R55 11/3/17 02:56:00 VK1FWBD/P VK3ANL/P VK3/VS-009 Ben Nevis VK1/AC-034 Mt Majura 7MHz SSB 580 4 0 13 S51 R43 11/3/17 03:25:00 VK1FWBD/P VK1AD/P VK1/AC-008 Mt Ginini VK1/AC-034 Mt Majura 7MHz SSB 49 0 0 13 S58 R57
Radio: Yaesu FT-817ND running on 5w using internal battery
Antenna: PAC12 QRP loaded vertical with ground radials
Radio: Baofeng UV5R, using SMA to BNC antenna connection
Antenna: 2m BNC antenna that came with the Yaesu FT-817ND
Those of you that follow me on Instagram know that I undertook my 2-day face to face lessons and testing in mid-January 2017 to become a licensed amateur radio operator (AKA HAM Operator). In mid-February I received the much-awaited email from Australia's national regulator ACMA that told me I am now a licensed amateur being designated VK1FWBD. In Australia (AKA VK in the AR world) Foundation License holders - the first step, are designated a "F" following the Country (VK) and region (1) parts of our call sign. So all ACT callsigns are VK1...
A few Tuesdays ago I was fortunate enough to be shown a section of the AR world that greatly interests me - Summits On The Air (SOTA). I was shown the ropes by the legendary VK1AD, Andrew who was kind enough to let me dive straight in after he made enough contacts.
SOTA is a points based AR "game" that requires AR operators to climb designated hill or mountains and transmit, often on low power in an attempt to be heard by "chasers" - home based receivers or other SOTA operators - this is called Sumit to Sumit (S2). 4 such contacts are required before a hill or mountain is considered 'activated'.
Andrew was able to get me well placed to start receiving overseas stations (DX stations) on low power. Once the DX stations started rolling in my first calls and first on HF frequencies I knew I was hooked!
I was immensely lucky to have 3 DX stations 2 NZ Stations (ZL) and 1 Japanese station (JA). All while overlooking our gorgeous capital from VK1/AC-040 Mt Ainslie
Andrew's Yaesu radio (I can't remember which one) was pumping out a reduced 10w - to comply with my license requirements, on his linked dipole antenna, were a great match (gotta love an antenna pun).
The following day (Wednesday) my new (preloved) FT817ND radio turned up in the mail and I was keen to get on the air - I booked a day off that Friday and thought I would be a keen bean and try a Friday daytime SOTA activation.
This time on another 1 pointer, (easy access mountain) with basically a walk of only a few hundred metres.
On Friday after hours of calling, I was not successful in reaching my needed 4 contacts. I was switching between my newly assembled PAC12 antenna on my DJI OSMO MOBILE base as a tripod and a long wire with a matching box from Nelson Antennas (on EBAY) up my 10m Squid pole and no joy. Only sunburn! (Note to self.. maybe you might want to make sure the spotters aren't all at work....)
Time Call Band Mode Notes 04:23z VK1MA 7MHz SSB Matt S54 R43 04:27z VK1AD 7MHz SSB Andrew S59+ R58 04:40z VK1NAM 7MHz SSB Andrew S59 R55 04:47z VK8GMT/P 7MHz SSB Matt S59 R55 05:00z VK3LED 7MHz SSB Col S59 R55 07:10z VK5AW 7MHz SSB Adrian S58 R55 07:12z VK5PAS 7MHz SSB Paul S58 R47
Not to be deterred, I wanted to strike while the iron was hot, so headed back out the next afternoon (Saturday) to a second operating position on the western side of the peak as seen on VK1DI's blog. 2 hours and only local VK1 contacts - but enough to activate (THANK GOD) before moving to a new position as described by the 2m Simplex contacts I was talking to (again thanks to VK1AD and VK1MA who provided radio overwatch for my first solo SOTA session). From this new location, the PAC12 picked up 2 booming VK5 (South Australia) stations.
Wade
VK1FWBD
Radio: Yaesu FT-817ND running on 5w using internal battery
Antenna: PAC12 QRP loaded vertical with ground radials
Radio: Baofeng UV5R, using SMA to BNC antenna connection
Antenna: 2m BNC antenna that came with the Yaesu FT-817ND
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