Double Summit Saturday VK2/ST-001 & VK2/ST-034

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I have been slowing down on my SOTA activities lately and I needed to get back out and activate some summits.

Thankfully Andrew VK1DA was keen to head out and knock over two summits being ST-001 - The shared location for the Captain’s Flat Weather Radar site and ST034, Mt Gillamatong near the NSW town of Braidwood.

The day was glorious - about 28-33 Degrees on an Aussie summer’s day and it seemed that every flying insect wanted to visit us.

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After great hour or so on 80m-23cm we packed up and started heading for ST-034 which was a hot walk up the fire trail to knock out some contacts on HF and 2m.

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SOTA: Quick activation of Canberra's iconic Black Mountain VK1/AC-042

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As you can see there is a fair bit of interferance possible from the tower site, I have been advised that 2M is practically a no go.
However even with the quiet morning activation I managed to snag enough to activate a 'day' eariler than I had planned!

Video is up.

Summit number 14 for me.

Wade

VK1FWBD.com

SOTA: Mt Taylor VK1/AC-037

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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

SOTA Tuggernong Hill VK1/AC-038

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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.

SOTA: VK1/AC-035 One Tree Hill

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It was a weekend, so you guessed it. I was out playing radio.

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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)

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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. 

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And YES there was another SNAKE! .. a big fat brown. Another top 10 deadliest.