My National & Conservation Park activations

Posted by vk5bje

Murray-Sunset National Park: turning North from the Sturt Highway.

I commenced activations for the VK5 National and Conservation Parks Award on 19th May when I visited the Scott Creek Conservation Park in the Adelaide Hills. This splendid park is near my home. Accompanying me on this occasion was David, VK5KC and we made many contacts, in order: VK1MA, Matt; VK3HRA/p Allen; VK5KGP, Graham; VK5PAS/p, Paul; VK5ATW,Trevor; VK3FDJT, Darren; VK3FMPB, John; VK5NRG, Roy; VK3CRG/p, Craig; VK5HGW, David; VK2MDC, Doug; VK5HCF, Col; VK5KFB, Rod and on 20 metres, VK2AXB, Grant and VK2ELF, Rowan. A number of other activations soon followed: Mark Oliphant (VK5FTTC/p, Rod in Talisker CP; VK5ATW, Trevor; VK5MBD, Bill; VK5PAS, Paul; VK2JTF/p, Shane; VK2XT, Bill; VK1MA, Matt; VK5CZ, Ian; VK5LA, Andy and VK5ZKR, Rod) and Mylor of the 21st May (VK5PAS/p, Paul in Ferries-McDonald CP; andVK2YW, John. On the 2nd June, when it was threatening to rain, I visited Onkaparinga National Park, VKFF – 402, to activate this park. My wife and I have walked in this park many times and it is great. In my CFS days I helped extinguish a significant fire in this park. I had contacts with: VK2YW, John; VK2UH, Andrew; VK3AFW, Ron; VK5PAS/p Paul; VK3PAH, Warren; VK3ZPF, Peter; VK5LA, Andy; VK5ZLG, Geoff; VK5FMID, Brian; VK3HRA, Allen and VK3ANL, Nick. All my contacts to this time were made using my FT817 (not ND), purchased at Wyong in 2004 and running 5 watts and a home made linked dipole supported at the centre on a squid pole.

Then I had a break! Winter ills: a ‘bug’ that I couldn’t seem to shake off.

After more than a month I thought I would make up for lost time! On the 24th July we set off for the Riverland and activated Ridley CP en route to the Riverland. Contacts were made with: VK5EE, Tom; VK5LY, Larry; VK5FMID, Brian; VK5WG, Nev; VK5LA, Andy; VK5HCF, Col; Ian VK3FD/p, qrp 2.5 watts, and VK3AMB, Bernard both in Melbourne.

Murray River National Park – Lyrup Flats Section 25th July, VKFF – 372 Murray River National Park Lyrup Flats This park is typical Murray River Flats country and constitutes a flood plain. There are plenty of numbered camping sites for those who want to stay, watch birds, fish or walk. I was quickly on the air in the morning and had contacts with: VK5LY, Larry; VK5HCF, Col; VK3FD, QRP, Ian 2.5 watts; VK7KO, Gerry near Devonport, my home town, and Larry, VK5LY.

At work in MRNP

Cooltong CP 25th July

Cooltong CP

Cooltong is a beautiful park, the mallee is in great shape and the trees are tall (just visible in the background of the picture). It is my pick of the bunch for a mallee park. Using my new Ten-Tec Argonaut VI for the first time I made the following contacts: VK5HCF, Col; VK5ATW, Trevor; VK5PAS, Paul; VK5EE, Tom; VK5WG, Nev; VK5TN, Robin; VK5LY/m, Larry; VK2XT, Bill; VK5FBAC, Charles; VK2KF, Tom from Kandos on 7.105 checking out his amplifier before the Kandos Group and VK5VW/p4 Mark, who has just moved to Queensland from SA. Mark was delighted to hear someone with a South Australian accent!

In the morning of 26th July I activated Pike River Conservation Park, which along with MRNP, Lyrup Flats, is very close to Renmark. Contacts were had with VK5LY/p, Larry, who was in the Pooginook CP; VK5PAS/p, Paul, who was activating Mt Magnificent CP; VK3AMB, Bernard; VK5FMID, Brian; VK5EE, Tom; VK3ANL, Nick; VK5HS/m, Ivan; VK3AZZ, Mac; VK3PF, Peter; VK5WG, Nev; VK3ATA, Yuri; VK3KAN/m, Rick; VK5FBAC, Charles; VK5HOS, Owen; VK5ATW, Trevor; VK5LA, Andy; VK5PAS/p, Paul, Finnis CP; VK5FMID, Brian; VK5YX/m4, Hans at Windora and VK5LY/p, Larry at Morgan CP. Larry was able to visit and activate two parks while I had a most relaxing late morning at Pike River CP waiting for the RAA agent to come because our car wouldn’t start.

After lunch, and ensuring the car would start x times before setting off, we made a visit to Murray- Sunset National Park, VKFF – 373, in Victoria. Sixteen contacts from this park kept me busy on a beautiful winter’s afternoon with quite a few VK3 calls taking time out to get this park in their logs: VK5WG, Nev; VK5PAS/p, Paul; VK3AW, Laurie; VK3AMB, Bernard; VK4CPS, Paul; VK3ANL, Nick; VK5ATW, Trevor; VK5CZ, Ian; VK3UP, Terry; VK3PHA, David (having his first ever contact) VK2FPQ, Graham; VK5EE, Tom; VK5TN, Robin; VK5FMID, Brian; VK5HS/m, Ivan and VK5LY/p, Larry at Maize Island CP.

On the 27th July after a visit to Larry’s QTH we set our for Danggali CP: after 23 contacts it was time to pack up and travel back to Renmark. Contacts were had with: VK5KC/p, David at Lowan CP; VK5LY, Larry; VK5HCF, Col; VK5KGP, Graham; VK5HS/m, Ivan; VK3ANL, Nick; VK5ZK, Garry; VK3LY, Bill; VK5PAS/p, Paul SS. 077; VK5CZ, Ian; VK5WG, Nev; VK5LY, Larry; VK3JP, Ron; VK5HOS, Owen; VK3FKAA, Greg; VK5EE, Tom; VK3HRA, Allen; VK5KC, David; VK5PET, Peter, (newly licenced); VK5ATN, Terry; VK5AFW/m, Ron; VK5FMID, Brian and VK5AKH, Andy. Danggali is about 100 kilometres north of Renmark. It would be a great place to visit with a 4×4 club.

Operating in Danggali Conservation Park

Maize Island CP 28th July Maize Island Lagoon CP was a morning destination and the following stations were worked: VK3MBW, Barry; VK3SMC, Simon; VK5LY, Larry; VK5PAS/p, Paul at un-named summit VK5 SE 006; VK5LA, Andy; VK5KGP, Graham; VK5FD, Allan, 3 watts; VK5NRG, Roy; VK5ZTJ/p, Trevor at Burra George; VK5EE, Tom; and VK5HCF, Col.

Ramco Point CP 28th July

We did not drive through this!

It took us a little while to find this park. From the surrounding cliffs it is quite obvious as a point in the river. It is approached though the Ramco Wetlands which appears to be a council park. A very fine bird hide is provided and after my contacts we spent some watching some of the local water fowl make a living. I worked the following stations: VK5ATW, Trevor; VK5LA, Andy; VK5HCF, Col; VK5LY, Larry; VK5FMID, Brian; VK3ZPF/ QRP, Peter at Beaconsfield; VK5BW, Barry; VK5EE, Tom; VK3ANL, Nick; VK5KC, David; VK3FKAA, Greg; VK5FMID, Brian and VK5PAS/p, Paul at Mt Bryan VK5 SE 001.

Pooginook CP 29th July

In Pooginook CP

Guess who lives here?

Pooginook CP is home to an introduced colony of Southern Hairy Nosed Wombats and they wouldn’t be very popular if they trespassed onto nearby farmlands and used their earth-moving skills! I had nine contacts: VK7FMPR, Mark; VK5PAS, Paul; VK5WG, Nev; VK5ATW, Trevor; VK5HCF, Col; VK5FMID, Brian; VK3FJAE, Doug from Maryborough and VK5NFB, Don.

Whites Dam CP 29th July

Whites Dam CP

Operating in the rain at Whites Dam

Whites Dam CP was the second activation before lunch and it was beginning to rain. The antenna was set up hanging from a tree and was a bit low. Nevertheless, I had 13 contacts before packing up and heading for Morgan for lunch. I worked: VK5KC, David; VK5LY, Larry; VK5WG, Nev; VK5ATW, Trevor; VK5EE, Tom; VK5ZK, Garry; VK5KGP, Graham; VK5HCF, Col; VK5FMID, Brian; VK2JDS, Dave; VK3RV, Peter; VK5AKK, Phil and VK5TN, Robin.

Morgan CP 29th July

The light rain eased to showers at Morgan CP where we ate our lunch before beginning the third shift for the day. Contacts were had with: VK5LDM, Dennis; VK5LY, Larry; VK5WG, Nev; VK5ZK, Garry; VK5FMID, Brian; VK5HCF, Col; VK5EE, Tom; VK5AKK, Phil; VK5PAS, Paul; VK5ATQ, Trevor; VK5BW, Barry; VK5ATW, Trevor; VK5FMJC, John and VK5KGP, Graham. After Morgan CP I thought we should do something else. We decided to travel on the Waikerie side of the river via Cadell back to Waikerie over a road I have driven many times in an earlier (working) life! Not far out of Waikerie we saw the sign: Hogwash Bend CP and we decided to investigate.

Hogwash Bend CP 29th July

Hogwash Bend is a relatively new CP. I checked the Parliamentary record and it was proclaimed a CP on 6th September 2012. It has always been a popular picnic and camping spot and there were hardy folk camping under canvas when we visited. It is a beautiful park with a sandy beach in the river on the Park side. The relevant Government Department (DEWNR) has (in a time of budgetary distress) already improved the signage and placed vehicle barriers across sensitive areas.

It was late in the day and I am grateful to the five amateurs who enabled me to activate this park: VK5LY, Larry; VK5HCF, Col; VK3KAN/p, Rick, Bogong National Park in Victoria; VK5EE, Tom and VK5PAS, Paul. We always enjoy the Riverland and thanks to all who helped to make it fun with keeping track of me via amateur radio. And the dogs of the Riverland are smart!

My equipment

Posted by vk5bje

In recent times I have renewed my interest in portable operation specifically using QRP radios. My equipment is an FT817 and a Ten-Tec Argonaut VI. My antenna is a home made linked dipole for 20 and 40 metres together with a light weight SOTA linked dipole from England.

My linked dipole is rugged and great for parks use and probably alright for a summit as well. I use Mark’s (Tet-Emtron) dipole centres and the Kevlar centred wire. This wire is very strong and light and does not kink. Its construction is similar to coax. There is an outer plastic insulating cover, a mesh conductor (braid) like the shield in coax and the centre contains the Kevlar. My approach to soldering this wire is based on a few experiments. Where the wire goes inside the Power Pole lugs I stripped the outer insulating material off to the correct length, then pushed the braid back and very carefully, using side cutters, trimmed three millimetres of Kevlar off allowing me to then twist the braid into a point or spade shape. I lightly tinned this and then placed the Power Pole lug over the wire and applied a hot iron to that point on the lug where the cylinder containing the wire gives way to the spade. The solder flows through the cracks. I then run the iron down the join on the cylinder to complete the assembly. You will notice that the soldered joints are not load bearing. To erect the antenna slide the dipole centre hole over the squid pole ensuring that the SO239 is facing down. Attach the coax before pushing up the squid pole.

I have two ways of mounting a squid pole. The first is to use a PVC plastic sleeve slightly larger than the base of the squid pole and lash the sleeve to a post, rock, fixed picnic table or something similar. The sleeve protects the base the squid pole from being crushed. The second method is to mount the squid pole on a tripod (in my case a speaker tripod from Jaycar). You can see this approach in some of the pictures. I have made a bracket that fits over the top of the tripod and this contains two baluns for antenna experiments. On occasions with light winds I do not need to guy the tripod or squid pole, but if the winds are reasonably strong I guy the whole assembly. You can see this in the picture of the Cooltong CP activation.

Tet-Emtron dipole centre

Link assembly (20 & 40m)

Well you might ask, what’s the difference between an FT817 and a Ten-Tec Argonaut VI as far as portable QRP operation is concerned? The major differences between the two transceivers are as follows: the receiver in the Argonaut is better and less prone to suffer from strong signals near by (5 KHz or less) and second, the Argonaut has a splendid variable width SSB filter, which is really effective. There are many other differences, but the ones that count are the Argonaut has a speech processor, the current drain is less for receive, the display is larger and visible in bright light (using the default colour of blue) and the DSP is excellent. However, it is a little larger than the FT817 and, while it is rugged, it is not as suitable as the Yaesu as a back pack radio. I have fitted the 2.4 KHz SSB filter to my FT817 and it does improve receiver performance. I like both radios and will admit my comments are entirely subjective!

Front view of Argonaut & FT817

Side view

vk5bje

My name is John. I am an amateur radio operator. Here I share some of my experiences

Day: August 14, 2013

My National & Conservation Park activations

My equipment