Day: December 22, 2014

Greater Bendigo National Park, VKFF-623, 21st December 2014

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I first visited the Greater Bendigo National Park, VKFF-623, on 2nd January 2014. On that occasion I visited Shadbolt which is in the North-Westerly corner of the Park. I made 13 contacts. Here is the link to my first activation of this Park.

https://vk5bje.com/2014/01/02/greater-bendigo-national-park-2nd-january-2014/

After promising an activation of this park I decided to visit the One Tree Hill Lookout on Sunday evening 2st December. I enjoyed six great contacts all on 40 metres.

And on Monday morning, before UTC rollover I went back to the park for a third visit, this time taking a track into the Park from the corner of Wards and Wallanjoe Roads. I worked hard for nine contacts! I guess most amateurs are back to work for a few days? I also tried 20 metres un-successfully although I did try to make contact with W1AW/KH6, which was loud. I couldn’t quite make it. I am sure he knew I was there! I now have 28 contacts from this Park, not the 44 I was hoping for more. Oh well! I will come back, I hope!

As usual we had with us our copy of the Parks Victoria Visitor Guide. This is an excellent  four A4 page document with a map on the middle double page. On the front page there is a section entitled Enjoying the Park: this is then followed by five headings (in bold); Picnicking, Camping, Walking, riding and driving, Dog-walking (in One Tree Hill Section of the Park) and Horse Riding (in two designated sections). Other recreational activities are then summarised in the last paragraph: nature study, photography, orienteering and prospecting.

I wonder when we might see amateur radio added to the last section?

Mt Moliagul, SOTA summit VK3/VN-024, 21st December 2014

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After moving on from the Little Desert National Park, lunch in Horsham and a stop in St Arnaud we decided to re-visit Mt Moliagul. I last activated this summit on January 2014 on a cooler day (11 contacts).

Here is the link to my first visit to Mt Moliagul. https://vk5bje.com/2014/01/02/sota-mt-moliagul-vk3vn-024/

This time it was warm and cloud was starting to form. On the summit it was hot with barely a breath of wind. My xyl drove the 4×4 to the summit to finish her shift at the wheel.

I then followed the same procedure as I did on my first activation of the summit: I went for a walk down to the tree line, well outside the activation zone while looking around and checking whether a spot in the shade might be possible. I could find no shade in the activation zone. I carried my gear to an old notice board describing what bush-land volunteers had achieved. It was in poor shape but good enough to support my squid pole.

It didn’t take long for people to find me and VK5PAS, Paul, kindly spotted me.

I enjoyed 16 contacts including two s2s qso’s. I thought this was pretty good for an unplanned activation! I was delighted to have contacts with VK3YY, Glenn and VK3KAB, Kevin, who were at Mount Samaria. There are no activator points for me as this is my second activation within a year, but I am glad to give those listed below a chance for Mount Moliagul.

Activator Log

Time Call Band Mode Notes
04:21z VK3YY/P3 7MHz SSB VK3 VE 157
04:23z VK3KAB/P3 7MHz SSB VK3 VE-157
04:30z VK5GY 7MHz SSB Messent CP
04:35z VK3ARR 7MHz SSB Andrew
04:36z VK5PAS 7MHz SSB Paul
04:37z VK3ANL 7MHz SSB Nick
04:38z VK3FPSR 7MHz SSB Peter
04:41z VK3TCX 7MHz SSB Ian
04:42z VK3AV 7MHz SSB Bernard
04:44z VK2EXA 7MHz SSB Peter
04:45z VK3PF 7MHz SSB Peter
04:47z VK3EK 7MHz SSB Rob
04:48z VK3LED 7MHz SSB Col, Maiden Gully
04:50z VK2UH 7MHz SSB Andrew
04:53z VK5WG 7MHz SSB Nev
04:54z VK3DAC 7MHz SSB Fred

Little Desert National Park, VKFF-291, 21st December 2014

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On my way from Adelaide to Bendigo I couldn’t resist the temptation to re-visit the Little Desert National Park in the Wimmera Region of Victoria. I last visited this Park in September 2013 and logged 30 contacts over the visit from two activations in two different parts of the Park.

Here is the link to my first activation of this Park.

https://vk5bje.com/2013/09/07/little-desert-national-park-7th-september-2013/

I went back to Horseshoe Bend. I was on the air at 21:30 hours (20/12/2014) well before UTC rollover. After 31 contacts on 40 metres I moved to 20 metres (14.315) but could not get a contact. I had a listen around the band and there were a few strong signals and a WIA broadcast signal from NSW. I now have 61 contacts from this Park qualifying it for the WWFF award system. This is my first Park with over 44 contacts. Thank you to all the amateurs who made this possible.

All contacts for this Park can be seen at my log page at HRD.log and have been up-loaded to LOTW as well.