Warby-Ovens National Park, VKFF-0742, was a short detour on our way from Wangaratta (where we stayed on Monday evening, 14th December) to Gundagai.  The weather was great, warm, with a hot day in store and I thought time for a quick activation from Ryans Lookout (where I had previously activated the Park on a trip to Sydney). Here is a link to that activation:

https://vk5bje.com/category/warby-ovens-national-park/

The Park was very dry, but Ryans Lookout is only a short distance into the Park and is accessed from a sealed road. I set up my station, FT897 running ten watts, linked dipole supported by a squid pole attached to a Park bench. Battery power came from my 33 amp hour ‘thumper’. This battery is good when I need slightly higher power and I do have solar panels I can put out when required to keep it charging while it is in use.

This picture shows my set up for this activation including the 33 amp hour ‘thumper’.

I was on the air at 23:04 and called CQ on 7.110.

23:04 VK4LS s57 r44, Rob

It was quiet on 40 metres and after looking around the band and calling CQ a few times I decided to migrate to 20 metres. I spent about 25 minutes on 20m calling CQ and looking around the band. I had no contacts.

I then went back to 40m.

7.110 23:31 VK2IO/P s55 r44

23:33 VK5PAS s58 r57. I was glad to get Paul in the log. Jenny sent him a SMS and he kindly gave me a call before heading off to work.

23:42 VK5WG s59 r55, Nev

23:48 VK5FANA s53 r53

23:52 VK5HS, s57 r55, Ivan at Renmark

23:54 VK2PKT, s57 r55, Keith at Parkes

Well seven contacts was all I could manage. I guess many amateurs were at work, preparing for Christmas or not near their radios. Nevertheless , I appreciate those who gave me call. We packed up and began our drive to Gundagai.

A slight pause for a photo