Today, on a beautiful late Winter’s day, I was able to indulge in two of my passions: music and radio. Each year the Payneham City Concert Band plays a bracket of numbers at the Strathalbyn Band Festival: sufficient to fill a half hour time slot. I have participated a number of times now and, in 2013, I also played radio after the event.
The Festival is a great event, not a competition, but a chance to play to entertain the audience. The Festival extends over two Sundays and we were the first band for the first Sunday and completed our section by noon. Strathalbyn is 55.7 kilometres from Adelaide and is a pleasant drive through the Hills from my place. The town is on the plains below the Hills and overlooks the Coorong Lakes and the Southern Ocean. After our contribution I visited the coffee shop and ordered a sandwich for my lunch and set out to cover the 13 kilometres to the Bullock Hill Conservation Park, which is just off the Strathalbyn to Ashbourne Road. Bullock Hill Conservation Park is a fairly new Park and was gazetted on 30th January 2014. It has been activated a number of times previously but this was my first activation.
The photo above shows the Park notice board being pressed into service to support my ten metre squid pole. The land was too uneven to use the tripod. And the rear of the notice board provided a back stop for my table and gear. I used my newly purchased, and second, Yaesu 857D, for the activation. I purchased my first from Wyong over a decade ago and it gives great service in our 4 x 4. These radios are old technology but they are great for portable use, tolerant of low battery voltage (11.73 volts), rugged, small and easy to use.
I spent a few sessions at home setting up the radio for my usage patterns, particularly the audio response to suit my voice, added some six and two metre beacons, a few for 70 centimetres, a handful of repeaters, WWVH for accurate time keeping and for an indication of propagation on the 20 metre band and 891 ABC Adelaide, for fire warnings in the Summer. I also installed the 500 Hz filter for CW. I had the power set for 10 watts.
I made my first contact at 03:25, with Ron, VK3AFW/P who was operating from Mount Strickland, VK3/VN-030 and my last was with Gordon, VK3EJ, at 06:20 making 46 contacts. It took over three hours to secure these contacts: perhaps everyone was ‘radioed out’ by Sunday afternoon? I tried 20 metres at 06:05 but I could not post myself which is always a handicap. Nevertheless it was a successful activation and, as always, thanks to all who gave me a call.
The following stations were contacted on 40 metres:
VK3AFW/P SOTA VK3/VN-030
VK3KIM/P SOTA VK3/VN-030
VK5AFZ/P Coorong National Park
VK7EK
VK2TH
VK3PF/P SOTA VK3/VT-078 and Bunyip State Park
VK7CW
VK4AAC/P3 Croajingolong National Park
VK3FIRM
VK3SQ
VK4CFS
VK3UH
VK3TJC
VK3SFG
VK3FSTA
VK4RF
VK4HA
VK5PAS/M
VK3BWZ
VK2EXA
VK2KYO
VK3TJS
VK3BBB
VK3ELH
VK3BNJ
VK2HJW/QRP
VK5PAS/M
VK3BNJ
VK3CMR
VK3AJA
VK3FOTO/M
VK3IO
VK3KCD
VK2FJPR
VK5PAS/P Cox Scrub Conservation Reserve VKFF-1701
VK3CAT
VK4HNS
VK3XZ
VK2IO/P SOTA VK2/ST-009 & VKFF-1375
VK4FAAS
VK3MCX
VK2FAAA/M
VK3KRH
VK3FSPG
Tried 20m without success
VK4SOE/P (7113 xtal locked transmitter)
VK3EJ
Total 46 stations with two duplicates. A glance at the stations contacted shows that propagation to Queensland was quite good, but not for the Western area of Victoria or in South Australia.
vk5bje 
G’day John,
Thanks for the P2P contact and the contact/s from the mobile on my way to the park. Apparently you can access the park from the high point which offers some great views. I’ll have to try that route next time.
I’ve operating from the exact same spot as you in the past and have walked up the hill to enjoy the views. There is even a table and benches up there.
Thanks for being out there.
Cheers,
Paul,
VK5PAS.
Hi Paul,
It was certainly an interesting day from the propagation point of view. I didn’t calculate the distance from your location to mine but I knew it was a few short kilometres away – and you were very strong for our park to park contact. The VK4 contacts were all strong signals as well. I was sorry I didn’t get Tony, VK5MRT, in the log. He was on the air when I arrived at Strathalbyn for the concert and he was really strong: maybe two kilometres away at the most. I had a listen of 40 metres before heading for the concert hall. I understand he was busy in the afternoon. It was a shame about the SOTA weekend: I had just too many things on and only worked a couple of stations. Thanks for keeping me company on the way to your park.
John D
Hi John,
I’ve put in a link to your post on my post about Cox Scrub.
Best 73,
Paul,
VK5PAS.
Pingback: Cox Scrub Conservation Reserve, VKFF-1701. | vk5pas
Hi Paul
Thanks for the link.
JD
Good day all round! I particularly like your memory channels.
Chris
VK4FR
Hi Chris
I have put a bit of effort into setting up the 857D and it is quite different to the way I set up with one in the 4 x 4. The car radio has repeaters in the memory and it needs revision. But for the new radio I have tried to set it up with a variety of beacons I can copy regularly and during the summer from here in Adelaide. When I suggested 891 ABC Adelaide for a new amateur he wondered what it was for. No I don’t listen to the cricket or footy! But he was convinced when I suggested you never know when you might want to keep up to date with fire warnings. The challenge with a minimum step of 2.5 Khz in the am mode is to program a frequency ending in one (1). I will share my secret: tune the station in LSB mode!
Cheers
John D VK5BJE/VK5PF