vk5pas

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Mount Lofty VK5/SE-005 and Cleland Conservation Park 5CP-042 & VKFF-0778

Posted: 11 Mar 2017 05:43 AM PST
https://vk5pas.org/2017/03/11/mount-...042-vkff-0778/


This afternoon (Saturday 11th March 2017) I activatedÂ*Mount Lofty
VK5/SE-005 and Cleland Conservation Park 5CP-042 & VKFF-0778 in the
Adelaide Hills. Â*This was as part of an afternoon/morning of VK/Europe/UK
SOTA activations, in which it was hoped that a number of Summit to Summit
contacts would be obtained between VK & Europe/UK. Â*The event was organised
by Andrew VK1AD, Mike 2E0YYY, and Ed DD5LP.

I have activated this summit and the park many times previously and it is
just a short 20 minute drive from home to get there. Â*So this was going to
be a triple header. Â*An activation for Summits on the Air (SOTA), an
activation for World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF), and an activation for the VK5
National & Conservation Parks Award.


Above:- Map showing the location of Mount Lofty, located within the Cleland
Conservation Park. Â* Image courtesy of Open Street Map.

My wife Marija VK5FMAZ followed me over and we set up in our normal spot on
the eastern side of the summit, away from the crowds of tourists who
frequent the lookout and restaurant at the summit. Â*Mount Lofty is 727
metres above sea level and is worth 4 SOTA points. Â*It is the highest point
in the Mount Lofty Ranges, otherwise known as the Adelaide Hills. Â*The
summit is about 15 km east of the city centre of Adelaide, the capital city
of South Australia.

Mount Lofty was named by Captain Matthew Flinders onÂ*23 March 1802 during
his circumnavigation of the Australian continent. Â*The summit was first
climbed by a European when the explorer Collet Barker, climbed it in April
1831, almost six years before the city of Adelaide was settled. Â*A stone
cairn at the summit was originally used to mark the trig point,Â*and in 1885
this was replaced by an obelisk which served as the central reference point
for surveying purposes across Adelaide. Â*In 1902 the obelisk was
rededicated and renamed as the Flinders Column.


Above:- Aerial shot showing our operating spot. Â*Image courtesy of google
maps.

For this activation we ran the Yaesu FT-857d, initially 10 watts PEP (and
later 40 watts), and the 80/40/20m linked dipole supported on the 7 metre
telescopic heavy duty squid pole.

I started off, calling CQ on 7.090 and this was answered by Jason
VK2FAVL. Â*This was Jasons 1st ever contact on HF. Â*I handed the mic over to
Marija who also logged Jason. Â*Next up was Darrin VK3FDAP, followed by
Geoff VK3SQ, and Peter VK3TKK/mobile. Â*Again for each call, I handed the
mic over to Marija who logged the callers in her log. Â*We had qualified the
summit.

Our first Summit to Summit contact of the day was with Andrew VK1AD who was
portable on SOTA peak Mount Ginini VK1/ AC-008. Â*Andrew had a beautiful 5/8
signal and reciprocated with a 5/8 for us. Â*Marija had her fill, and
decided to head home. Â*I continued to operate on 40m on 7.090 and logged a
steady flow of callers. Â*At times, mini pile ups ensued. Â*Please stick
around if I do not get you initially. Â*I strongly suspect that some people
give up after trying 2 or 3 times. Â*I wont move off a frequency until I
know for sure there are no further callers, so I will get to you.





I logged a total of 58 stations on 40m from VK1, VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, and
VK7. Â*This included two further Summit to Summit (S2S) contacts:-

Bernard VK2IB/3, VK3/ VE-061
Andrew VK1MBE/p, VK2/ SC-050
Compton VK2HRX/p, VK2/ CT-043


And also the following Park to Park (P2P) contacts:-

Mike VK3XL/p, Gippsland Lakes National Park VKFF-0747
Bernard VK2IB/3, Alpine National Park VKFF-0619
Neil VK4HNS/p, Bayview Conservation Park VKFF-1469.


Other interesting contacts included Duncan VK3LZ who was using an indoor
magnetic loop antenna from his shack (5/8 sent and 5/6 received). Â*Duncan
was surprised I could hear him. Â*I also spoke with Peter VK3YE who was
portable at Chelsea Beach using his home brew BitX40 transceiver (5/7 both
ways).





I then headed over to the 20m band where I found John VK6NU/p on SOTA peak
Mount William VK6/ SW-042. Â*John had a nice 5/7 signal.

I didnt expect to work much DX during this activation, yet alone any of the
DX SOTA activators. Â*Band conditions on 20m, whilst Ive been portable of
late, have been poor to say the least. Â*Well, was I surprised. Â*I ended up
logging 13 Summit to Summit contacts with stations in Europe and the United
Kingdom. Â*They are as follows:

Jose EA2IF/p, EA2/ NV-151
Ignacio EA2BD/p, EA2/ NV-092
Tom HB9SOTA, HB/ SZ-025
Mike 2E0YYY/p, G/ SP-004
Anthony MoVAD/p, G/ TW-003
Andy G6PJZ/p, G/ TW-002
Csaba YO6PIB/p, YO/ EC-426
Karl M3FEH/p, G/ DC-003
Carl 2E0HPI/p, G/ TW-001 and GFF-0012
Steve 2E0EFP/p, G/ TW-001 & GFF-0012
Colin M1BUU/p, G/ NP-008
GW4AZS/p, GW/ MW-013
Ed DD5LP/p, DL/ AM-176


Carl 2E0HPI and Steve 2E0EFP were also in GFF-0012. Â*This was Carls first
VK Park to Park contact. Â*And it was Steves first ever time on HF. Â*Not a
bad induction to the HF bands Steve.

I also logged Andrew VK1AD who was on VK1/ AC-008.

All up I logged a total of 49 stations on 20m fromÂ*VK1, VK2, VK4, VK5, VK6,
VK8, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Germany, Croatia, Bulgaria, Switzerland,
England, Slovak Rep, Romania, Wales, France, Sweden, Belgium, & Portugal.





To finish off the activation I spent a short time on 80m, logging a total
of 5 stations, including Gerard VK2IO who was on SOTA peak Bulgo Hill VK2/
IL-017 in the Royal National Park VKFF-0435.

This was a really enjoyable activation. Â*Sadly I had to go QRT as I was
eventually washed out by the rain. Â*It became increasingly more heavy as
the activation went on. Â*I spent quite a bit of time in the latter half of
the activation huddled underneath the bothy bag.





I had a total of 113 contacts in the log. Â*This included twenty (20) Summit
to Summit contacts and six (6) Park to Park contacts.

Thankyou to everyone who called and made this such a terrific activation,
and as always, many thanks to those chasers/hunters who took the time to
spot me. Â*Your efforts are appreciated, and certainly affect the number of
contacts that end up in my log.

I worked the following stations:-







References.

Wikipedia, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Loftygt;, viewed 11th
March 2017