I’ve picked up a Yaesu FT-897 so thought it’d be good to give it a try out, and aimed for Blacks Creek NCR on 6th April. (You’ll see that I’m a bit slow logging it here.)
Blacks Creek NCR is an unremarkable area that looks very much like a farmers field. In fact there we’re some sheep grazing when I pulled up. There’s a stile that enables visitors to get over the fence. At one point a neighbouring farmer pulled up curious about what I was up too. Apparently he was the previous owner, and he was pleased to see the area get some use.
Sadly the activation wasn’t really successful. I had a setting wrong somewhere which meant I wasn’t outputting any power on transmit. So after some mucking about I set up the FT-817, managed one contact, and packed up and travelled back home.
vk3oak 