Australia Day public holiday with a mild 22C, a light breeze and some sunshine, seemed like a perfect day to head out into the parks. Given those conditions and knowing there was also the Australia Day contest, I was expecting there’d be quite a bit of activity on the bands. That didn’t pan out at all. While band conditions seemed pretty ordinary, there just didn’t seem to be many people actually out and about.
I’ve looked to activate Rokewood once before but struggled finding an appropriate access point. Today I noticed a small block on the Eastern side of Meadows Rd. Parked the car in the shade and popped the gear and myself through the fence. Set up under the shade of a gum tree and made use of another tree to hold up the far end of the EFHW.
Ultimately managed 46 contacts over the space of a two and half hours with six contacts on 20m and the rest on 40. I tried 15m but no joy. Two P2P’s, one with VK3DL and the other with VK3PF.
Rokewood Common from the Northern endOperating Position
A very mild weekend for mid January seemed like a good opportunity to revisit some close to home parks that hadn’t got to the requist 44 contacts to qualify for the WWFF program. First target was Enfield State Park, VKFF-0757 which I had previously visted back in March of 2017. I’m sure I’ve been back here since, but it doesn’t seem to be recorded anywhere, so either I’m wrong or I didn’t manage any contacts on one visit.
Accessed the park via an unnamed track about 1/2 a Km south of Enfield and found a clearing with some shade and appropriate trees for the high end of the EFHW. Band conditions were pretty ordinary resulting in a disappointing 20 contacts over the space of two hours. That was less than I needed to get to 44, so I came back to the same site on Sunday afternoon and managed a further 26 contacts including one with KG5CIK in Texas. I think Steven was doing the heavy lifting on that contact. That meant the park was easily qualified.
Next park was Dereel Lagoon Wildlife Reserve, VKFF-2306. I was last here in March of 2020 when I managed 11 contacts. Accessed the park via Swanson Rd, parking in the same place as last time I was here. As the band conditions improved, static crashes from distant storms became louder, making many contacts really problematic, even where signal strength was okay. Overall managed thirty three contacts. Four on 20m with the rest on 40m. Three P2P’s and one summit contact.
Operating at Dereel LagoonEnfield Operating PositionDereel Lagoon Operating Position
On Sunday I started with Illabarook Grassland Flora Reserve, VKFF-2335. I was last here in March 2020, the same day as I last did Dereel Lagoon. Accessed the park via an unnamed road off Moonlight Rd. That ends on the North side of the park at a gate that also has an opening for pedestrains. Setup my little table just off the track, ensuring that access would open in the very unlikely event anyone wanted to get through the gate, particularly in the event a fire truck needed access. Happily that didn’t eventuate.
Used the EFHW with the high point held up by a 7m squid pole. Managed 33 contacts over the space of two hours, including nine on 20m with two of those being AM.
Next site was Illabrook Rail Line Nature Conservation Reserve, VKFF-2110. I last visited here in May of 2019. Last time the rain bucketed down while I was here, very different to the conditions today where I was concerned that driving the car off the road might present a fire risk from the hot exhaust.
Accessed the park from Illabarook Football Ground Rd where there are some large cypress trees that provided some nice shade cover. Used the EFHW again with the high end help up in a tree.
Managed 31 contacts with 12 on 20m and the rest on 40m over the space of an hour and ten minutes before heading home, stopping at Enfield on the way back.
Illabrook GrasslandIllabrook Rail Line NCRIllabrook Rail Line NCRIllabrook Grassland Operating Position
Headed back to Maryborough area hoping to do three parks. There was a tree down over the road just before Talbot which meant back tracking and driving through Dunach NCR which I’d activated a couple of weeks earlier, adding about 25 minutes to the trip.
At Bung Bong Nature Conservation Reserve drove in via Strawberry track, and then a bit deeper via an unnamed track until there was a reasonable opening that allowed the car to be off the track. Started out on 20m and managed 13 contacts quite quickly. Overall managed 50 contacts over the space of two hours.
Moved onto Maryborough Regional Park. Entered via an unnamed track off the Pyrenees Highway and found a large open area and set up the EFHW. Managed 36 contacts over 100 minutes, including 13 on 20m. Unfortunately I had to head home before logging 44. So I’ll have to come back and complete the park.
Early January sees the Australian Cycling Road Nationals come to Buninyong resulting in the main road up the mount being closed. While you can still drive up the mount, access is via a fairly roundabout route or a rough dirt track. Which means the top is pretty quiet for a couple of days. A perfect time to head up and activate again in the new year.
My QTH is at the base of Buninyong so I could have walked from home to the summit but instead chose to drive up the rough track and in the car park at the base of the reserve and walk from there.
Once at the summit the radio was set up on the park bench and threw the EFHW up into a nearby tree. Managed 13 contacts over the space of 30 minutes before heading back and watch the men’s finals.
So now I have at least one SOTA activation for 2023
Two parks I’d originally planned to activate the day before. Again the weather was cool for January. It was also quite windy. First target was the Talbot Nature Conservation Reserve. The signs at the entry to the park called it the Lillicur NCR. No idea what’s going on with that.
Set up in an opening off the M19 track. Made the mistake a using the 80 OCF. Everything that could tangle or jam did exactly that, wasting at least 40 minutes before I was actually on the air. First contact was 7 minutes before roll over. That lost time would really hurt at the end when I needed four more to get to 44.
Managed to get 44 contacts over the space of an hour and twenty minutes, with the last two contacts taking twenty minutes. Five on 20m and the rest on 40m. I tried 10m and 15m, with no joy.
From there is was back to Talbot Post Office where they’d just sold the last pastie from the pie warmer, so had the settle for a microwaved one. Then it was on to Lexton Nature Conservation Reserve. Drove up the track that runs through the middle of the reserve and found a nice opening where I could pull the car in and setup. By now the clouds had blown away and wind dropped a little, so set up the shelter to keep the sun off.
Learned my lesson with the 80m OCF from the prior park and instead used the 40 EFHW. Made use of the 7m squid pole to pass position the high end in a tree fork about 8m up.
Managed 57 contacts over 2 hours and 20 minutes including 8 on 20m. Two of the 20m contacts were to VK4 on AM!
I think the contacts would have kept coming, but the park was more than qualified and it was an hour drive home so pulled the station down and travelled back to Buninyong.
First work day of 2023 but happily I have a week of leave. What better way to make use of it than visit a couple of parks. Headed out toward Talbot, just under an hour from home and where there’s six parks in relatively close proximity. The weather on Monday had been hot and stormy but Tuesday and Wednesday were forcsst to be low to mid 20’s with some cloud cover. Perfect for playing radio in the field.
First target was VKFF-2084, Dunach Nature Conservation Reserve. The GPS was programed to aim for Adam’s track, but I actually entered the park via an unnamed track that looked like it would take me over the railway line to the far side of the park. Saddly there’s gates and signs making it clear driving across the rail line is prohibited.
There was a nice clear open area just prior to rail line so set up there. I’d left the EFHW at home so had to make use of the 80m OCF instead, which worked fine. Managed 51 contacts in just under two two hours, including three P2P’s. Mostly on 40m. Six on 20m. Tried 15 and 10m with no joy.
VK3CM responded to one call while making a youtube video about a TS-2000 he’s serviced.
(Youtube only allows a 60 second clip, but the full QSO is a bit longer than that.)
After purchasing a hot pastie from the Talbot Post Office, which was about the only place open in Talbot, headed to VKFF-2064, Caralulup Nature Conservation Reserve. For reasons I don’t understand, the Caralulup NCR is signed at the site as the Talbot NCR. (And the Talbot NCR, which I visited the next day is signed as the Lilicur NCR. I presume they have been renamed at some point.)
Found an opening where Nuggty Road becomes Nuggty Track and again set up the 80m OCF. Again I managed 51 contacts over the space of two hours and 20 minutes.
Overall a good day out and good start to 2023. Hopefully the first of many activations this year.
2022 VKFF Activation weekend. Planned well ahead and booked a few nights in Wangaratta. Managed to activate eight parks over the course of four days. It has been very wet in the months prior, with all the river areas closed which also made access to some other area tricky.
With lots of on air activity I managed lots of P2P contacts on the Saturday and the Sunday. Overall it was good weekend. I need to do some more of these sorts of weekends.
vk3oak 