15. SOTA Activation: Prairie Dog Hill VK1/AC-039 (17 May 2015)

Andrew VK1NAM proposed to activate VK1/AC045 Prairie Dog Hill to the VK1_SOTA Mailing Group. I signed up and joined him on the 13th of September.

We drove out to the Ororral Tracking Station parking lot in the Ororral Valley and headed out towards Prairie Dog Hill around 07:30.

Prairie Dog Hill from Ororral Valley

It was a beautiful crisp morning and there was no wind. We reached the turnoff into the bush after about 90 minutes, having averaged about 3.4 Km/h over the 5.15 Km of vehicle tracks.

Initially there was very little Wattle scrubs to bash through so the going was fairly easy for the first 750 meters, over short grass, fern and gum trees. Gradually the slope increased and the scrub appeared.

Then our speed dropped way down to about 15 minutes per 100m. Not only was there wattle to wade through, similar to that of Ororral Hill, but we also had to make our way over or round huge granite tors.

We spent 90 minutes on the first 5.2 Km and then another 86 minutes on the last 1.7 Km, so about 3 hours from the Ororral car park to the top, 6.9 Km in total. By comparison, on our return trip, we did the scrub bashing bit in 78 minutes and the bit on the road in 79 minutes, for a total return trip time of 2 hours 38 minutes.

We were on the summit slightly after our advertised alert but we got going and called CQ at 10:35, about 30 minutes later than what we intended.

Cotter Hut Road

Turn off from Cotter Hut Road into the bush

I am disappearing in the Wattle scrub

Special Permissions or Arrangements

No special arrangements are necessary. All access is via public roads and Prairie Dog Hill is on Commonwealth land.

Summit Information

Prairie Dog Hill summit is 1330 meters above mean sea level and it is worth 2 SOTA activation points, plus a 3 point winter bonus. Its Maidenhead locator is QF44kj.

The summit consists of one big flat granite plate, with a convenient granite table perfect for packing out your gear. There is no straightforward spot to erect a squid pole antenna mast, but there is a smallish gum tree that could be used to hoist up a wire antenna as high as maybe 4-5 meters. The north-western side of the summit is fairly open to the horizon, except for a big granite tor that keeps watch.

The Mt. Ginini Repeater is within easy range of a HT and rubber ducky antenna.

Andrew VK1NAM operating from the table on the summit of Prairie Dog Hill.

The big granite Tor anchored one part of the dipole

Contacts Made

Andrew VK1NAM and I took turns in a tag-team activation arrangement. Initially I had the Squid Pole set-up with the tape measure Yagi and we were hoping to make a few quick contacts with my FT817.

Right between us and Canberra, was a few summits as high or higher than our 1330 meters and these interfered somewhat with our attempts. We switched to Andrew’s FT857 and retried with 10 Watts which was more successful.

We also found that using the tape measure Yagi in the horizontal plane was more effective. Despite having the tape measure Yagi, VHF conditions were still a bit of a challenge if one only had 5 Watts: for example one QSO with Grant VK4JAZ/1 couldn’t be completed and when we retried about 5 minutes later, suddenly we were exchanging 5/9 and 5/8 signal reports. In the end I managed 8 VHF contacts on 2 meters in a combination of FM and SSB.

Apart from local VK1 chasers, I also made contact with Steve VK7CW in Tassie, Robert VK2XXM in Grafton, Mike VK3XL in Victoria, Robin VK5TN in Mt. Gambier, Peter VK3YE on Chelsea Beach with a 2 Watt transceiver, Scott VK2IF in NSW, Ron VK3VBI in Victoria and Rick VK4RF in Queensland.

Thank you very much for every contact!

Summary of contacts:

Useful Links

GPS GPX Track Log: Dropbox Link.
VK1NAM Blog: https://vk1nam.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/sota-prairie-dog-hill-orroral-valley/

There were a few of these rock stairs to get up

14. SOTA Party on 30 August Part 3: Mt. Cowangerong VK2/ST-001

On 30 August a number of VK1, VK2 and VK3 SOTA Operators participated in a SOTA party.
Operators tried to activate at least one summit, or if they weren’t able to get out on the day, to chase those who were.

I decided to do 3 summits towards the east of Canberra, two of which would attract the 3-point winter bonus.
I chose Mt. Gillamatong close to Braidwood, Mt. Palerang about *mmm* Km from Braidwood and Mt. Cowangerong, the location of the Captains Flat BOM Weather Radar.

Mt. Cowangerong

Mt. Cowangerong is a drive-up summit which means… you drive up. No bush bashing. Just the finish I needed after Mt. Paltering! I drove back towards Braidwood and jumped onto the Cooma road before turning onto the Captains Flat road. I have heard afterwards that there is a better road to get to Cowangerong from Palerang but I have not looked into it yet.

The drive was pretty uneventful, the highlight was driving over bridges with timber as the road surface. I have never seen that before!

The Captains Flat road is a pretty good unsealed road and I got to the Cowangerong turn-off in no time. That lead to about 2 Km of wheel tracks up the hill, to a clearing on the summit where the BOM radar towers over everything.

I walked about 70 meters away from the buildings and broke out my “gentlemen’s activation kit” as Andrew VK1DA refers to my Helinox Table and Chair. These are great, only 1.5 Kg for both of them and being able to sit down at a table in the bush while you operate is pure indulgence.

I was nearly set-up when I was joined on the summit by Paul VK1ATP who drove out from Canberra for the activation.

Helinox Table and Chair on Mt. Cowangerong

Special Permissions or Arrangements

No special arrangements are necessary. All access is via public roads and Mt. Cowangerong is on Commonwealth land.

Summit Information

Mt. Cowangerong’s summit is 1364 meters above mean sea level and it is worth 8 SOTA activation points, plus a 3 point winter bonus. Its Maidenhead locator is QF44si. There are a heaps of trees on the summit, blocking the horizon. Surprisingly I found no radio interference on HF but there were a few birdies on 2 Meters.

Paul VK1ATP on Mt. Cowangerong

Contacts Made

Paul and I operated our two stations on the hill for about 90 minutes before it got too cold to bother. In that time, I managed 8 contacts in total, 4 on 2 meters and 4 on 40 meters.

I got text messages from Andrew VK1DA and Roald VK1MTS, respectively on Mt. Tumorrama and Spring Hill,  who suggested we catch up on 2 Meters SSB.
This was the first day I used a new Tape Measure Yagi I had made and it wasn’t used in anger up to that point.

I was keen to try and managed to get Andrew on 144.2 SSB, whereafter I also made contact with Matt “Mission Control” VK1MA,  Roald VK1MTS and Gerard VK2IO on The Peak.
I switched to 40 meters and managed a few more with VK3AFW, VK4HA, VK4RF and VK4DI. Although the conditions were very depressed, at the end of the day, I was being heard 5/8 in North Queensland.

The contacts were:



Thank you very much to everyone who chased us on the day, and also to all the other SOTA Goats who were out there!

For interest's sake, here is a picture of the 144.2SSB activation between Me on Cowangerong, Andrew iDA on Tumorrama, Roald 1MTS on Spring Hill and Gerard 2IO on The Peak. From Andrew to me it was 103 Km, From Roald to me it was 74 Km and to Gerard form me it was 92 Km. But between Gerard and Roald the distance was 150 Km!

Useful Links

GPS GPX Track Log: N/A - drove up the summit.
VK1NAM Blog: https://vk1nam.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/captains-flat-radar-mt-cowangerong-13-april-2014/
VK1DI Blog: http://vk1di.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/sota-activation-mt-cowangerong-vk2st-001.html

13. SOTA Party on 30 August Pt. 2: Mt. Palerang VK2/ST-009

Part 2: Mt. Palerang (30 August 2015)

On 30 August a number of VK1, VK2 and VK3 SOTA Operators participated in a SOTA party.
Operators tried to activate at least one summit, or if they weren’t able to get out on the day, to chase those who were.

I decided to do 3 summits towards the east of Canberra, two of which would attract the 3-point winter bonus. I chose Mt. Gillamatong close to Braidwood, Mt. Palerang about 18 Km from Braidwood and Mt. Cowangerong, the location of the Captains Flat BOM Weather Radar.

Mt. Palerang

I got to the car a little late, coming down from Mt. Gillamatong. It is not too far from Braidwood, about 18Km down Bombay road, which starts very close to Gillamatong road and then onto the Hoskinstown fire trail follwed by the Mulloon fire trail.

I obviously must have enjoyed the drive too much because I managed to drive straight past my intended starting point that was based on earlier activations by Ian VK1DI and Andrew VK1NAM. Anyhoo, I knew I was in the wrong spot, but I was also running out of time - My SOTA Alert for the next activation was 45 minutes away. I pulled up next to the fire trail and got ready to get up the hill.

I had to make it up the steepest part of Mt. Palerang within 45 minutes.

I didn’t make it in time. I turned around 3 times looking for a better track but no track was really much better. They all had rocks and logs covered by fern, skree and granite tors to get over or around.
I stopped on the summit, 25 minutes late, the climb took an hour and 10 minutes.

My GPS log shows that the average gradient during my walk was 25 percent, or 1 in 4. 1 meter climb for every 4 meters horizontal. Pretty steep in itself, but on a spree slope with rocks and logs covered by fern it got pretty interesting.

I set up in a clearing about 40 meters away from the Trig Point, there is not a lot of space on the summit. Once I had the antenna set-up, (the squid pole wedged between some rocks and the antenna tossed t over some bushes), I started calling CQ.

On my way down from Mt. Palerang, same track as I took coming up.

Special Permissions or Arrangements

No special arrangements are necessary. All access is via public roads and Mt. Palerang is on Commonwealth land.

Summit Information

Mt. Palerang’s summit is at 1234 meters above mean sea level and it is worth 8 SOTA activation points, plus a 3 point winter bonus. Its Maidenhead locator is QF44tn. There are a few trees on the summit blocking most of the horizon. There was no radio interference but the rocks de-tuned my low-hanging dipole such that I got pretty ordinary signal reports. In my rush I forgot to take a picture of my station.

Contacts Made

In the 15 minutes I managed to make 6 contacts. First with Mark VK1EM and Andrew VK1MWP on nearby South Black Range. Then I got Coll on a summit in Victoria and Gerard VK2IO on The Peaks, followed by Amanda VK3FQSO and Rex VK3OF from their QTH in Victoria.
I didn’t hang around, I was running out of time for my next activation on Mt. Cowangerong and I had a nice 45 minutes of sliding downhill to look forward to.

The contacts were:



Thank you very much to everyone who chased us on the day, and also to all the other SOTA Goats who were out there.

Useful Links

GPS GPX Track Log: To be added soon.
VK1NAM Blog: https://vk1nam.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/sota-activation-mt-palerang-14-december-2013/
VK1DI Blog:http://vk1di.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/sota-mt-palerang.html

12. SOTA Party on 30 August Part 1: Mt. Gillamatong VK2/ST-034

Mt. Gillamatong(30 August 2015)

On 30 August a number of VK1, VK2 and VK3 SOTA Operators participated in a SOTA party.
Operators tried to activate at least one summit, or if they weren’t able to get out on the day, to chase those who were.

I decided to do 3 summits towards the east of Canberra, two of which would attract the 3-point winter bonus. I chose Mt. Gillamatong (VK2/ST-034) close to Braidwood, Mt. Palerang (VK2/ST-009) about 18 Km from Braidwood and Mt. Cowangerong (VK2/ST-001), the location of the Captains Flat BOM Weather Radar. If  I could activate these on the day, they would bag me 28 Points.

Mt. Gillamatong

The drive to Gillamatong took about 1 hour and 15 minutes from North Canberra and as you approach Braidwood you can easily make out Mt. Gillamatong. The 1Km walk starts at the end of Gillamatong lane and takes about 45 minutes to climb 174 meters to reach the summit at an average grade of 16%.

There is one pedestrian gate to go through and an old fence to step over on your way up.
The walk up is fairly straightforward without scrub bashing or other obstacles to get over and there are nice views over the Budawang range.

On my way up I ran into Jack, an 87-year young local who walks up Gillamatong every day to call back to Sydney with a weather report. Jack is an institution, Andrew VK1NAM told me to look out for him.

Jack, at 87 years old, going up and down Gillamatong every day.

I set up in a clearing about 30 meters from the Trig Point.

Special Permissions or Arrangements

No special arrangements are necessary.

Summit Information

Mt. Gillamatong’s summit is at 900 meters above mean sea level and it is worth 6 SOTA activation points. Its Maidenhead locator is QF44vn. There are a few trees around the summit (no horizon view) and a few other radio towers (but no appreciable interference on HF or VHF).

Trig Point on Mt. Gillamatong

Contacts Made

I gave myself about an 30 minutes on the summit to operate and managed to make 10 contacts, all on 40 meters SSB. Six of these operators were themselves on SOTA Summits. The other contacts were with chasers from VK3, VK4 and VK5. All up a nice mix of stations.

The contacts were:



Thank you very much to every chaser and also to all the other SOTA Goats who were out there!

Useful Links

GPS GPX Track Log: Dropbox Link.
VK1NAM Blog: https://vk1nam.wordpress.com/2014/10/12/mt-gillamatong-mt-g/
VK1DI Blog: http://vk1di.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/sota-activation-mt-gillamatong.html

11 SOTA Activation: Rob Roy VK1/AC-031 (17 May 2015)

11 SOTA Activation: Rob Roy VK1/AC-031 (17 May 2015)

Mt. Rob Roy is close to Tuggeranong, in the South of Canberra and is located in the Rob Roy Nature reserve. At 1099 meters, the summit is higher than any of the other “Canberra hills” - it is 209 metres higher than Mt. Majura. It was a beautiful day with no wind.

Gate nr. 1 of 2. Nice morning walk out with the YL.

 

How to Get There

Access is via Orange Thorn Crescent in the suburb of Banks. There is a small clearing for parking.
Once you have parked, head uphill on the sealed road (Banks track) straight up the hill with the reservoir to your left. This section of about 500-600 metres is pretty steep, but once that is behind you the worst is over. The sealed bitumen gives way to an unsealed track, keep going uphill, following the Rob Roy Link Track signs.

Once you pass through the Rob Roy Nature reserve gate, turn right, following the track uphill.
Then, after about 1.5 Km, you veer off the main track to the left, at a rock cairn started by Andrew VK1NAM, heading further uphill. After about 10 minutes of bush walking, you should see the summit trig point surrounded by rocks.

 

Special Permissions or Arrangements

No special arrangements are necessary.

 

Summit Information

Mt. Rob Roy’s summit is at 1099 meters above mean sea level and it is worth 2 SOTA activation points. Its Maidenhead locator is QF44nm. There are a few trees around the summit (no horizon view) and quite a few loose rocks. The trig point makes for a good anchor point if you use a squid pole/mast.

Summit with Trig Point, rocks and trees.

Contacts Made

The day was pretty special - my first DX! Conditions were great on 10 meters, such that I made 6 contacts into the USA. A special thanks to Ray W7USA, Jim N6KZ, Barry N1EU, Tom W7RV, Rich N4EX and Peter WA7JTM for chasing! The distance record probably goes to Barry N1EU who as operating from near Albany, NY. That is 16280 Km..!

According to Spaceweather.com, the Sunspot Number on the day was 103, and if the RX side had a 5-element Yagi to do the heavy lifting, then my 5-Watt FT817 and link dipole could be heard into the Western coast of the US (based on the VOACAP propagation prediction). I still shake my head in amazement at how far 5 Watts can go. It is pure magic.

Andrew 1DA and Andrew 1NAM were out and about, on Bullen Range and One Tree Hill respectively, and we managed to make easy Summit to Summit contacts. I also had contacts with Matt “Mission Control” VK1MA in Canberra and Mike VK6MB in faraway WA.

All contacts were made on 10 Meters, 28.45 SSB.

VOACAP Propagation prediction for 28MHz, 5W 10 Meter Dipole TX with 5-ele Yagi on RX

Useful Links

GPS GPX Track Log: Soon to be added.