I have been considering some of the higher peaks within a return trip from home recently and have been mindful that the weather could put a stop to best laid plans. I leaked my intentions to a couple of SOTA die-hards, including Matt VK1MA who unexpectedly popped up locally on 146.500 when I was playing around with potential 2m portable antennas from home on Saturday afternoon. Matt was interested in finding out what summits he could activate the following day and I invited him to make the trip to Mt St Phillack with me. Without appropriate clothing for a snow-capped SOTA summit, he declined my invitation but was keen to activate some easier summits within range. After Suggesting he try Mt Donna Buang and Mt Toolebewong, another S2S contact was a good chance the following day. I didn't announce my own plan on SOTA Watch until late. Before posting any information on the activation, I wanted to be sure that I had a reasonable chance of carrying out my plan.
Mt St Phillack VK3/VT-006
Activated 7th July 2013
I always seem to wake up before my alarm goes off when I'm heading off for a SOTA activation and today was no exception. I don't mind the early morning starts when it is still dark and the roads are deserted. Just after I left the Princes Freeway near Drouin, I put out a call via the VK3REC repeater and Allen VK3HRA answered. He was just hitting the Hume Highway and heading north to activate his two planned summits around Mt Buffalo. We wished each other well and hoped for at least one S2S contact between us for the day.
It helps to have a wallet full of cash when activating Mt St Phillack in winter. I fuelled the vehicle before leaving the freeway and stopped at Noojee knowing that I would probably need to carry snow chains to get to Mt Baw Baw village. I hired a set of snow chains and carried on. The first clumps of snow appeared on the last few kilometres of the road to Mt Baw Baw village and by the time I arrived at the carpark, everything was white.
The next hit on the wallet cost $43.00 to park for the day. I paid and confirmed my intentions, planned route and expected time of return with the administration office before setting off to the summit. They went through a checklist which included a first-aid kit and a whistle. I had everything but the whistle but was able to demonstrate that communicating with the wider world wouldn't be a problem.
The track continues to narrow towards the summit Activated 7th July 2013
I always seem to wake up before my alarm goes off when I'm heading off for a SOTA activation and today was no exception. I don't mind the early morning starts when it is still dark and the roads are deserted. Just after I left the Princes Freeway near Drouin, I put out a call via the VK3REC repeater and Allen VK3HRA answered. He was just hitting the Hume Highway and heading north to activate his two planned summits around Mt Buffalo. We wished each other well and hoped for at least one S2S contact between us for the day.
It helps to have a wallet full of cash when activating Mt St Phillack in winter. I fuelled the vehicle before leaving the freeway and stopped at Noojee knowing that I would probably need to carry snow chains to get to Mt Baw Baw village. I hired a set of snow chains and carried on. The first clumps of snow appeared on the last few kilometres of the road to Mt Baw Baw village and by the time I arrived at the carpark, everything was white.
The next hit on the wallet cost $43.00 to park for the day. I paid and confirmed my intentions, planned route and expected time of return with the administration office before setting off to the summit. They went through a checklist which included a first-aid kit and a whistle. I had everything but the whistle but was able to demonstrate that communicating with the wider world wouldn't be a problem.
It was a perfectly clear morning with nothing more than a gentle breeze as I set off from the village. I listened to the WIA broadcast via the VK3REC repeater and took my time enjoying the quietness wandering up the Village Track and beyond. I met a couple of guys who had pitched a tent and spent the night camping not far from the top of the chairlift. They were testing out some of their gear for a bigger expedition about a month away. I took photos as I carried on through virgin snow that was up to about 20 cm deep in places, my footprints being the only human ones amongst a surprising amount of animal prints. With the distraction of the wilderness around me, I realised that I was not going to get to the summit in the time I'd anticipated but that didn't matter.
I finally arrived at the summit around 0130 UTC and surveyed the site around the cairn for a spot to deploy the antenna. I considered throwing up a few lines through the trees to string up the doublet but thought better of it as I would have been crashing through snow laden trees and foliage to do this and bringing a lot of the snow down on myself. There is a lot to be said for carrying a self supporting vertical antenna in an activation like this.
Once the antenna was up, I cleared the snow from a little ledge of rock on the cairn which made a nice shelf for the radio and I kicked off the activation on 40 metres at 0200 UTC. I worked through a steady stream of chasers and had S2S contacts with Matt VK1MA/3 on Mt Donna Buang and Allen VK3HRA/p on The Horn. I also managed contacts with Mark VK3PI, Rhett VK3GHZ and Peter VK3PF and Matt S2S once again on 146.500 with the HT.
On the way back down I had a couple of casual conversations via repeaters on the HT and arrived back at the car just as snow started falling. I couldn't have timed it better.
Once the antenna was up, I cleared the snow from a little ledge of rock on the cairn which made a nice shelf for the radio and I kicked off the activation on 40 metres at 0200 UTC. I worked through a steady stream of chasers and had S2S contacts with Matt VK1MA/3 on Mt Donna Buang and Allen VK3HRA/p on The Horn. I also managed contacts with Mark VK3PI, Rhett VK3GHZ and Peter VK3PF and Matt S2S once again on 146.500 with the HT.
On the way back down I had a couple of casual conversations via repeaters on the HT and arrived back at the car just as snow started falling. I couldn't have timed it better.