Activated 28 July 2013

I had been planning to activate these two summits together for the past few weeks. But last week I was out of action due to catching a cold. In any case, the weather forecast was not outstanding but promised to be better than the previous weekend.

I checked out the weather radar one last time early on Sunday morning before deciding to go for it prior to rain forecast to arrive later in the afternoon. The previous evenings showers had passed and the morning was warmer than anticipated. Driving to Mt Toorongo Range, I had a chat with Glenn VK3YY and Allen VK3HRA on the VK3REC repeater, all on our way to summits.

Mt Toorongo Range VK3/VT-026

Considering the weather of the past week or so, the conditions anticipated at Mt Toorongo Range were not too bad. I was expecting so see some snow and there were only a few small clumps here and there on the walk to the summit. Since leaving home the wind had picked up considerably but fortunately with a relatively mild morning temperature, wind-chill was not a problem.

Road access was not a problem and I followed the access notes posted on Sotawatch. The roads were dry with a few muddy parts and would have been easily passable all the way to the locked gate on Mt Toorongo Road by 2wd. A stroll past the gate took me to the top with a little bush bashing off the road to the left to find a clearing within the activation zone. Once on the top the views were excellent. Because I would have been struggling to get on air before UTC midnight, I took out my binoculars and spent a fair amount of time looking around, particularly towards the Latrobe Valley.

Once I found my spot, I opted to set up the vertical antenna and was surprised how much the telescopic whip flexed in the wind. Once the antenna was up I was able to partially shelter from the wind and manage a reasonably comfortable activation.

My first contact was shortly after UTC midnight and was a S2S with Glenn VK3YY on Mt Timbertop with another contact a few minutes later with Allen VK3HRA on the same summit. These were my only S2S contacts but I worked a steady stream of chasers, logging a total of 19 contacts in just over 20 minutes on the air.

With this accomplished, I packed up and headed back to the car and headed back towards Noojee to activate Mc Carthy Spur.

McCarthy Spur   VK3/VT-039

The McCarthy Spur Road from Noojee is well maintained gravel road with just a couple of muddy sections. I followed the instructions posted on Sotawatch by Peter VK3PF and on arriving at the last gate I could see the summit and was only a couple of hundred metres away. Bush bashing your way to the summit is the only option from this point. I scouted around for a possible track to the top but found none. Reading the reports from other activators on this peak indicated that most of them had given up trying to get to the top so after confirming that I had battled my way into the activation zone, I found a clearing big enough to set up the doublet in an inverted-V configuration.

This time I had problems with a dodgy PL-259 connector on my antenna lead from the radio to the tuner. Fortunately I was carrying another lead with a BNC on one end and a PL-259 on the other and was able to still use the doublet by switching the radio to operate HF bands via the BNC connector on the front panel of the FT-817.

I logged a total of 16 contacts in 15 minutes including another S2S contact with Allen and Glenn this time on VK3/VE-123. Most of these contacts were made with only 2.5 watts of RF power with the internal battery and most people were still giving me 57 or 58 reports which was surprising.

By the end of this activation the sky was getting grey and reports from other stations of a change of weather on the way kept me from messing around too much.

Heading home in the car the weather from the west looked threatening but did not eventuate until I had arrived home and the first few spots of rain started to fall. Once again I had been fortunate with the weather today and clocked up another 17 activator points

The weather forecast for this weekend was mixed and it seemed that Saturday was going to be the best day for summit activations. I had to work on Saturday morning but had the afternoon free so the next best thing to do was dust of the Masi single-speed that hasn't been ridden for a while and go for a spin towards the city, finding a spot around the Kew Boulevard to set up HF operations. Before setting off on the bike, I made a contact from home with Peter VK3ZPF at Pyramid Hill, close to Mt Torbreck where we had done a dual activations a few weeks ago.

I managed to find a nice elevated spot relatively free of RF noise to set up and erected the doublet in an inverted-V configuration and was able to chase a total of 4 summit contacts, the first one with Rik VK3KAN on Mt St Phillack. Paul VK5PAS and Ian VK5CZ both operating from from VK5/SE-007 were also logged and Peter VK3ZPF was the final contact for the day, operating from Sugarloaf Peak.

So it wasn't a bad day for bagging some juicy chaser points. I added 28 points to my Chaser tally today and made the most of the afternoon before high winds and showers arrived in the early evening.

Activated Sunday 14 July 2013

With the number of summits I have activated in the last few months, I decided to ease off a little and spend the day with the family. The weather was not looking too promising and sometimes trying to get the kids out of the house in these situations can be a challenge. Any family outing that involves Dad taking a radio or two is normally met with about as much excitement as I get when they want to drag me along to a quilting exhibition. So when we were all discussing a place to explore and do a little bushwalking, it was agreed to head to The You Yangs.   Flinders Peak is the highest point in the You Yangs and was named after the explorer Matthew Flinders who surveyed the bay and surrounds from this summit.

My excuse for this outing was to try out my new Magellan Explorist GPS unit, loaded with topographic maps and SOTA waypoints, before taking it out for real. Fancy the kid's surprise when there just happened to be a small SOTA summit for Dad to activate!

The weather was strange. A little warmer than expected but with some threatening clouds and passing showers as well as blustery conditions on the summit. We even had brief breaks of sunshine. When the rain wasn't around, visibility was high. We could see clearly to Geelong, Melbourne and across the bay.

All I took to the summit was a HT and there were no problems getting a few contacts on 146.500 Mhz. For the sake of the family, I wanted to keep this activation as short as possible and was able to achieve this whist they amused themselves on the viewing platform with a pair of binoculars.

I easily logged 5 contacts with the first being Steve VK3ZYS. The second contact was Steve VK3MEG who gave me a 59 report and spotted me on SOTA Watch. Bill VK3YHT was next and the closest station I worked in Corio. Rik VK3KAN and Andrew VK3BQ were the last contacts, both hearing me from hand held radios in the eastern suburbs quite easily. Andrew had to jump on the home rig in order for me to hear him but then there were no problems at all.

If you're trying to build up activator points, this 1 point summit might not be on the top of your list but that is no reason not to visit. The tracks throughout the park are well defined and pleasant to walk. There are nice spots to stop and take in the scenery or stop for lunch. In the past few years, it has also become somewhat of a mountain biking destination. All in all, a worthwhile spot for a family day out if you want to do more than just play radio.

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.

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.