Talbot Peak VK3/VT-010

Activated 29 September 2013

Having no interest in the AFL Grand Final this weekend, I managed to convince the family to accompany me on an overnight camping trip. Naturally my primary objective was to activate a SOTA summit and the one on my hit list was Talbot Peak, being the closest 10 point summit to home that I hadn't activated so far this year. The weather was looking promising for Sunday, the 3 point bonus was attractive and the clan were eager to do something different so the plan was set.

The kids helped me pack the car early on Saturday morning while my wife shopped for some gourmet camp food and we left home about 9.30 am heading for Walhalla. As we drove along the Princess Freeway, strong wind gusts increased and the weather deteriorated. We were listening to the district police frequency on the way which was busy with reports of trees over roads and strong winds causing damage to powerlines and buildings. With this news we decided to strike camp late in the afternoon which gave us the afternoon to wander around Walhalla, devoid of the usual number of tourists due to the AFL Grand Final.

Anyone interested in telecommunications should visit the displays on show at the Walhalla Post Office. This is a relatively grand timber building and one of the few original surviving buildings of the township's heyday. There is a collection of telephones from vintage to modern with some working examples to play with. Rooms within the building retain much of their original fittings and fixtures. Plenty of photos and information is on display showing how this building was once the third largest post office in Gippsland.

After a couple of hours at Walhalla we drove down to Coopers Creek, a large camping area by the Thompson River that I have used and known for about 30 years. It was disappointing to see the amount of rubbish left by previous camping parties. One camp site was strewn with bottles and cans and a mangled metal frame and cover of a portable gazebo. Vandalised signs erected notify campers of regular DSE and police patrols and that anti-hooning laws are enforced. This hasn't stopped idiots turning the area into a 4WD proving ground and quagmire and ruining the area for everyone to enjoy. A recent home has been built next to The Copper Mine Hotel and the inhabitant has littered a wide surrounding area with derelict Land Rovers, VW Combis and trucks. It is sad to see how this area has deteriorated alarmingly in the past 3-4 years.

After a comfortable night camping we had breakfast and then packed up to head off to the start of the walk to Talbot Peak. We parked at the Mt Erica carpark and set off for an enjoyable and picturesque walk along The Great Alpine Walking Track. On the way to Talbot Peak there are a number of things to check out along the way. Mushroom Rocks is an interesting cluster of granite formations. Some of the rocks known for providing natural shelter for pioneers discovering the beauty of the area in the past. Not far from Mushroom Rocks is a scout hut, locked for use by the general public but in good order and regularly inhabited.

Continuing on from Mushroom Rocks we encountered increasing patches of snow - no problem to walk through but it did make the track slushy and muddy in parts. Not far from the peak of Mt Erica and a short distance off the main trail is a small cairn inset with a plaque commemorating marathon runner Geoffrey Mathieson Watt. Geoff Watt was a well travelled marathoner and father of Olympic cyclist Kathy Watt. He perished at Mt Erica in September 1969 while on a training run.

  Another diversion for the kids was to find the Mt Erica trig point set into a rock not far from the wooden sign. From here on the rest of the walk to Talbot peak was fast after we had something to eat. The track came to a T junction. Turning right and heading down the hill a short distance will bring you to the remnant chimney of Talbot Hut. At the junction an old tin sign indicates the distance to Mt St Phillack in miles. About 100 meters beyond here look closely through the trees to your left and you may be able to pick out the old metal trig tower. Leaving the track here I found a nice rock to set the radio on and quickly erected the vertical HF antenna and tapped it for 40 metres.

I was on the air right on my scheduled time of 0200z and worked Andrew VK1NAM/3 on Mt Bride quickly followed by Peter VK3PF on Mt Tassie. I then quickly worked through a steady flow of regular SOTA contacts including Allen VK3HRA/M in transit between summits and Glenn VK3YY and Peter VK3ZPF jointly activating Mt St Phillack nearby. My last S2S contact was with Ian VK1DI/2 n VK2/ST-015. I kept the activation short for the sake of the family and worked a total of 22 stations in as many minutes before packing up and heading back. Thanks to those I worked and well done to the chasers that allowed me to work you all quickly.

I was pleased that my kids hiked strongly today and enjoyed the sites and the snow along the way. At no time did they waiver. A major factor in the success of this activation was not telling the kids too much about the walk or the distance they would be trekking. Had they known, my eldest would have probably done anything to get out of it.

Fortunately the threat to watch the entire AFL Grand Final on TV is greater torture than the adventure of camping and bush walking and we were able to succeed.

I highly recommend this summit if you have a young family in tow. There are numerous picturesque spots to camp if part of your plan is to activate Talbot Peak and Mt St Phillack together as a weekend activation.

The local weather forecast was looking rather uncertain for the past week but it seemed to have turned out better than expected. With the close of winter and the days getting warmer, it has been a good time to get out and make the most of the bonus points on some of the higher peaks. This seems to have fuelled a fair amount of SOTA activity including a string of midweek activations from Mitch VK3FMDV and Rik VK3KAN. I was fortunate enough to be handy to the radio at home during the week and bagged some worthwhile chaser points.

The weekend was busy with a few multi summit activations from Tony VK3CAT, Andrew VK2ONZ and Kevin VK3KAB all appearing a number of times in my log. Some of these contacts I made from home and I was fortunate enough to pack the gear out on both Saturday and Sunday aftternoons for some portable operating.

On Saturday I went to Warrandyte State Park and set myself up in an elevated spot near Pound Bend. I managed to get the doublet strung between a couple of trees just the way I wanted and had some good contacts on 40 metres as well as a few more summits when they appeared on the band.

I've heard reports that we are on the downside of the current sunspot cycle and that it is not going to last as long as some previous ones, but propogation conditions seem most favourable to me lately. When things quietened off a little on 40 metres mid afternoon, I decided to have a tune around the bands. There was no joy on 15 metres but from mid afternoon 20 metres was jumping with DX.

My first DX contact for the afternoon was Andy RG4F who came back to me with a 55 report. Shortly later things really started to pick up and I had a very comfortable QSO with Andy SP8BRQ in Poland who surprised me with a 58 report. Next was Angelo IS0FDW with a 57 report followed by Victor RX1A in St Petersburg who gave me a 54 report. These were all contacts where I had to jump in and battle with much larger stations in the pileup but still managed to get through. Before packing up for the day, I found a quiet spot on 14.208 Mhz and put out a single CQ call. Ralf DL3EA came straight back to me with a 56 report.

This was the best DX session I have had operating DX with nothing more than 5 watts. I amazed myself as well as most of the stations I worked.

Sunday was similar. I was in need of a decent walk and took off towards the city and ended up at the Studley Park Boathouse. The area was packed with people so I left the car there and went for a nice hike along some of the river tracks and found a nice elevated spot away from the RF and people noise and set up the HF vertical antenna and had a short play on 40 meters. I had one SOTA contact with Kevin VK3KAB on VK3/VN-002 before packing up and walking around Dights Falls and eventually back acrossthe foot bridge near the boathouse aroud the park land past the Yarra Bend Golf Club.

Following the road across the Eastern Freeway, I found another elevated spot high up overlooking the Merri Creek and errected the vertical antenna once again. Signal reports on 40 metres this time were better and again I tried 20 metres.

Most of my portable DX contacts have been on the doublet in the past and I have really only worked a couple of ZL stations before with the vertical. Today was different. I wasn't expecting to do quite as well but I bagged the following: Janez S51DX in Slovenia with 59 both ways, Peter DL5SAM who dropped his power to 5 watts with 56 report sent and 57 report received, Oleg RY3D with a 55 report, Rene DD2VO giving a 54 report and Ivan OE3DIA in Vienna with a 57 report.

It was a fitting end to my afternoon of radio with the last contact being another portable station, Lucy M6ECG/p about 90km northeast of London who was operating from the beach at low tide near her home, QRP with a vertical antenna. It's a constant surprise to me how well 5 watts can work and what is possible when the bands are open.

  Once again it has been a busy weekend of SOTA and other QRP activity on the HF bands. I have been steadily accumulating chaser points and decided that this weekend I just had to crack 1000 chaser points and achieve Shack Sloth status.

I was off to a flying start on Saturday morning from home working Mitch VK3FMDV both sides of the new UTC day on Mt Torbreck for a very handy 10 points a time. I also worked Mike VK3MEV from Dingo Ridge.

A little later grabbed the chance to escape the high noise floor of the home QTH and get down to my favourite local outdoor operating spot by the banks of the Yarra River for a couple of hours casual operating with greatly improved receiving conditions. Comfortably set up with the doublet strung high between perfectly spaced oak trees I worked Mitch once again, this time on Pyramid Hill for another 8 points. This was quickly followed by Mark VK3PI on Mt St Leonard.

A short time later I had a good QRP contact with Peter VK3YE operating with a magnetic loop from a park near his QTH.

I had a play around on 15 meters without much luck and waited for conditions to pick up on 20 metres mid afternoon. It was probably a little early to work Europe but there was some strong contest stations making the distance easily. There were good signals coming in from across the Pacific so I listened for a while before putting out a successful call to Paul W7COH near Salt Lake City in Utah who came back to me with a 56 report. We had a very relaxed and easy conversation both ways and he was quite surprised at the consistency and quality of my 5 watt signal. With another great flea-powered DX achieved, it was time to pack up and head home as it was overcast and rain was threatening by this stage.

My last SOTA contact for Saturday afternoon from the home QTH was Perrin VK3XPT on Mt Donna Buang on his first summit activation. I listened to Perrin efficiently work a steady stream of chasers with good reports all round. A job well done and an activator that I expect we will hear a lot more from.

  With some promised VK4 activity early on Sunday morning posted on SOTAWATCH, the opportunity to bag my first VK4 summit meant that sleeping in was not an option. The old Kenwood TS-530S was warmed up in the shack with anticipation. Virtually right on schedule Brendan VK4FADI and Glenn VK4FSCC appeared on 7.090 mhz, way down in the noise and barely readable. I was one of the first to jump up and have a go and was heard by them but I was unable to confirm my report back, so I thanked them for now and cleared the frequency to let them work the pileup.

This was the motivation to throw the gear in the car and head back down to my riverside spot and hopefully work them before they disappeared or band conditions deteriorated. Around an hour later I was set up by the river with FT-817 and the doublet roughly broadside to VK4 and Brendan and Glenn were still there, perfectly readable. This time I was able to complete a contact with them easily and give them a 51 report. These guys worked VK4/SE-041 brilliantly between them for a generous amount of time giving all chasers a chance to work them. I was monitoring them back and forth between other contacts and they were hanging in there, moving frequency a few times to avoid the VK6 WIA broadcast and callback on 7.088 mhz and other stronger stations that were wiping them out from time to time.

My next notable contact was with Peter VK3YE pedestrian portable by the beach close to his home with his QRP aspirated magnetic loop working consistently well as he wandered around on the sand, out on the pier and then in the water up to his knees as we conversed. Peter tried to work the VK4 SOTA stations and just wasn't quite making it. He did however have some other fine QRP contacts with good reports that I could hear.

As usual there was an increased level of activity around the UTC rollover. Before then I worked Ed VK2JI on VK2/HU-093 and Glen VK1FB in VK1/AC-008.  At 0001z I worked Glen again for another 8 points. This was followed by Ed once again whose 1 point summit might not have meant much to some but gave me my 1000th chaser point and elevated me to Shack Sloth status. Thank you Ed.

Meanwhile Brendan VK4FADI and Glenn VK4FSCC were still operating after the UTC rollover on their summit and I managed to make contact again with Brendan at 0005z in deteriorating conditions, giving him a 31 report this time. I had a few more casual contacts with SOTA regulars before pulling the station down and heading back home for lunch.

It was inevitable that as soon as I packed up I would miss a couple of worthwhile activators and I missed Tony VK3CAT on Federation Range and Glenn VK3YY on Mt Dom Dom for some easy points, but that's the way it goes!

Special thanks to the stations I worked today and those that hung around after the UTC rollover to help me achieve this goal. Maybe for the next 1000 I'll try to work everyone from a 10 point summit and if luck has it's way I'll be able to help another chaser reach a milestone. Now I can think about my next appearance on a summit to keep those activator and S2S points rolling along. Sounds like a plan!

73

These two summits were on the planning list for awhile. Within striking distance of home and attractive because they are both worth 8 points plus winter bonus and are within range of each other within a day.

With the regular Saturday morning ferrying of the kids to choir classes and duties at the school fund raising sausage-sizzle out the front of our polling booths out of the way, I had some time to contemplate this twin activation if the weather was looking like holding out, which it did. I posted my alerts on SOTAWATCH at 4.30am on Sunday morning after checking the weather radar and deciding to go for it.

Bill Head VK3/VN-004

Activated 8 September 2013.

  It was a leisurely drive along Maroondah Highway with a few foggy patches around Croydon on the way. The roads were quiet and from the time I turned into Snobs Creek Road I did not see another vehicle or person for the whole time. I planned to do Bill Head first and headed up Conn Gap Road in the Triton for about 3.5 km and found a clearing to park. I walked from here about another 1.3 km where the road levelled off and from this point I left the road and headed in a westerly direction for about 550 metres through bush to the summit. This was a relatively easy bush-bash and a steady climb through new forest regrowth, patches of blackberries and burnt fallen timber from a bushfire.

On reaching the summit I decided to deploy the doublet as there were plenty of well spaced trees to use. I found a nice rock to prop the gear on and threw my lines up for the antenna. My throws were not the best and I lost a fair amount of my lines in a massive tangle before managing to get the antenna up at all. The result was a less than desirable situation with one side of the antenna pulled through the foliage and finishing pathetically low to the ground. With UTC rollover only minutes away and hearing a number of summits on the air that I wanted to work, I tried to tune the antenna but had real difficulty in getting the SWR under 3:1 which explained the ordinary signal reports that I received from a number of stations. None the less I pressed on and worked 17 stations in as many minutes with 6 of those being S2S contacts.

With this mission accomplished I packed up and headed back down to the car, this time picking up an overgrown fire track part of the way which made navigating back a little faster. After having a break back at the car and something to eat and drink, I headed back down to Snobs Creek Road and parked near the gated start of Mt Bullfight.

Mt Bullfight VK3/VN-002

Mt Bullfight is accessed via Mt Bullfight Road, a seasonally closed road which is a pleasant walk. Parts of the track were awash with water run-off and there were some large deep puddles of water across the whole track up in the higher reaches. I can appreciate why the road is closed to vehicles during winter as it would quickly deteriorate with too much traffic. The road begins to level off after about 3km of walking and you will pass two green Mt Bullfight signs, one on either side of the track. Keep going for another 300 metres or so and the bush thins out a little and you will see another green Mt Bullfight sign. This is the point where I left the track and headed south, climbing to the left of the first hill with several prominent granite boulders around the top. Beyond this hill the route levelled off for a while before the last steady climb to the summit.

This off track walk was over 1 km and I could imagine some people walking in could get disorientated. This is not a summit to activate if you are unsure of your navigating skills and it is unlikely that you will hike out along the exact route you walked in. Take a real compass and don't rely solely on your smartphone apps or handheld GPS. I had no phone coverage and the batteries in my Magellan died. This is by far the longest off track bush-bashing I've done to reach any summit to date and one that I certainly didn't want to get into problems on. In addition to this, the display on my Wouxun HT went all weird and then blank. It still had TX and RX functions but was otherwise flying blind. I had to scan and wait until it found a signal and then put out a call and ask what repeater I was on. All of this added to a feeling of remoteness and helplessness if there was a severe change in weather, a serious injury or some other problem arising. It was comforting to have reliable contact on the Mt Wombat repeater and have a good chat with Peter VK3PF on his way home from the Shepparton Hamfest whilst I was crashing my way to the summit.

The bush-bashing had sapped some of my strength. I found a comfortable rock not far from the summit but definitely within the activation zone. With similar site conditions to the first activation of the day, I set up again but this time used the vertical antenna and had it up in a fraction of the time. Whilst laying out the counterpoise wires I disturbed an ant nest and sent thousands of the little critters into a frenzy. I watched them at work from time to time during the activation and they settled down considerably again over the hour or so I was there.

This time around, my signal reports were better and contacts were easier. Conditions on 40 metres seemed to vary quite a lot with QSB at times and then some skip when a couple of ZL stations appeared on top of me, oblivious to my puny signal and coming in quite strongly for around 10 minutes or so before fading away again. The weather was fine and the sun was out in cloudless blue skies with virtually no wind. Perfect winter conditions for portable operating.

Once set up I tuned around and plucked off the other summit stations I could hear. VK1RX/2 on VK2/ST-001 was the first followed by the two Andrews VK1DA & VK1NAM both on VK1/AC-026. These were the only S2S contacts this time around out of a total of 17 contacts. When things quietened down I packed up and headed out, relying on just a traditional compass and the bearings I'd taken on the way in. I found my way back to Mt Bullfight Road and came out about 50 metres away from where I'd walked in. The walk down to the car was relatively quick and felt easy after over 2 km of bush-bashing.

Thanks to all the stations I worked. It was a good day for chasing and S2S contacts. At this rate, I'm only weeks away from becoming a Shack Sloth even though most contacts have been made when I’ve been on a summit or operating portable. Catch you on another peak soon.

Father's Day gave me the chance to take my portable kit to a family picnic and work a good number of summits while enjoying a nice bottle of wine and a sumptuous lunch. SOTA activity has certainly picked up now that VK2 and VK4 are up and running and it was great to work a number of VK2 summits and welcome a number of new activators to the fray. All up I worked 11 activators on 9 summits over 2 periods on Father's Day. Not a bad effort and certainly good for racking up chaser points. At this rate I will attain Mountain Goat status in a few weeks.

My first VK2 summit contact was with Andrew VK1NAM/p on VK2/ST-001. A little later I worked my first VK2 station, Andrew VK2 ONZ/p on VK2/IL-017. Other VK2 summit stations worked included John VK2YW/p on VK2/RI-026, Rod VK2LAX/p & ED VK2JI/p both on VK2/HU-093,Bernard VK2IB/p on VK2/RI-004. Great to hear a good number of stations working VK2 summits for the first time. If it wasn't for Father's Day, I would have expected even more would have been on the air. Well done Guys.