Activated 5th May 2013
Today I was involved in a work-related activity, the Lake Mountain Roller-ski Challenge. I planned to activate nearby Federation Range once free of my other obligations.
I arrived before 9.00am local time at Lake Mountain. The drive from home was pleasant and the weather looked like it may hold out quite nicely. Driving up to the village, the temperature dropped sharply and we disappeared into low cloud. At the car park, a strong biting wind made conditions tough at the top for the competitors. All went well with the Roller-ski Challenge and once the event was concluded I was simply able to grab the radio bag and head for the summit.
In this time, the sun had come out to warm me up a little, the cloud had passed and the wind had died back completely, making the walk to the top rather enjoyable. Upon reaching The Triangle, I wandered around the activation zone, found a rock to sit the gear on, threw the doublet up, and got on the air at my planned activation time.
As soon as I powered up the radio, there was Steve VK3ZYS already on 40m calling for me. We made contact and then I worked through a solid pileup for the next hour, logging 25 stations. No S2S contacts this time however, posting an alert of my planned activation a couple of days ahead on the SOTA website made a difference, with a number of stations hovering for a contact from the start.
Today I was involved in a work-related activity, the Lake Mountain Roller-ski Challenge. I planned to activate nearby Federation Range once free of my other obligations.
I arrived before 9.00am local time at Lake Mountain. The drive from home was pleasant and the weather looked like it may hold out quite nicely. Driving up to the village, the temperature dropped sharply and we disappeared into low cloud. At the car park, a strong biting wind made conditions tough at the top for the competitors. All went well with the Roller-ski Challenge and once the event was concluded I was simply able to grab the radio bag and head for the summit.
In this time, the sun had come out to warm me up a little, the cloud had passed and the wind had died back completely, making the walk to the top rather enjoyable. Upon reaching The Triangle, I wandered around the activation zone, found a rock to sit the gear on, threw the doublet up, and got on the air at my planned activation time.
As soon as I powered up the radio, there was Steve VK3ZYS already on 40m calling for me. We made contact and then I worked through a solid pileup for the next hour, logging 25 stations. No S2S contacts this time however, posting an alert of my planned activation a couple of days ahead on the SOTA website made a difference, with a number of stations hovering for a contact from the start.
