Mt Ritchie VK3/VC-003
Activated 2nd June 2013
I was hoping for better weather today but unfortunately that was not to be. I arrived at the access point to the summit at a hairpin bend on Acheron Way, a locked gate identified as Track 15 next to the Acheron River. As I arrived it started to drizzle then rain. I sat in the car for a while hoping for this to clear and when I had a break, I began my ascent. Track 15 rises steadily, getting quite steep in parts and eventually comes to a wide cleared junction with Track 10. Turn left and head North along Track 10 which continues to rise steadily to the summit almost 5 kilometres away. The summit easy to find where Track 10 runs into Track 1 and is mainly cleared with well spaced mature trees.
The drizzle and rain continued most of the way up and at times low cloud blew across the track making conditions a little unpleasant and adding to the sense of remoteness. I was concerned about how I was going to activate the summit once I arrived. I didn't want to get all the gear out and spend time in the rain setting up and pulling down antennas so I decided to make all contacts on 2 metres just using the HT and resorting to the FT-817 and vertical HF antenna as a last resort if I could not score the minimum four required contacts.
Activated 2nd June 2013
I was hoping for better weather today but unfortunately that was not to be. I arrived at the access point to the summit at a hairpin bend on Acheron Way, a locked gate identified as Track 15 next to the Acheron River. As I arrived it started to drizzle then rain. I sat in the car for a while hoping for this to clear and when I had a break, I began my ascent. Track 15 rises steadily, getting quite steep in parts and eventually comes to a wide cleared junction with Track 10. Turn left and head North along Track 10 which continues to rise steadily to the summit almost 5 kilometres away. The summit easy to find where Track 10 runs into Track 1 and is mainly cleared with well spaced mature trees.
The drizzle and rain continued most of the way up and at times low cloud blew across the track making conditions a little unpleasant and adding to the sense of remoteness. I was concerned about how I was going to activate the summit once I arrived. I didn't want to get all the gear out and spend time in the rain setting up and pulling down antennas so I decided to make all contacts on 2 metres just using the HT and resorting to the FT-817 and vertical HF antenna as a last resort if I could not score the minimum four required contacts.
Wet conditions made the activation challenging
On the way to the summit I was listening to the WIA broadcast on the VK3REC repeater and I radioed in after the callback to notify the listening group of the summit activation. I then switched frequency to 146.500 and the incoming calls began almost immediately. The only problem was that not all of them could hear me. Ron VK3AFW came up first and within a few minutes I had three contacts. I was still getting calls from stations that couldn't hear me including VK3KIS and VK3FAJH which was frustrating. VK3AFW stayed on frequency and tried to assist in getting another contact. At this stage I decided to get the rest of the gear out and set up on 40 metres. As I was rolling out the counterpoise and coax, another call came up on 146.500 Mhz. It was Bernard VK3AMB and we managed the last contact needed to qualify. By this stage I was rain soaked and getting cold but glad I didn't have to set up HF after all. I quickly packed up and made my way back to the car, rain increasing but warming up again as I walked. From where the car was parked to the next car stop along Acheron Way took less than 10 minutes.
Mt Vinegar VK3/VC-005
Activated 2nd June 2013
Activating Mt Vinegar was almost a repeat performance of Mt Richie. The rain was constant as I drove to the gate on Acheron Way at the start of Mt Vinegar Road. I sat in the car for nearly 20 minutes waiting for a break in the rain. As soon as it stopped, I threw on my other dry rain jacket and backpack and started off towards the summit. Mt Vinegar Road starts fairly level for the first few hundred metres but then begins to climb steadily. This is a nice walk but after the first few turns the track became quite slippery in parts due to the heavy rainfall and recent vehicle activity which had churned up a lot of mud. At around the half way mark, Mt Vinegar Rd joins with The Dom Dom Saddle Track that winds east towards Mt Donna Buang. Take the steep right turn and continue to Mt Vinegar summit.
Activated 2nd June 2013
Activating Mt Vinegar was almost a repeat performance of Mt Richie. The rain was constant as I drove to the gate on Acheron Way at the start of Mt Vinegar Road. I sat in the car for nearly 20 minutes waiting for a break in the rain. As soon as it stopped, I threw on my other dry rain jacket and backpack and started off towards the summit. Mt Vinegar Road starts fairly level for the first few hundred metres but then begins to climb steadily. This is a nice walk but after the first few turns the track became quite slippery in parts due to the heavy rainfall and recent vehicle activity which had churned up a lot of mud. At around the half way mark, Mt Vinegar Rd joins with The Dom Dom Saddle Track that winds east towards Mt Donna Buang. Take the steep right turn and continue to Mt Vinegar summit.
Muddy conditions made the track quite slippery
A hint of sunshine near the summit On the way up the rain stopped and the sun came through the clouds, giving me hope for an easier activation than Mt Ritchie but unfortunately, this was short lived. Once again it was my intention to activate the summit using the HT, avoiding setting up an antenna . I was once again able to get into the VK3REC repeater easily and announce my arrival on the summit. Jack VK3WWW and Wayne VK3WAM answered the call and I tried to work them both on 146.500 FM without any success. Again I could hear them but they could not hear me. A couple of other stations also came up on the repeater and we tried simplex without any luck. Wayne was keen for a contact and suggested 2 metres SSB as he could not access 40metres from his home QTH. The drizzle had stopped so I got out the FT-817 and tried 2metres SSB. Once again I could hear both Jack and Wayne but they could not hear me. Wayne came back to me on the repeater and thanked me for trying but now that I was here and half set up, I had no option but to fire up on 40 metres. As soon as the HF vertical antenna was up and tuned, the rain started again. I made the four contacts required with VK3TKZ, VK2UH, VK1DI and VK2UW in four minutes keeping the radio dry and trying to write in a wet log book but managed and quickly packed up the station. I was a lot faster getting back to the car this time and glad to be heading home, tired and wet but satisfied that I had managed to get another 2 summits under my belt in one day under rather trying conditions.
The operating position on Mt Vinegar
A bothy bag would make activations like these much more comfortable. I now have a bothy bag on my shortlist of SOTA equipment required. I also want to get a hand-held Garmin GPS unit instead of relying on Androzic on my Android smartphone as this is heavy on the battery and also misbehaved and locked up a few times on today's adventures. Fortunately, navigating to both these summits was quite straight forward and both summits were directly on the tracks. Any serious bush bashing today would have been rather unpleasant. Despite the weather, wildlife was abundant today. I saw two wallabies a large number of lyrebirds, a deer and a couple of leeches who obviously enjoyed the wet conditions.