Activated 28 November 2013
Mt Majura is a Nature Reserve close to the Canberra suburb of Watson and the closest SOTA summit to most of my work activities during my visit. We drove up to Canberra from Melbourne arriving at around 3.00pm. After checking in at our accommodation we felt like a bit of excersise after sitting all day in the car so we decided to activate Mt Majura.
We accessed the summit from Mt Majura Road and drove a short distance up the sealed track to a gate where we parked and then continued the rest of the way by foot. It was an easy steady climb to the top which took under half an hour. I was surprised by the number of kangaroos and rabbits we saw. On the summit there was plenty of space to spread out and stay clear of any potential RF interference from the aviation radar and other communications infrastructure nearby.
After putting out a few more calls on 2m with no response I switched to 40 metres on the FT-817 and Rob VK1FAST was first to answer the call. Other stations logged were Marc VK3OHM, Ian VK3TCX, Peter VK3FPSR, Matt VK2DAG and Mark VK3YN.
Activated 29 November 2013
We drove up to the top of Mt Ainslie and parked well within the activation zone near the main lookout area. I grabbed the radiogear and backpack and we spent some time taking in the view and eating our lunch before walking down below the viewing area and well below the activation zone before returning and setting up the FT-817 on the summit for 40 metres.
Activated 30 November 2013
Activated 1 December 2013
Similar to the activation at Mt Ainslie I parked at the top and walked down a well formed walking track outside the activation zone before returning and setting up. Dispite the amount of RF infrastructure on the tower and notices in the carpark warning of the possibility of RF interfering with vehicle electronics, I did'nt have any issues on 40 metres and had a surprisingly low S1 noise floor. All contacts were on 40 Metres although I did put out calls on 2 metres to no avail.
Stations logged were all SOTA regulars – Bernard VK3AMB, Ernie VK3DET, Ron VK3AFW, Phil VK3BHR, Kevin VK3KAB and Larry VK5LY. I noticed on SOTAWATCH that Paul VK5PAS spotted me but could not hear me and probably heard Larry and some of the others working me. Hopefully I'll work you on the next activation Paul.