On the 7th April, 2013, I activated the Mount Gawler summit, VK5/ SE-013.  Mount Gawler is located about 32 kms north east of Adelaide.  Despite its name it is located about 26 kms south of the township of Gawler.  The summit is about  8 kms (by road) west of the town of Kersbrook.

Mount Gawler is 541 metres ASL and is worth 2 points.

Mount Gawler is very easy to access off the Mount Gawler Road (between Airstrip Road and Richardson Road).  The actual trig point is located on private property.  I telephoned the owner, Noel, and he kindly allowed me to come onto his land once I explained to him all about SOTA and amateur radio.  He is a nice friendly fella.

I used my yaesu FT-817nd, 5 watts, and my vertical.  I swapped to my BandHopper 40m/20m linked dipole about half way through, and signal reports increased.

I managed a total of 17 QSO’s.  This included my 1st ever Summit to Summit (S2S) QSO with Peter VK3PF/p.  I was really quite excited when Peter gave me a call.

Stations worked were:- Glen VK3YY; Matt VK1MA; & Allen VK3HRA.   And then after the UTC rollover:- VK3PF/p (SOTA); Peter VK3ZPF; Shaun VK5FAKV; Frank VK3GFS; Matt VK1MA; Glen VK3YY; Ian VK3TCX; Peter VK3FPSR; Allen VK3HRA; Ron VK3AFW; Tom VK5EE; Andrew VK2UH; Bernard VK3FABA; & Colin VK5FCJM.