This afternoon was such a terrific afternoon weather wise that I decided to venture out and head east up the South Eastern Freeway, & activate the Ferries McDonald Conservation Park.  The park is situated about 60 kms east of Adelaide, and about 20 kms south west of Murray Bridge.  Its not that far from my home qth.  Access is either via Chaunceys Line Road via the town of Hartley, or via Ferries McDonald Road via Monarto South.

Ferries McDonald Conservation Park covers an area of about 860 hectares and contains one of the few pieces of remnant Mallee vegetation close to Adelaide.  It is important as it has never been cleared for farming, and is an example of the original vegetation of the area.  Within the park there are numerous bird species (over 60 have been recorded), echidnas, marsupial mouse, and Western Grey kangaroos.  It is also home to the highly endangered malleefowl.  Although I didn’t see one, I did go for a walk prior to setting up and I saw one of their nests which are built on the ground as a mound.  The park is named after Mr. Ferries and Mr. McDonald who donated the land for conservation, last century.

I accessed the park via Chaunceys Line Road, and set up the gear near the carpark at the eastern end of Chaunceys Line.  As per usual I used the FT-817nd, just 5 watts output, and my dipole.  There are plenty of trees here to hang the ends of the legs from, and I used a couple of big rocks to hold the 7m squid pole in place.  The park contains thick mallee and other Mt Lofty Ranges vegetation, including gums.

I started off on 40m and my 1st QSO of the day was with Gary, VK5ZK, down at beautiful Goolwa.

My 2nd QSO of the day was with Peter VK3PF, who advised that by working me had had racked up his 10 points, thus qualifying for the Bronze level of the VK5 National & Conservation Parks Award.  Congratulations Peter on becoming the first interstate operator (and in fact the first ever) on getting to Bronze as a “Hunter”.  I know there are plenty of other guys knocking on the door as ‘Hunters’, and most of those are from VK3, which is great to see.

I also spoke with Ian VK5CZ who again was using just 100 milliwatts from up at Clare.  Ian was an excellent signal (5/6) even on such low power.  From Ian’s QTH in the Clare Valley, to my portable location in the park, was a distance of about 200 kms.

Also made contact with John, VK5BJE/p who was operating from the Mylor Conservation Park.  This was John’s second park for the day.  I had worked him earlier in the afternoon before leaving home, when he was in the Sir Mark Oliphant CP in the Adelaide Hills.  Well done John on getting out and about and activating 2 parks.

I also spoke with Brian VK5FMID down in Mount Gambier, who lowered his power down to 2 watts, and I lowered my power down to the lowest setting on the 817nd (half a watt), and we were able to comfortably talk with each other on 40m.

After the activity on 40m had slowed down, I slid over to 20m to see if I could pull in any DX, but I was sadly disappointed.  I could hardly hear anything coming in on the LP from Europe.  There were stations there but they were very light.  I had to run the antenna through the antenna analyser a few times, just to make sure I didn’t have a fault, but everything was okay.  I then heard a few Europeans comment that the band was poor, so that made me feel a little bit better.

So I switched back to 40m and made a few more contacts until the sun went down and the mozzies came out.  My last QSO of the day was with Bob VK6KRC.  By the end of the afternoon, I ended up 33 QSO’s into VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK6, & VK7 on 40m, and just 1 QSO on 20m into VK6.  I packed up my gear and headed home to a waiting meal of Noddle Box, a nice hot coffee, and a few glasses of port.

This is the list of stations worked:-

Gary VK5ZK; Peter VK3PF; Marshall VK3MRG; Andy VK5LA; Wayne VK7NET/m; John VK5FTCT; Shaun VK5FAKV; Allen VK3HRA/m; Ian VK5CZ; Col VK5HCF; Nick VK3ANL; Ken VK3HKV; Kas VK5ZKT; John VK5BJE/p; Darren VK2NNN; Steve VK3MEG; Ian VK3VIN; Jim VK5JW/qrp (5 watts); John VK2YW; Wayne VK7NET (at home); Dean VK2FLYS; Brian VK5FMID; Frank VK3FADI/qrp (5 watts); Ray VK3NBL; Don VK7DON; Peter VK5KPR; Rex VI103WIA; Andrew VK2UH; Peter VK5NAQ; Andrew VK7AD; Colin VK4FAAS; Kev VK2KEV/m; Noel VK3NDX; and Bob VK6KRC.

Another great afternoon out.  Plenty of stations called in which is great and lots of interest in the VK5 Parks Award, which is even better.

After packing up at Sandy Creek CP and saying see ya later to Andy VK5AKH, I started heading home through the Adelaide Hills.  My wife Marija had told me about another park that I was going to pass on the way home, so I took this as a ‘you have permission to stop in there on the way home‘, which is exactly what I did.

Hale Conservation Park is situated about 60kms north east of Adelaide.  It is located a few kms south of the town of Williamstown.  Access is via the Mount Pleasant Road.  The park has a diverse landscape and steep rocky ridges, and is the home to some of Australia’s more secretive mammals.  It conserves the oyster bay cypress pine.

There are some challenging walking trails in the park which provide spectacular views of the South Para Valley and the South Para Reservoir.  The trail to the South Para River passes from the highlands to the river crossing while the trail to the north eastern boundary of the park follows the creek line to emerge in grasslands on the outskirts of Williamstown.

When I first arrived at the park, there were 2 other cars in the carpark.  I think they were 2 young lovers.  But they didn’t hang around for long.  The sight of some fella carrying a squid pole into the bush and the sounds of goats bleating (from SOTA Goat), got the better of them, and off they went to a more quiet location !

I set up the Bandhopper 40m/20m dipole on the 7m squid pole, and used my Yaesu FT-817nd with 5 watts.  There are plenty of trees here so there were no problems with getting the ends of the legs of the dipole up off the ground.

I had a steady flow of ‘hunters’ who responded to my CQ call, and I ended up with 16 QSO’s, all on 40m.  Included one QSO with Lamont in Gisborne in NEW ZEALAND.  Really good conditions between the 2 of us, with 5/8 both ways.

It was a great little spot where I was set up and there was quite a bit of natural lightning, as it was almost a full moon.  But the cold weather got the better of me, and I headed home to the warmth, and spent there remainder of the evening watching the AFL on the TV.

Stations worked were:-

Hans VK5YX; Ian VK5CZ/m; John VK5FTCT; Nev VK5WG; Rod VK5FTTC; Brian VK3MCD/m; Matt VK1MA; Mark VK3YN; Steve VK3MEG; Michel VK3KVW; Shaun VK5FAKV; Bill VK7SV; Lamont ZL2ALK; Paul VK5FUZZ; Urey VK3ATA; and Roy VK7ROY.

On Saturday, the 25th May, 2013, I journeyed up to Riverton, about 130 kms north of home, for a get together lunch with Ian VK5CZ and Andy, VK5AKH. We had an enjoyable lunch at the Riverton Hotel, and a chat, and spoke a bit about the direction of SOTA in South Australia.

Riverton is a great little town situated in the mid north of S.A. in the Gilbert Valley.  It only has a population of about 720 people.  But in its heyday it was a very busy place, as it was situated on the bullock track to Adelaide, from the mining town of Burra.

I had intended activating the Sandy Creek Conservation Park later that afternoon on the way home, and Andy showed his interest in coming along as well.  Over lunch, Ian then decided he would activate the Spring Gully Conservation Park on his way home

Following lunch, Ian headed west back to Clare, and Andy & I headed south to the Sandy Creek CP, which is located about 60 kms north east of Adelaide, between Gawler and Lyndoch in the southern Barossa Valley.  Access is via the Barossa Valley Highway.

We soon worked out why it is called Sandy Creek.  The soil here is certainly very sandy !  Funny that.  The Sandy Creek Conservation Park is surrounded by farmland, vineyards and deep sand mining pits.   It is established on gently undulating sand dunes with occasional creeks.  It conserves some of the last remaining vegetation of the sandy soil lowlands of the Barossa Valley.

Several walking trails through the native pine and pink gum allow you to explore the park. There is plenty of wildlife in the park including western grey kangaroos. The richness and diversity of the park’s birdlife makes it particularly significant for naturalists and birdwatchers.  Unfortunately, bird populations are in decline due to the changing habitat.

Andy and I set up the Bandhopper 40m/20m linked dipole, using the 7m squid pole as support.  No problems here with putting the pole holder into the ground.  We used Andy’s Elecraft KX3, which is a great transceiver, and just 5 watts output.

Our first QSO’s were with Col VK5HCF and Brian VK5FMID down at the Ewens Ponds Conservation Park, in the south east of South Australia.  Col and Brian have been active supporters of the VK5 Parks Award.  It was great to speak to them and have them in the log.

Ian VK5CZ then gave us a call from the Spring Gully CP, and we slowly wound back the power at both ends from 5 watts down to 100 milliwatts and were still able to hear each other very well.

Our next QSO was with Doug using the special event call of VI130WIA for the 2013 WIA National Conference in Perth, W.A.  This was a good one to have in the log.

Next we spoke with Marshall VK3MRG/p who was on top of Suger Loaf peak, VK3/ VN-011, in Victoria.  Marshall had a great signal, with very little QSB.

Andy and I were just in the process of packing up and taking down the antenna, when a goat bleated from my iphone from SOTA Goat.  It was a spot for Wayne VK3WAM.  So the 2nd leg of the dipole was strung back up in the trees and we made contact with Wayne who was on the top of Mount Disappointment, VK3/ VC-014.  Signals were very good…5/8 both ways.

Matt VK1MA then asked us to QSY down 10, so we spoke with Matt, and then kept getting calls following that.  Which was great, but nature was calling, and unfortunately we had to go QRT.  Ended up with 13 QSO’s, all on 40m SSB.

The following is a list of stations worked:-

Col VK5HCF; Brian VK5FMID; Peter VK3ZPF; Peter VK3PF; Ian VK5CZ; Doug VI103WIA; Marshall VK3MRG/p; Wayne VK3WAM/p; Matt VK1MA; Allen VK3HRA; Paul VK3IH; VK3YN; and Peter VK5KPR.

After activating the Swan Reach Conservation Park (Saturday 11th May 2013), I drove to the Ridley Conservation Park, which is a short distance from the Swan Rch CP.  The park is access off Murraylands Road which runs parallel to the Murray River.  There are spectacular views of the Murray and the white cliffs on the eastern side of the road as you travel towards the park.

This park, which is a narrow but long strip of thick mallee, was created partly for the protection of the wombat.  And although I didn’t see any, there is certainly plenty of evidence of a lot of them being around…there were a heap of burrows.  The southern end of the park is a little more sparse with vegetation.

There are no amenities at this park.

Again I used the Yaesu FT-817nd, 5 watts and the 40m dipole n the 7m squid pole.  I found a little bit of shade and set up the deck chair and propped the radio up on a piece of dead mallee. The weather was unseasonably warm…about 32 deg C.  Although no wombats were seen, again I saw quite a few kangaroos and lots of Mallee ringneck parrots.

Band conditions were even better than at Swan Rch CP.  I worked 21 stations on 40m, including Mark VK5QI/p and Joel VK5FJMS/p who were both camping down at the Deep Creek Conservation Park.  And also Wayne VK3WAM/p who was on the top of SOTA VK3 VE-204 (The Paps).

Stations worked were:- Peter VK3PF; Ron VK3AFW; Peter VK3ZPF; Rod VK5FTTC; Mark VK3YN; Joel VK5FJMS/p; Glen VK3YY; Ian VK3VIN; Mark VK5QI/p; Bill VK5MBD; Andrew VK2UH; John VK2YW; Allen VK3HRA; Mark VK1MDC; Peter VK5KPR; Peter VK5NAQ; Ian VK5CZ; Rod VK5FTTC; Brenton VK3CM, Bernard VK3FABA, & Wayne VK3WAM/p (SOTA).

Ridley CP is  a great park for camping & playing on the radio.  If you don’t like mallee, wombats, and birds, then it probably won’t be for you.  But it was very quiet and does not appear to be used very often.  A really fun afternoon with terrific conditions on 40m.  Would have loved to have stayed longer, but had to go QRT when it got dark at 6.00 p.m.  And I had a 90 minute drive back home.

Yesterday (Saturday 11th May, 2013) I had to go up to Mannum to pick up a camping fridge for my brother in law, so I decided to drive a few extra kms and activate some parks for the VK5 Nat & Cons Parks Award.

First up was the Swan Reach Conservation Park, which is situated about 168 kms north east of Adelaide, and 11 kms west of the town of Swan Reach on the Murray River.  The park consists of of thick mallee scrub, off the Swan reach-Sedan Road.  Plenty of bird life here (of the feathered variety), kangaroos and a large wombat population.  Saw quite a few kangaroos but no wombats.  There are no facilities in this park and there are no major signs on the main road to indicate where it is.

Set up the little Yaesu FT-817nd and my dipole.  Conditions were very good on 40m.  I managed 17 QSO’s, with quite a few highlights.  This included 3 SOTA contacts with Marshall VK3MRG, Allen VK3HRA, & Wayne VK3WAM.  And contacts with Dave VK5DGR, Mandy VK3FMOO, and Mark VK5QI, who were all portable down at Deep Creek Conservation Park.  And also Col VK5HCF and Brian VK5FMID who were portable down at Telford Scrub Conservation Park.  I was Mandy VK5FMOO’s first every HF contact so that was a real pleasure.

Stations worked were:- Marshall VK3MRG/p (SOTA); Dave VK5DGR/p (in Deep Ck CP); Col VK5HCF/p in CP); Rob VK8RC/m2; Mandy VK5FMOO/p (in Deep Ck CP); Allen VK3HRA/p (SOTA VK3/VC-018); Roy VK5NRG; Fred VK3JM; Peter VK3PF; Andy VK5AKH; Mark VK5QI/p (Deep Ck CP); Mal VK3AZZ; Ed VK2JI; Wayne VK3WAM/p (SOTA VK3/VE-137); John VK2YW; Ron VK3AFW; & Ray VK3NBL.