I had intended on activating Carapee Hill, VK5/ -001 during the afternoon of Wednesday, 12th June, 2013. But the weather was not kind, so I wasn’t keen on climbing to the top and getting rained out. So I did activate the Carapee Hill Conservation Park.
The park was established in 1973, and covers an area of about 920 hectares. Carappee Hill, which rises to a height of 495 metres above sea level, covers 63 % of the Conservation Park. The hill is the highest point on the Eyre Peninsula and comprises of pre Cambrian rock. The park had been a Water Conservation Reserve since 1955, and prior to this was leased for grazing purposes.
I worked a total of 9 stations on 40m SSB.
The following stations were worked:- VK3FDJT; Craig VK5LI; John VK5FMJC; Trevor VK5ATW; Nev VK5WG; Ian VK5CZ; Bill VK5MBD; David VK5KC; and Brian VK5ALZ.
I will be back here on my next trip to the Eyre Peninsula, to activate the summit.
My first activation for Wednesday, 12th June, 2013, was Carprie Puntha Hill, VK5/ SW-003.
I had to leave earlier than planned this morning, due to staying att Whyalla overnight and not at Iron Knob. Unfortunately there was just so much rain that the 6km road out to my friend’s station’ Cooyerdoo’ at Iron Knob was impassable.
Carprie Puntha is aboriginal for ‘plenty of water’, and this was certainly the case for the Eyre Peninsula in the past few days. The summit is located on private property owned by Brian PETERS. Access to the summit is through paddocks off the northern side of Hicks Road.
The weather was absolutely lousy this morning. Very wet and windy. Many of the local dirt roads in the area were impassable in a 2wd vehicle. It was a very slow drive out to Brian’s property. There is normally an excellent view from the top of the summit, but the rain and the fog put pay to that.
I set up the 7m squid pole using some moss rocks as support at the base, and tied the ends of the dipole off to the shrubs on the top of the summit. Because the weather was so terrible, I didn’t really plan hanging around for long. I had to ‘hide’ underneath some trees and shrubs to get out of the showers. Must invest in one of those ‘bothie’ bags. But I had plenty of ‘Chasers’ so I stayed around for the UTC rollover.
I ended up with a total of 23 QSO’s on 40m SSB.
Stations worked before the UTC rollover were:- David VK3VDL/m; Ron VK3AFW/m; Ed VK2JI; David VK5KC; Ernie VK3DET; Shaun VK5FAKV; Ian VK5CZ; Peter VK3PF; Col VK5HCF; Fred VK3JM; Nick VK3ANL; John VK5BJE; David VK5LSB; & Peter VK3FPSR.
Stations worked after the UTC rollover were:- Peeter VK3FPSR; Fred VK3JM; Ed VK2JI; Ron VK3AFW/m; Peter VK3PF; Col VK5HCF; David VK5KC; David VK5LSB; and Ian VK5CZ.
VK5PAS 