The results are out for the 2015 John Moyle Field Day (JMMFD).  I am pleased to report that I came first in the Six Hour Portable Operation-Single Operator (PHONE HF) section.

The JMMFD is a great contest, the aim of which is to “encourage and provide familiarisation with portable and field operation, and provide training for emergency situations”.

More info on my activation can be found at…..

https://vk5pas.org/2015/03/23/coorong-np-and-the-john-moyle-field-day-2015/

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More information on the JMMFD can be found at…..

http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/johnmoyle/

Today via email I received the certificate below from the Belgian Flora and Fauna Association.  This particular certificate was issued to me for working 10 different ONFF references.  It is Class 3/Bronze.

The next step is Class 2/Silver – 25 different ONFF references, then Class 1/Gold which is 50 different ONFF references.

More information on the ONFFA program can be found at…..

http://www.onff.be/

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Last night (Tuesday 28th April 2015) after work I headed over to the Morialta Conservation Park which is situated about 10 km east of Adelaide.  I had been kindly asked by Bob VK5FO on behalf of the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group to participate in operating from the park with the special call of VI5ANZAC.

Above:- Map showing the location of Morialta CP.  Map courtesy of mapcarta.com

Morialta Conservation Park is 533 hectares in size and contains three seasonal waterfalls along Fourth Creek.  The first two falls are the grandest, each cascading over sheer quartzite cliffs after rain.  The park contains a wide variety of wildlife including kangaroos, echidnas and wombats.  For more information on the park, please see…..

http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/Find_a_Park/Browse_by_region/Adelaide_Hills/Morialta_Conservation_Park

The park is celebrating its 100 year anniversary this year.  For more information please see…..

http://www.fobhm.org/morialta100years/

I travelled down towards the end of Moores Road and upon arrival I met up with Bob VK5FO and Gary VK5FGRY who were in the final stages of setting up some antennas.  We were on air just after 6.00 p.m. local time, and it was just after getting on air, that Andy VK5AKH also arrived.  Very soon after, Ray VK5RR also arrived.  Later in the evening Grant VK5GR arrived and operated on 2m and 70cm.

Above:- Map showing our operating spot.  Map courtesy of mapcarta.com

We operated for just over 3 hours on 160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 2m & 70 cm and logged 73 contacts.  It was quite slow going on all of the bands, but despite this all signals were quite good.  Equipment used were two Elecraft KX3 transceivers and a selection of dipole antennas.

The evening’s activation qualified for both the VK5 National and Conservation Parks Award and the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.

More details can be found on Bob VK5FO’s site at…..

http://vk5fo.com/314/vi5anzac-activation-report

And also at the AREG site at……

http://www.areg.org.au/?p=1229

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Late yesterday afternoon (Sunday 26th April 2015) I rushed home from work (obeying the speed limit) and packed the 4WD and headed down the road to the Monarto Conservation Park, VKFF-828.  I have activated this park many times before but I wanted to activate the park with the special AX prefix for the ANZAC Day weekend.

Above:- Map showing the location of Monarto CP.  Map courtesy of mapcarta.com

I was hoping to activate the Belair National Park on Saturday after work, but the weather all day on Saturday was terrible.  We had lots of rain both in Adelaide and up in the Mount Lofty Ranges.  Fortunately the rain had cleared by Sunday afternoon, so all systems were go.

For this activation I used my Yaesu FT-857d and the 40m/20m linked dipole on the top of the 7 metre squid pole for this activation.  I set up in my usual spot, the north eastern corner of the park, just off Ferries McDonald Road.

I was set up in the park ready to go by 4.30 p.m.  I struggled to find a clear frequency on 20m as there was a JA Contest running and the JA stations were very strong and were spread across the 20m band.  But I did eventually find 14.274 clear and started calling CQ there.  My first taker was John VK5BJE in the Adelaide Hills.  John had responded to an SMS message I had sent out to some of the keen VK5 Parks hunters.  The SMS alerting system that I employ seems to work very well.  This was followed by Rod AX2TTL and then my first DX contact Xaver DK4RM in Germany, followed by Swa ON5SWA in Belgium.

I was kindly spotted on the DX Cluster by some of the DX stations and this resulted in a steady flow of callers from Europe, North America, and Japan.  Unfortunately after operating for about 15 minutes a JL1 station came up 1 kc below me and started calling CQ Contest, and this resulted in a lot of QRM and made it incredibly difficult to pick out anybody who did not have a strong signal.

But I boxed on and managed 33 contacts, before having a tune around the 20m band and found VI4AE2 calling CQ on 14.269.  This was a special call for the ANZAC commemorations, particularly to commemorate the service of the officers and sailors aboard the Royal Australian Navy submarine HMAS AE2 who fought gallantly in the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmora for just 5 days before being blown to the surface by the Turkish torpedo boat Sultanhisar.

I then headed up to 14.310 and started calling CQ DX again.  My first contact there was with John VK2FR, followed by UR7ET in Ukraine, and then Pehr OH6IU.  I was kindly placed on the DX cluster by Albert S58AL and this resulted in many of the European park hunters giving me a call.  I worked a total of 15 stations in Europe, USA, and Canada on this frequency until being pushed off the frequency by another contester.

So I tuned around the band and found VI6ANZAC calling CQ on 14.145.  It was great to get a second ANZAC special event call in the log and it was certainly  a very strong signal coming in from Western Australia.

I then lowered the squid pole and put the links in on the 40m/20m linked dipole and found 7.150 clear.  I asked if the frequency was in use and before I even got the opportunity to call CQ, I was called by Paul AX5FUXX at Wellington on the Murray River.  This was followed by Adrian AX5FANA on the Yorke Peninsula, and then Tony AX5FTVR at Strathalbyn.

I worked a further 31 stations in VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK6 & VK7.  It was pleasing to see a number of the VK’s using the special AX prefix for the ANZAC Day weekend.  We only get to use the special AX prexix, three times a year: Australia Day, ANZAC Day, and World Telecommunications Day.

I have a special AX prefix ANZAC Day QSL card on offer.

• For VK stations, please QSL Direct to PO Box 169 Mount Barker SA 5251.  Please include a stamped self addressed envelope.

• For DX, please QSL via my QSL Manager, M0OXO.

After sitting in the park for about 2 & 1/2 hours I had a total of 84 stations in the log, including 42 DX contacts.  Again it was very pleasing to get a handful of calls from the USA and Canada.

The following stations were worked on 40m SSB:-

1. AX5FUZZ
2. AX5FANA
3. AX5FTVR
4. AX5FDEC
5. AX6VSH
6. AX5NIG
7. AX3FASW
8. VK5FCDL
9. VK3PMG
10. VK3YJK
11. VK2YK
12. VK2VIM/4
13. VK3HJD
14. VK3HRA
15. VK5ZEA
16. VK5LI
17. VK5NPP
18. AX4TE
19. VK3LJ
20. AX2JCC
21. AX3BBB
22. VK3DAC
23. VK4FBMW
24. AX3ANL
25. AX4QQ
26. VK3FNCE
27. VK7ROY
28. VK2UW
29. VK2PV
30. VK5MJ
31. AX3PF
32. VK6MB
33. VK3OF
34. VK2FMIA

The following stations were worked on 20m SSB:-

1. VK5BJE
2. AX2TTL
3. DK4RM
4. ON5SWA
5. VK6EY
6. IK1GPG
7. I5FLN
8. F2YT
9. S58AL
10. IZ2FOS
11. DF1YQ
12. ON6PV
13. DF9OO
14. PB5X
15. DL2ND
16. G0RQL
17. S52KM
18. W1OW
19. ON5JE
20. IW1PNJ
21. DL4PT
22. HB9QT
23. EA1DR
24. DL5WW
25. S58N
26. SP6KEP
27. DL5EBG
28. ON4VT
29. DL5MEV
30. EA3MP
31. OH6RP
32. DD2VO
33. UT5PI
34. VI4AE2
35. VK2FR
36. UR7ET
37. OH6IU
38. EA2DT
39. VE7CV
40. F1BLL
41. WB8FSV
42. ON7AB
43. JH7WER
44. RA3PCI
45. AX2IO/m
46. EA3GP
47. DL1EBR
48. EB1CAM
49. AX2QO
50. VI6ANZAC

This afternoon I hurried home from work and quickly changed out of the suit into my tracksuit pants and headed for the shack to operate with the special AX prefix to commemorate ANZAC Day.  In Australia we only get to use the AX prefix three times a year:

• Australia Day
• ANZAC Day
• World Telecommunications Day

ANZAC Day is held each year on the 25th April, which is the anniversary of the landing of the ANZACS at Gallipoli.  But ANZAC Day is bigger than just Gallipoli.  It is the day on which we remember all Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations.  Contrary to concerns a number of years ago that ANZAC Day was going to die a slow natural death, renewed interest in this very special day has boomed.  It is now arguably one of the most important days on the Australian calendar.  It also has great significance to our friends in New Zealand.

For more information on ANZAC Day please have a look at the following……

https://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac-day/

Below is my ANZAC Day card for AX5PAS.

I was hoping to activate the Belair National Park today but the weather was terrible.  It was raining here for most of the day, making portable activity virtually impossible.  Plus I was working dayshift today, so by time I finished work it was getting a little late.  So I decided to do some operating & chasing from home.

I jumped on to 20m first and worked quite a bit of DX, ending up with a mini pile up.  The AX prefix was in high demand as usual.  But when things got a little quiet, I took the opportunity of having a look around the bands.  I had been closely watching the DX cluster and had seen a number of park & SOTA operators spotted on the cluster.

My first park contact was with Franck F4DTO/p who was portable in FFF-300, a new park.  It was a little hard too copy Franck at times as the static crashes were very strong.  In fact they were over S9 at times.  But we managed to make it and Franck gave me a 5/7 signal from France.

My first Australian SOTA contact of the afternoon was with Andrew VK1DA who was operating with the special call of VK100ANZAC from SOTA peak Mount Ainslee, VK1/ AC-040.  Andrew had a very strong 5/9 plus signal.  Mount Ainslee is 843 metres above sea level and is with 1 SOTA point.

This was followed by a SOTA contact on 15m with John VK6NU who was operating with the special call of VI6ANZAC from SOTA peak, Mount Randall, VK6/ SW-039.  John had a nice moderately strong 5/7 sign coming in from Western Australia.  Mount Randall is located in the South West region of Western Australia and is 523 metres above sea level.  It is worth 2 SOTA points.

My first DX SOTA contact for the afternoon, was on 20m and was with Mike 2E0YYYY/p who was on the top of SOTA summit, Bardon Hill G/ CE-004.  Mike was coming in beautifully on the long path, a genuine 5/8.  I received a 5/9 signal report in return from Mike.

Bardon Hill is 278 metres above seal level and is worth 1 SOTA point.  It is located in the Central England Region and is a former volcano.  The name Bardon is derived from ‘bear den’.  It is reported that the last bear in England was killed here.  More information on the summit can be found at…..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardon_Hill

When I finished working Mike he asked me to stand by as he had company on the summit.  I then worked Rob G7LAS/p who had a nice 5/8 signal.

Above:- Bardon Hill.  Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

My next SOTA summit contact was on the 10m band, with Herbert, HB0/OE9HRV/p portable on SOTA summit, Helwangspitz, HB0/ LI-011.  The summit is located in the Raitkon range in Leichtenstein and is 2000 metres above sea level.  It is worth 8 SOTA points.

Above: Helwangspitz.  Image courtesy of OE5HCE

The cluster was alive with a number of SOTA and park activators.  However, the static crashes were very severe making it incredibly difficult to hear many of them.  And sadly, those that I did hear, were only working fellow Europeans.  The ‘EU wall and the static crashes made things less than ideal.  It was quite frustrating, as I had not seen for some time, so many WWFF & SOTA activators up on the bands at the same time.

You can see below, where all the noise was coming from.  Huge storms in New South Wales.  The images are courtesy of weather zone.

But on a positive note, I did work a handful of the special ANZAC Commemorative call signs:-

• VI4AE2
• VI6ANZAC (John VK6NU – SOTA)
• VK100ANZAC (Andrew VK1DA – SOTA)
• VI5ANZAC

After tea I worked a number of VK stations hoping to get the AX prefix award on offer by the WIA.  With the special event stations in my tally, I managed to get over the 100 point line.

http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/anzaccentenary/axaward/

I then booked in to the Southern Cross DX Net and worked  number of USA stations.  But the most interesting contact on the net was with George HP/KC0GP who was maritime mobile on the ‘Carnival Magic’ in Panama 5/7 both ways).

Image courtesy of directlinecruises.com

References.

Wikipedia, 2015, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardon_Hill&gt;, viewed 25th April 2015

Wikipedia, 2015, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helwangspitz&gt;, viewed 25th April 2015