On the way home from the Coorong I talked Marija into a quick stop off at the Mowantjie Willauwar Conservation Park, 5CP-152 and VKFF-0919. The reason for the inpromptu activation was to spend an hour or two competing in the Trans Tasman Low Band Contest. The contest has an aim to encourage Low Band activity trans Tasman, that is between VK and ZL, on the 160, 80 and 40m bands.
Mowantjie Willauwar Conservation Park was proclaimed on the 2nd June 2005, and conserves nearly 143 hectares of Southern Cyprus Pine Forest. It is situated about 6 km south west of Tailem Bend. Mowantjie is the aboriginal name for the native pine found in the park, while Willauwar is a plural word meaning ‘forest of species’. Therefore the name Mowantjie Willauwar means ‘Native Pine Forest’, and this is a very accurate description of the park. The park was originally known as the Tailem Bend Forest and still appears on Google maps as such.
I set up for around 90 minutes in the park and made a total of 90 contacts with 28 of those being on 40m SSB and 62 on 80m SSB.
For this activation I ran the Yaesu FT-857d, 40 watts and a 20m/40m/80m linked dipole which I supported with the 7m heavy duty squid pole.
This park always seems to be frequented by very hungry mosquitos and that combined with the freezing temperatures of just 1 degree C, did not persuade me to stay any longer than the 90 minutes.
Thanks to everyone who called. I even picked up another two Park to Park contacts….with Gerard VK2IO in Dharug National Park VKFF-0139 and Marcus VK5WTF in Morialta Conservation Park 5CP-142 and VKFF-0783.
I contacted the following stations on 40m SSB:-
- ZL3VZ
- VK2ACH/p
- VK2PX
- VK2IO/p (VKFF-0139)
- VK2DEK
- VK6WE
- VK2ACD
- VK2MRX
- VK2ZK
- VK2HPN
- VK2BOB
- VK2SK
- ZM1W
- VK6DW
- VK7VH
- VK2MOR
- VK2AWX
- ZL2GD
- VK2ATZ
- VK6TKR
- ZL2CE
- VK4BZ/2
- VK6VCK/m
- VK2ZMT
- VK5FUZZ
- ZL1NAY
- VK2EFM
- ZL1YE
I contacted the following stations on 80m SSB:-
- VK2MT
- VK3XV
- VK3MBW
- VK4RF
- VK4HA
- VK5AW
- VK3PF
- VK3YE
- VK3ERA
- VK5CV
- VK2FAIB
- VK5NM
- VK2LDN
- VK7VAZ
- VK5SFA
- VK3TWO
- VK7GG
- VK3BF
- VK3HSB
- VK3LSD
- VK2PX
- VK7XDM
- VK5WTF/p (VKFF-0783)
- VK6FMON/3
- VK3PMG
- VK3GGG
- VK5BJE
- VK5CZ
- VK3ALB
- VK3PMG
- VK3GGG
- VK3UH
- VK2HPN
- VK2PX
- VK4FAAS
- VK4ICE
- VK4BZ/2
- VK3PF
- VK6POP
- VK2IG
- ZL1AAW
- VK3ERA
- VK6AS
- VK2ZK
- VK7VH
- VK3XV
- VK7PAL
- VK3YE
- VK2IO/p (VKFF-0139)
- VK3HAK
- VK5ST
- VK3ANL
- VK5FANA
- VK3BF
- VK5MCB
- VK3MBW
- VK4SN
- VK3GK
- VK2WG
- VK4FW
- VK2ATZ
- VK2EFM
VK5PAS 
Hi Paul, 40m band conditions are quite tricky at the moment. I note there are no VK1s in the call list. Yesterday I tried to call Rob VK4AAC operating in a park, I was activating SOTA peak VK1/AC-044 Boboyan Range. I could hear Rob but as much as I tried I couldn’t get a signal to him, even with the 857D set to 50 watts output.
73, Andrew VK1AD
Hi Andrew,
Yes the 40m band has been quite temperamental of late. This was the first time I had tried 80m during an activation for a very very long time, and I was pleasantly surprised. The 20m band has been the same. The ‘glory’ days from years ago of filling up your log with DX calls from Europe seems to be gone.
Hope you enjoyed your time in Europe. I followed your posts with interest.
Cheers,
Paul,
VK5PAS
Good haul on 80m Paul, You obviously finished after dark. Anything on 80m during daylight?
Chris
VK4FR
Hi Chris,
I didn’t try 80m during the day but I must do that and see what it produces. The 40m band really slowed down once it got dark. There was very little, if any propagation into VK5 and VK3, so I headed off to 80m where conditions were pretty good. I had not used 80m during an activation for a very long time.
Cheers,
Paul,
VK5PAS
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