Today I received my latest VKFF Hunter Honour Roll certificate.  The certificate is issued for working a total of 650 different VKFF references.

Many thanks to all of the VKFF activators.

In the past few days the results for the 2016 Oceania DX Contest has been released.  I entered into the Single Op/Low Power/All Bands/Phone section.  I made a total of 273 QSOs and came second in Australia in this section, 7th in Oceania, and 7th in the World.

Many thanks to the Oceania DX Contest Committee.

Late on Sunday afternoon (21st May 2017) proceedings had started to slow down a little, and I had a small window of time to head out to a park and operate as VI5WOW before the scheduled 6.00 p.m. BBQ tea at the Hahndorf Oval.  I decided on Mylor Conservation Park 5CP-156 & VKFF-0785, as it is just a short drive from Hahndorf.

Map showing the location of the Mylor Conservation Park in the Adelaide Hills.  Map courtesy of Protected Planet.

Mylor Conservation Park was proclaimed on the 27th day of February 1997.  While most of the land around the park has been cleared for residential and agricultural purposes, the park preserves an important area of remnant bushland.  The park is mostly Open Forest with Candlebark Gum, Brown Stringybark, Messmate Stringybark, Cup Gum, Pink Gum and Manna Gum.  Understory plants include Myrtle Wattle , Spiny Wattle, Narrow-leaf Bitter-pea, Large-leaf Bush-pea and Silver Banskia.

Aerial shot of the Mylor Conservation Park, with Adelaide in the background.  Image courtesy of Google maps

The park takes its name from the nearby small town of Mylor which was proclaimed in 1891 by Acting Governor of South Australia, Sit James Boucaut who named it after his Cornish birthplace.

Sir James Penn Boucat (1831-1916).  Image courtesy of Wikipedia

There is a 2.3 km track winding through the park which is rated as ‘challenging’ and will take you around 2 hours to complete.

The park is home to a large amount of native wildlife including Western Grey kangaroos.  More than 50 species of bird have been recorded in the park including Adelaide Rosella, White-throated Treecreeper, Superb Fairywren, Grey Fantail, and the Australian Golden Whistler.

I set up in my normal operating spot off Whitehead Road and Centre Track which is part of the Heysen Trail.

Aerial shot of the Mylor Conservation Park showing my operating spot.  Image courtesy of Protected Planet.

I ran the Yaesu FT-857d, 40 watts and the 80/40/20m linked dipole for this activation.  I was set up and ready to go by just after 0710 UTC (4.40 p.m. South Australian local time).  I had around 60 minutes of on air time before I needed to pack up.

My first contact was on 7.144 on the 40m band with Steve VK4QQ.  This was followed by Phil VK3GTS, Cliff VK2NP, Gerard VK2IO and then Colin VK4PDX.  All had good strong signals ranging from 5/8-9.  The band appeared to be in pretty good shape.

I had contact number 10 in the log in around 9 minutes, this being with Matt VK3FORD.  Contact number 44, with Ian VK1DI, was reached in around 45 minutes.  I worked a total of 52 stations on 40m from VK2, VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK6, and VK7, including a Park to Park contact with Nikolas VK3NLK who was operating portable in the Tocumwal Regional Park VKFF-0978.

To finish off the activation I headed to 3.610 on the 80m band where I logged just 4 stations from VK3, VK5 and VK7.  Sadly I was really pushing for time and needed to go QRT.

So in around one hour in the park I had logged a total of 56 stations.  Hopefully I gave people another good contact towards the special 2017 AGM/Convention Award.

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK4QQ
2. VK3GTS
3. VK2NP
4. VK2IO
5. VK4PDX
6. VK4SMA
7. VK4KX
8. VK3FPSR
9. VK3SX
10. VK3FORD
11. VK3AWG
12. VK5NJ
13. VK2YW
14. VK4DA
15. VK5HDW
16. VK5FMAZ
17. VK5XD
18. VK7DIK
19. VK4HNS
20. VK3LPG
21. VK2NSS
22. VK2QR
23. VK2SWL
24. VK4FMAX
25. VK6NU
26. VK6MAC/m
27. VK7ZGK
28. VK4BX
29. VK3BL
30. VK4TJ
31. VK2FKDM
32. VK7EV
33. VK2FOUZ
34. VK2BY/p
35. VK5GY/m
36. VK5NFT/m
37. VK7FRJG
38. VK3BKT
39. VK4JWT
40. VK3MAB
41. VK1HW
42. VK6EA/p
43. VK4HDY
44. VK1DI
45. VK3YV
46. VK2SK
47. VK3NLK/p (Tocumwal Regional Park VKFF-0978)
48. VK2TMC
49. VK5GJ
50. VK2LEZ
51. VK2LMT
52. VK4NHH

I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

1. VK5GJ
2. VK5GY/m
3. VK3LDB
4. VK7CW

References.

Birds SA, 2017, <http://www.birdssa.asn.au/location/mylor-conservation-park/&gt;, viewed 26th May 2017

National Parks South Australia, 2017, <https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/Find_a_Park/Browse_by_region/Adelaide_Hills/mylor-conservation-park&gt;, viewed 26th May 2017

After packing up at Mark Oliphant Conservation Park I headed back to the Hahndorf Oval, where with the assistance of Chris VK5FR we set up a small display table promoting WWFF and the VK5 National & Conservation Parks Award.  This was as part of the Come and Try Day for the 2017 WIA AGM/Convention.

At the parks display table

We had a number of transceivers on display including the Yaesu FT-857d, Elecraft KX3, and the Yaesu FT-817nd.  Also numerous power sources, squid poles, antennas, and other surplus equipment.  Our WWFF & VK5 Parks Award handouts diminished as the afternoon went on.

Robbie VK5FRSM & Tony VK5ZAI at the display

Many thanks to Chris VK5FR for lending a hand, and thanks to those who stopped by for a chat and showed interest in the display.