On Wednesday evening (13th June 2018) I headed to the Mount George Conservation Park 5CP-147 & VKFF-0784 for an evening activation using the special call of VI50IARU3.

The Mount George Conservation Park is located just a short drive down the South Eastern Freeway from my home.

Above:- Map showing the location of the Mount George Conservation Park.  Map courtesy of Location SA Map Viewer.

I have activated this park many times previously for both the WWFF program and the VK5 Parks Award.

Above:- Aerial view showing the Mount George Conservation Park, looking back towards Adelaide.  Image courtesy of google maps.

I set up in my normal operating spot, in the picnic ground at the end of Mount George Road.

Above:- Map of the park showing my operating spot.  Map courtesy of Location SA Map Viewer.

It was quite a miserable night weather wise and I had to retreat to the vehicle on a number of occasions.  I kicked off the activation on 3.620 on the 80m band.  First in the log was John VK4TJ with a strong 5/8 signal, followed by Tony VK5TT and then Ivan VK5HS.  Despite there being strong static crashes on the band, I had a steady flow of callers and ended up logging a total of 22 stations on 80m in 35 minutes, from VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK6, VK7 and VK8.  It was great to speak with Owen ZL2OPB/VK5 who has just moved to South Australia.  And also Wayne VK6JR/8 who was about 100 km west of Alice Springs.

I then headed to 7130 hoping to check into the 7130 DX Net, but it had already closed due to poor band conditions.  But I did log my good wife Marija VK5FMAZ.  Unfortunately I soon started to experience Indonesian interference, so I moved up the band to 7.180 where I logged 7 stations from VK3, VK4 & New Zealand.

I then moved back to 80m and called CQ on 3.615 logging a total of 5 stations from VK3 and VK6.  But callers dried up, so I tuned across the band and booked into the North East Victoria ARC Net where I logged 6 stations.  I then tuned across the band and found another group on 3.600 including Mark VK2PH.  I logged 5 stations on that frequency, before deciding it was just too wet and windy to continue the activation.

It was time to pack up and head back home to the warmth and out of my wet clothes.  I had a total of 46 contacts in the log and had hopefully given some more people the opportunity of logging the special call of VI50IARU3.

I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

1. VK4TJ
2. VK5TT
3. VK5HS
4. VK3UCD
5. VK5PL
6. VK3HJ
7. VK2NP
8. VK3JL
9. VK3ZPF
10. VK5KLV
11. VK5NM
12. VK3PF
13. VK3VVC
14. VK3LCB
15. VK5YX
16. VK6JR/8
17. ZL2OPB/VK5
18. VK6POP
19. VK5FMAZ
20. VK6DW
21. VK3GYH
22. VK7ROY

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK5FMAZ
2. ZL1TM
3. VK4NH
4. VK4FDJL
5. VK3ZPF
6. VK3GGG
7. VK3PMG
8. VK3TKK/m
9. VK3ARH
10. VK3GGG
11. VK3PMG
12. VK3FSTU
13. VK6HRC
14. VK3ANE
15. VK3CM
16. VK3MXT
17. VK3BPH
18. VK2MOP
19. VK3AHR’VK2PH
20. VK5VST
21. VK5NJ
22. VK3FMKE
23. VK3KWB