My second park for the day (Tuesday 10th July 2018) was the Pine Hill Soak Conservation Park 5CP-181 & VKFF-1078.  This was to be another unique park for me as an activator in the WWFF program and the VK5 Parks Award.

Pine Hill Soak is located about 301 km south east of Adelaide, and about 30 km south of the town of Bordertown.

Above:- Map showing the location of the Pine Hill Soak Conservation Park in the south east of South Australia.  Map courtesy of Location SA Map Viewer.

Pine Hill Soak Conservation Park is 51 hectares (130 acres) in size and was proclaimed on the 17th September 1987.  The park’s name is derived from a soak known as Pine Hill Soak which is located near the conservation park’s southern boundary.  A soak or soakage, is a source of water and is so called because the water generally seeps into the and, and is stored below, sometimes as part of an ephemeral river or creek. 

Above:- Aerial view of the Pine Hill Soak Conservation Park.  Image courtesy of google maps

The park is bounded on the western side by the Frances Road, McCarthy Road to the north and by a vehicle track to its east and south boundaries.  The park consists of brown stringybark open forest, with desert banksia, and woodland of river red gum and South Australian blue gum with an open understorey of grasses, sedges and herbs.  The park also contains native pine.

After I left Custon Conservation Park I put Pine Hill Soak into the GPS.  All was looking good until the GPS took me down a dead end road (Ivan Road) and into a farmer’s property.  So it was a manual look at some maps, and back to the Frances Road.  I then encountered a flock of sheep and alpaccas who were out grazing on the side of the road under the watchful eye of a local farmer.

I soon reached the north western corner of the park and travelled down McCarthy Road, which is a no through road.  I travelled down a sandy track which passed through the park.  I found a clearing in the scrub and pulled off the track and set up.  I ran the Yaesu FT-857d and the 20/40/80m linked dipole for this activation.

Above:- Aerial view of the Pine Hill Soak Conservation Park, showing my operating spot in the northern section of the park.  Image courtesy of google maps 

First in the log was Rob VK2QR with a big signal, followed by Geoff VK3SQ, Neil VK4HNS, and then Ron VK3AHR.  Within 6 minutes I had contact number 10 in the log, with a QSO with Vinnie VK2VIN in Wollongong.

The band had really opened up nicely since my first activation, with some excellent signals.  Contact number 44, a QSO with Rob VK3QJ/2 came within 28 minutes.  I logged a total of 50 stations on 40m from VK1, VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5 VK7 and New Zealand.  I was pleased as always to log regular park hunter Andrei ZL1TM.  I also made two Park to Park contacts, with Gerard VK2JNG/p in the Bullala National Park VKFF-0580, and Alan Vk2MG/p in Tuggerah State Conservation Area VKFF-1383.

So with the park qualified, everything from here on in was going to be a bonus.  I lowered the squid pole and inserted the links for the 80m section of the dipole.  First in the log on 3.610 was Mick VK3GGG with a big big 5/9 plus signal.  This was followed by Ron VK3VBI and then John VK5BJE.  I logged a further 4 stations on 80m from VK2, VK3 and VK5.

To finish off the activation I called CQ on 14.310 and logged John VK4TJ and then Ray VK4NH and his 2 other callsigns.

I had a total of 62 contacts in the log and it was now 1.10 p.m. local time, and time for me to pack up and head off to the Bangham Conservation Park.

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK2QR
2. VK3SQ
3. VK4HNS
4. VK3AHR
5. VK2OQ/m
6. VK2NP
7. VK4FDJL
8. VK7LCW
9. VK2KYO
10. VK2VIN
11. VK2SK
12. VK2IPK
13. VK2IO
14. VK7JON
15. VK4FFAB
16. VK4CPS
17. ZL1TM
18. VK3MLU
19. VK3TKK/m
20. VK4NH
21. VK4DXA
22. ZL4TY/VK4
23. VK7RN
24. VK2HHA
25. VK5KLV
26. VK2JNG/p (Bullala National Park VKFF-0580)
27. VK5MCB
28. VK2VW
29. VK4RF
30. VK4HA
31. VK3MDH/m
32. VK3PF
33. VK3OF
34. VK3UH
35. VK7FAMP
36. VK4TJ
37. VK4/AC8WN
38. VK4/VE6XT
39. VK2MG/p (Tuggerah State Conservation Area VKFF-1383)
40. VK7LTD
41. VK2SWL
42. VK2TTY
43. VK3TTY/2
44. VK3QJ/2
45. VK5FANA
46. YB1AQM/VK4
47. VK1RZ
48. VK2JNG/m
49. VK1XP/m
50. VK1FMGG

I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

1. VK3GGG
2. VK3PMG
3. VK3VBI
4. VK5BJE
5. VK5FANA
6. VK3SQ
7. VK3PF
8. VK2HHA

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

1. VK4TJ
2. VK4NH
3. VK4DXA
4. ZL4TY/VK4

References.

Wikipedia, 2018, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Hill_Soak_Conservation_Park>, viewed 12th July 2018

Wikipedia, 2018, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soakage_(source_of_water)>, viewed 12th July 2018