This morning (Tuesday 11th September 2018) I activated the Mark Oliphant Conservation Park 5CP-127 & VKFF-0782, using the special call of VI5MARCONI.  This is another park I have activated from many times previously, and have well and truly qualified.  But the noise floor at home on 40m has increased dramatically in recent times, so a portable activation sounded a good option.

The Mark Oliphant Conservation Park is located about 21 km south east of Adelaide, and about 22 km (by road) from my home.

Above:- Map showing the location of the Mark Oliphant Conservation Park.  Map courtesy of Location SA Map Viewer.

I was last in this park in May 2017, when I took a small group of people into the field, as part of the 2017 WIA AGM.  For details on that activation, and full information on the park, please see my previous post at…….

https://vk5pas.org/2017/05/25/mark-oliphant-conservation-park-5cp-127-and-vkff-0782-2/

Above:- Aerial view of the park, looking north west back towards Adelaide.  Image courtesy of google maps

I set up in my normal operating spot, on the Honeyeater Track, off Evans Road.

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

I started off the activation by calling CQ on 7.144.  This was answered by John VK4TJ, followed by Dennis VK2HHA, then Geoff VK3SQ, and then much to my surprise, Bob VK6POP over in Western Australia.  Bob was low down, 5/3, but was perfectly readable, and also gave me a 5/3 signal report.

The band conditions however were very poor and callers were few and far between.  Contact number eight was a Park to Park, with Gerard VK2JNG/p who was in the Bongil Bongil National Park VKFF-0042.  This was followed by Brian VK3BCM/p activating SOTA  peak Mount Phipps VK3/ VG-015.

I logged just 10 contacts on 40m before callers completely dried up.  So I lowered the squid pole and inserted the links for the 80m band.  I then called CQ on 3.610 which was answered by Adrian VK5FANA on the Yorke Peninsula with an excellent 5/9 signal.  This was followed by Tony VK5MRT at Strathalbyn with a 5/7 signal.  But that was it.  No more callers.  So I put out a call on the local Crafers repeater to let people know I was in the park.  This resulted in 2 callers.  First was Brenton VK5BZ who although 5/9 to me, was suffering badly from a high noise level at his end.  Nev ‘Nifty’ VK5XD then gave me a call.  He too was suffering from a high noise floor.  I had a strength 1 noise floor on 80m in the park.

So with just 4 contacts in the log on 80m, I headed back to 40m.  I found Gerard VK2JNG/p in 7.144, so I moved a little higher up the band to 7.150 and started calling CQ.  I logged just 5 stations on 40m from VK3 and VK7.  So I moved to 14.310 on the 20m band.  I was just about to ask if the frequency was in use, when I heard someone else ask the same question.  It was Gerard VK2JNG/p.  I logged Gerard for another Park to Park contact, and then moved up the band to 14.315 where I called CQ for 10 minutes with no takers.

I was about to pack up when I saw a spot come up on parksnpeaks for Brian VK3BCM who was now on a new SOTA summit.  I logged Brian (5/7 both ways) from SOTA peak Mount Birregun VK3/ VT-020.

After an hour & 20 minutes in the park I had 21 contacts in the log.  A very slow morning, with very very average band conditions.

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK4TJ
2. VK2HHA
3. VK3SQ
4. VK6POP
5. VK4FDJL
6. VK2IO
7. VK3BJV/m
8. VK2JNG/p (Bongil Bongil National Park VKFF-0042)
9. VK3BCM/p (SOTA Mount Phipps VK3/ VG-015)
10. VK3TKK/m
11. VK7KEV
12. VK3PYE
13. VK3KMH
14. VK3SB
15. VK3BHR
16. VK3BCM/p (SOTA Mount Birregun VK3/ VT-020)

I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

1. VK5FANA
2. VK5MRT
3. VK5BZ
4. VK5XD

I worked the following station on 20m SSB:-

1. VK2JNG/p (Bongil Bongil National Park VKFF-0042)