My second park for Saturday 8th June 2019 was the Charleston Conservation Park 5CP-041 & VKFF-0777. The park is located in the Adelaide Hills Council area (AH5).
After leaving Wiljani I headed back into Mount Pleasant and on to Birdwood and then Mount Pleasant. I soon reached the park which is located about 45 km east of Adelaide and about 5 km east of the town of Charleston.
Above:- Map showing the location of the Charleston Conservation Park in the Adelaide Hills. Map courtesy of Protected Planet.
The Charleston Conservation Park was proclaimed on the 8th April 1976 and comprises 54 hectares (130 acres) of pristine remnant scrub. The park consists of Woodland with Manna Gum, Rough-barked Manna Gum and Golden Wattle.
The park takes its name from the little township of Charleston. The town was named after Charles Newman, who left Somersetshire in England in July 1837 under engagement to the South Australian Company as a shepherd. In 1843 he took up land in the vicinity of Mount Charles and built a home there. To this day, the Newman homestead remains on Newman Road at Charleston.
Above:- An aerial shot of the Charleston Conservation Park, looking west towards Adelaide. Image courtesy of Google maps.
I set up in my normal operating spot, off Bellspring Road in the northern section of the park. I again ran the Yaesu FT-857d and the 20/40/80m linked dipole for this activation.
Above:- An aerial shot of the Charleston Conservation Park showing our operating spot. Image courtesy of Protected Planet.
As it was now about 0840 UTC (6.20 p.m. local time) and it was dark, I decided to quick off the activation on the 80m band. I found a clear spot and started calling CQ contest. First in the log was Mike VK6MB/3, followed by Catherine VK7GH, and then Wayne VK3EV.
I logged a total of 41 contacts on 80m before callers dried up. I decided to head to the 40m band, hoping that I might get a little bit of North American DX in the log. My antenna is a bit of a sky warmer and isn’t ideal for DX, but I have often worked the USA & Canada on 40m during the evenings.
Unfortunately, this was not to be on this occasion. I worked just 4 stations, with three of those being from Queensland, and one in New South Wales.
I had 45 contacts in the log and it was time to head off to my final park for the day, the Totness Recreation Park.
I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-
- VK6MB/3
- VK7GH
- VK3EV
- VK5PL
- VK5FMAZ
- VK3XV
- VK2MWK
- ZL1TM
- VK5FANA
- VK3LTL
- VK2HRX
- VK2HMV
- VK2NP
- VK2LEE
- ZL2AYZ
- VK5LJ
- VK4SMA
- VK4TJ
- VK5IS
- VK5LTD
- VK3ANL
- VK3PF
- VK3NXT
- VK7JGD
- VK3ER
- VK6XN
- VK4FDJL
- VK6AHR
- VK4KY
- VK3GH
- VK2IO/5
- VK2MT
- VK4HH
- VK4SN
- VK2DEK
- VK4CWG/2
- VK4PHD
- VK2MOP
- VK2TTL
- VK4PDX
- VK2GLJ
I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-
- VK4PDX
- VK4FDJL
- VK4HKK
- VK2TTL
References.
Birds SA, 2019, <https://birdssa.asn.au/location/charleston-conservation-park/>, viewed 10th June 2019
Wikipedia, 2019, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_Conservation_Park>, viewed 10th June 2019
VK5PAS 