About a week ago I received a QSL card from Adventist World Radio – The Voice of Hope. I tuned in to the Voice of Hope on 17th October 2021 on 15715 kHz.

A few weeks ago I ordered a new book on the internet, entitled ‘Adelaide’s Early Radios and Tape Recorders‘ written by Neville Ellison. What a brilliant read. It details the history of radio manufacturers in South Australia.

In the last day, I have finalised the results for the 2021 VKFF Activation Weekend which was held on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th November 2021.

It was the biggest VKFF Activation Weekend ever.

• Total number of activators – 67
• Total number of parks – 126
• Total QSOs – 4,652
• Total Park to to Park contacts – 2,032

Below you can find the Summary I have prepared for the weekend.

Received my Remembrance Day (RD) Contest certificate in the past few days.

Third place in the Single Operator Phone section.

Thanks to all who called me during the RD and thanks to the Awards Manager.

In 2021 I launched a special award for the Australian chapter of the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program, the 2021 VKFF Ladies Award. The award is open to both activators and hunters. More information on the award can be found at…….

https://www.wwffaustralia.com/2021-vkff-ladies-award.html

My wife Marija VK5MAZ has now qualified for the Diamond and Sapphire Activator certificates.

And I have qualified for the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Hunter certificates.

THANK YOU to all of the ladies in the VKFF program who get out there and activate.

About a week or so ago I received my latest WWFF global Hunter certificate.

It is issued for having worked 1,944 different WWFF references.

Thank you to all of the activators and thank you to Karl DL1JKK the Awards Manager.

In the past week, I received my latest World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) Park to Park award, issued for having made 1,344 Park to Park contacts.

I’ve actually made 1,663 Park to Park contacts, but there are a significant number of mismatches in Logsearch. One day when I get time I will have a look.

Thanks to all of the VKFF Activators, and thanks to Swa ON5SWA, the P2P Awards Manager.

After leaving the Bordertown East silo we headed to Clayton Farm at Bordertown.

The first Undred of Tatiara was opened for land selection in 1872. One of the first settlers were August and Carl Wiese who took up blocks in the area. August settled on three blocks just to the south of Bordertown and called his farm Clayton.

Clayton Farm features a recently restored and refurbished homestead and a magnificent display of vintage farm machinery, tractors, and vehicles. There are various historic buildings including the silage, pigsty, and the woolshed which is the largest thatched roof woolshed in the southern hemisphere. We had a terrific guide who showed us around the property which took about 3 hours.

I even found some old radios in our travels at Clayton Farm.

We then headed to Wolseley for another silo activation for the Silos On The Air program. This time, the Wolseley silo VK-WLY5.

We struggled to find a quiet RF location near the silo so we drove to the end of Railway Terrace and entered the Wolseley Common Conservation Park, which we had activated on Saturday for the 2021 VKFF Activation Weekend. It was much quieter on the bands to operate from here.

In the SiOTA program, the activation zone is 1 km of the silo, so we were well and truly inside that.

It was a ‘double-whammy, a silo activation and a park activation.

We spent about 45 minutes at the silo/park and made a total of 34 QSOs on 40m SSB. We had run out of time to try 20m and 80m.

Marija made the following QSOs on 40m SSB;-

1. VK5ZSH
2. VK5FANA
3. VK3PI
4. VK3TV
5. VK3PF
6. VK5KLV
7. VK2VW
8. VK2HFI
9. VK2PKT
10. VK3FIMD

I made the following QSOs on 40m SSB:-

1. VK3PF
2. VK5ZSH
3. VK5KLV
4. VK3FKL
5. VK2PKT
6. VK5WG
7. VK1DI
8. VK3FIMD
9. VK5FANA
10. VK3JP
11. VK3VIN
12. VK3MKE
13. VK5HS
14. VK3TV
15. VK2VW
16. VK2HFI
17. VK2YAK
18. VK4YAK
19. VK4NH
20. VK7EE
21. VK3AWA
22. VK3IH/m
23. VK3AMO
24. VK3CA

We then packed up and headed back into the town of Wolseley. Although we had looked around the town on Saturday, there were still some interesting things to have a look at in this very historic little town.

As we had not found the Shearing Tree over the weekend, we headed back into Bordertown and drove out on the Tatiara Historic Drive. We soon found the tree. The Canawiga Woolshed once stood on the rise across the road from the tree. The shearers would play ‘darts’ with old broken shears by throwing the blades into the tree. A blade pierced the trunk too deeply and it was unable to be retrieved. It remains embedded in the tree today.

We then started our journey home, stopping briefly on the Dukes Highway to view the monument for the ‘Conquest of the Ninety Mile Desert’.

We then stopped at the little town of Culburra, which is an aboriginal word meaning ‘plenty of sand’. The town was once a thriving township with a church, school, railway siding, goods shed and platform, shop, post office, hardware store, engineering workshop, cattle yards. In 1908, 16 petitioners requested that the Commissioner of Railways, create a railway siding at Culburra, as the nearest railway siding was ’18 miles’ away.

In 1910 the railway siding was constructed and was named Dewson. In 1911 the name was changed to avoid confusion with Dawson near Peterborough.

In 1914 the town of Culburra was laid out by Thomas Roberts into 17 allotments.

We then stopped at the tiny town of Ki Ki which is aboriginal for ‘food and water’. The town is best known as the home of the Ki Ki Stone Roller which was used extensively in farming. The Congregational church was built in 1910. In the same year, the Ki Ki Well was dug. The Ki Ki Post office opened in January 1912 and the Ki Ki School in 1913. In 1914 a shop was opened. The school closed in December 1960, with students attending the new Area School at Coomandook.

Our final stop for the trip was Tailem Bend.

We went out for tea at the Riverside Hotel at Tailem Bend, one of our favourite country pubs. And the meal this time did not disapoint.

THANKYOU to everyone who called us whilst we were away for the 4 days. We had a terrific time of amateur radio and sightseeing.

References.

1. A Compendium of the Place Names of South Australia, 2021, <https://published.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/placenamesofsouthaustralia/>, viewed 7th December 2021.
2. Tatiata Visitor Guide.
3. Tatiara Council, 2021, <https://www.tatiara.sa.gov.au/unity-objects-in-use/points-of-interest-for-mls-app/clayton-farm-heritage-museum>, viewed 7th December 2021.

Our second silo activation on Monday 29th December 2021 was the Bordertown East silo VK-BRT5.

The silo is located on Tatitara Road, just a short distance out of the town of Bordertown. It is run by the company Pilgrim Grain Storage – PGS (SA) Pty Ltd. Pilgrims specialise in the storage of grains including wheat, barley, oats, canola, and beans.

More info can be found at…….

Marija and I spent 45 minutes at the silo and made a total of 31 QSOs. We operated from the vehicle for this activation and ran the Icom IC-7000 and the Codan 9350 self-tuning antenna mounted on the tailgate of the Toyota Hi-Lux.

Our contacts were into VK1, VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, and VK7.

Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK5FANA
2. VK3OHM
3. VK5WG
4. VK3NFS
5. VK3PF
6. VK2DG
7. VK4NH
8. VK5IS
9. VK2BYF/p (Burragorang State Conservation Area VKFF-1292)

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK3SQ
2. VK5WG
3. VK3OHM
4. VK5FANA
5. VK5IS
6. VK2DG
7. VK4NH
8. VK7DM
9. VK2VW
10. VK2HFI
11. VK3IK/m
12. VK3VIN
13. VK3EJ
14. VK3DJC
15. VK3PF
16. VK2BYF/p (Burragorang State Conservation Area VKFF-1292)
17. VK5ZLT
18. VK3JP
19. VK5KLV
20. VK1DI

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

1. VK2RP
2. VK2BDR

References.

1. Pilgrim Grain Storage, 2021, <https://pilgrimsbordertown.com.au/about-us/our-company/>, viewed 7th December 2021.

It was now Monday 29th November 2021 and Marija and I headed to the Bordertown Bakery for some coffee and some egg & bacon rolls. It was a beautiful morning, so we sat in Tolmer Park opposite the bakery and enjoyed our breakfast.

Tolmer Park takes its name from Alexander Tolmer, a South Australian Police Officer who led numerous Gold Escorts along the Gold Escort Route from Victoria to Adelaide. Tolmer used this spot as a stopover on the gold escort route due to the permanent water supply. The creek in the park has been widened and filled. There are a number of interpretive signs in the park.

We then headed to the Bordertown Wildlife Park which was established in 1968. You can find Bordertown’s famous White Kangaroos in the park. They were first introduced in 1980. Various other wildlife can be found in the park including wallabies, Bush Stone Curlews, Emus, Black Swans, Peacocks, and ducks.

Our next stop was the Tatiara Visitor Centre and the Bob Hawke Gallery. Bordertown is the birthplace of Australia’s 23rd Prime Minister, Robert ‘Bob’ James Lee Hawke. Unfortunately, the famous gold jacket which he wore during the America’s Cup win in 1983 was on loan to the Adelaide University. We did get to see a collection of photographs, news clippings, cartoons, paintings and various other memorabilia. This included a Panther motorcycle which is believed to be Hawke’s 1939 British Panther.

We then headed to the Bordertown silos VK-BRN5 for an activation for the Silos On The Air (SiOTA) program. The silos are located in Brown Terrace and are alongside the Bordertown-Wolseley railway line (Melbourne-Adelaide railway). The silos are operated by the company Viterra.

We set up in Possum Park on Power House Road, in close proximity to the silos. We were very pleased that there was no man-made noise at all at this location on the 40m band. Unfortunately, we did experience strength 6 noise on the 80m band. There was no noise on 20m, but the Over The Horizon Radar was present on 20m once again.

Marija and I spent about 50 minutes at the silo and we made a total of 23 QSOs to VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, and VK7.

We had at least one very interested onlooker during our activation. Marija took the time to chat with the lady concerned and explained to her the hobby of amateur radio and the SiOTA program.

Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK2BYF/p (Thirmlere Lakes National Park VKFF-0486)
2. VK4NH
3. VK5FANA
4. VK5HS
5. VK3PF
6. VK3OHM
7. VK7JFD

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK2BYF/p (Thirmlere Lakes National Park VKFF-0486)
2. VK5FANA
3. VK3PF
4. VK2VW
5. VK2HFI
6. VK4NH
7. VK3OHNM
8. VK5HS
9. VK7JFD

I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

1. VK5HS
2. VK5WG
3. VK5IS/m
4. VK5FANA
5. VK5CZ

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

1. VK2VW
2. VK2HFI

References.

1. Tatiara Visitor Guide.
2. Wikipedia, 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Tolmer>, viewed 7th December 2021.