Our next silo activation for Wednesday 29th November 2023 was the Is Don Is Good silo VK-ISD3. The silo is located in Laurens Street, North Melbourne.
Above:- Map showing the location of the Is Don Is Good silo at North Melbourne. Map c/o Google Maps.
The silo features the famous Is Don logo of the DON Smallgoods company.
The story of DON Smallgoods dates back to 1947 when R.J. Gilbertson, a butcher who had a small store at Essendon, commenced production of a range of processed meats. His business became one of the biggest names in Australian food, DON. (DON 2024)
During the 1990s DON ran a series of famous commercials featuring Scotisch-born Australian actor Thomas Gibson ‘Tommy’ Dysart (b. 1935. d. 2022), an amusing butcher.
Marija and I parked in Foggerty Street next to the North Melbourne Recreation Reserve, in the activation zone for the silo.
Above:- the activation zone at the Is Don Is Good silo. Image c/o SiOTA website.
We operated from the 4WD, running the Icom IC7000, 100 watts and the Codan 9350 with the 1.5-metre stainless steel whip. Unfortunately, we had strength 5-6 noise on the 40m band and we only made limited contacts.
Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-
- VK5HS
- VK7ZA
- VK3UAO
I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-
- VK5HS
- VK7ZA
- VK3UAO
I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-
- VK4NH
- VK4DXA
References.
- Anon, (n.d.). Our Story – Don. [online] Available at: https://isdonisgood.com.au/our-story/ [viewed 1st May 2024]
VK5PAS 