Roseworthy silo VK-RSY5

Posted on by

On Thursday, the 18th day of December 2025, I headed up to Clare to the home of Andrew VK5BL, for a Christmas lunch with a group of amateurs from the Clare Valley and the Mid North.

On the way, I activated two silos for the Silos On The Air (SiOTA) program. The first was Roseworthy silo VK-RSY5. Roseworthy is about 58 km north of Adelaide, and about 10 km north of Gawler.

Above: Map showing the location of Roseworthy. Map c/o Google Maps

The first known European to visit the area was in December 1837, when the Surveyor General travelled through the district. In 1855, William and Grace Gartrell purchased land in the Hundred of Mudla Wirra. Mudla Wirra are Aboriginal words meaning ‘implement’ and ‘forest.’ Following William’s death in 1863, Grace subdivided the land and named it Roseworthy after a village in Cornwall. Roseworthy is derived from Roswartha, meaning Meadow Heath. (Light Country n.d.) (Wikipedia 2015)

In 1881, the South Australian Government purchased land to establish an experimental farm in the Roseworthy district. Two years later, in 1883, the Roseworthy Agricultural College was established. It was the first of its kind in Australia and continues to operate to this day. (Light Country n.d.)

The Roseworthy silos are located on Railway Terrace. They are operated by Viterra and are part of a large grain facility of both storage silos and bunkers for grain that is grown in the region, and then conveyed to Port Adelaide. (Wikipedia 2015)

I parked on Cliff Road and operated from the 4WD, running the Icom IC-7000, 100 watts, and the Codan 9350 antenna with the 1.5 metre stainless steel whip.

Above: the activation zone at the Roseworthy silos. Image c/o SiOTA website

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

  1. VK3VRL
  2. VK2NP
  3. VK2IO/P (VKFF-3045)
  4. VK1AO
  5. VK2MET
  6. VK3PF
  7. VK2MOE
  8. VK1MO
  9. VK5WU
  10. VK5MAZ
  11. VK3TRS

References.

  1. Light Country. (n.d.). Roseworthy | Light Country, South Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.lightcountry.com.au/roseworthy. [Accessed 26 Apr. 2026]
  2. ‌Wikipedia Contributors (2015). Roseworthy. Wikipedia.‌

Leave a comment