On Monday 24th May 2021 I activated the Stipiturus Conservation Park 5CP-220 & VKFF-0936, using the special event callsign of VI1100AF.

VI100AF is one of two special event callsigns on air to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Royal Australian Air Force.

Prior to activating Stipiturus, I checked out Mount Observation which is just a short distance from my home. The HuMPS Excluding Marilyns (HEMA) program has just kicked off in Australia, and Mount Observation qualifies for HUMPS. Its designator is VK5/ HSE-027. What is HEMA?

A HuMP is a summit that has 100 metres of prominence. A Marilyn is a summit which has 150 metres of prominence. The HEMA program is designed for HuMPs with a prominence of less than 150m but at least 100 metres of prominence. Marilyns have their own award scheme through the Summits On The Air (SOTA) program. 

John VK5HAA is the VK5 HEMA Manager and recently mapped some South Australian HEMA summits.

Unfortunately I found a locked gate on the dirt road which on maps, appeared to lead to the top of Mount Observation. I will need to do a bit more homework to see whether access might be granted. I phoned John and filled him in on my find.

I then headed for another HEMA summit, Mount Cone VK5/ HSE-020 which is located to the south-west of the town of Mount Compass. I headed along Lanacoona Road out of Mount Compass and then onto Saffrons Road, a short distance from the Stipiturus Conservation Park. I then travelled south-east of Mount Cone Road which according to the maps would take me to the summit.

Unfortunately I soon encountered a locked gate which had a ‘Private Road’ sign on the gate and a number of warnings that the Mount Cone campsite was now closed and this was a Farm Biosecurity area. Again I telephoned John and told him about the locked gate.

From this location as I look to the south-west I could see Trig Point VK5/ HSE-042 which was another HEMA summit I had hoped to activate. John and I discussed access to this particular HEMA summit and John was confident that access could be gained right to the top via Trig Point Road.

I then drove back down Mount Cone Road and decided to activate the nearby Stipiturus Conservation Park.

I have previously activated the Stipiturus Conservation Park and qualified the park for both the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) and the VK5 National & Conservation Parks Award. But that was many years ago. My last activation at Stipiturus was back in 2015 and then in 2014.

Stipiturus Conservation Park is about 166 acres in size. It was established in 2006. The park can be accessed via Beare Lane which runs off Saffrons Road at Mount Compass.

Stipiturus Conservation Park takes its name from the Southern Emu-Wren Stipiturus malachurus, which is a Nationally endangered native bird which can be found in the park.

Also found in the park is the Southern Brown Bandicoot, a small marsupial. They were once common throughout most parts of coastal Australia.

The park contains Glenshera Swamp, one of the last remaining swamps on the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide. It is listed nationally as a critically endangered ecological community.

A large amount of hydrological restoration work has been conducted here over the years which has resulted in weed reduction and the re-emergence of native plants. ‘SwampFest’ is an annual planting event which has been held at Stipiturus. More than 3,500 seedlings have been planted in Stipiturus.

If you do activate Stipiturus, be prepared to climb a fence. Unfortunately this is another park which is ‘locked up’. There is no pedestrian access to the park. You will need to climb over the barbed wire fence.

There is a little bit of scrub just off Beare Lane on the southern side of the park.  It contains gum trees and an under-storey of ferns.  There is another patch of scrub a little further to the north, and if you follow the track from the gate, this will take you to the swamp area.

I placed all my gear over the fence and then carefully negotiated the barbed wire fence. I operated a short distance in from the fence-line, running the Yaesu FT-857d, 40 watts output, and the 20/40/80m linked dipole.

Prior to calling CQ I found Bob VK2BYF/p on 7.144 calling CQ from the Morton National Park VKFF-0334.

I then headed down the band a little and called CQ on 7.139. Craig VK3NCR was the first to come back to my CQ call, followed by Marija VK5MAZ, and then Ken VK3UH.

As it was a weekday, I did not develop a ile-up, but had a slow and steady flow of callers. Rob VK1NV mobile was my tenth contact, qualifying the park for VI100AF for VKFF.

I logged a total of 34 stations on 40m before callers dried up. Contacts on 40m were made into VK1, VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK6, and VK7.

I then moved to 20m where I logged 7 stations from VK2, VK3, VK5, VK6, and New Zealand.

To complete the activation I moved to 3.610 on the 80m band where I logged 5 stations, all from VK5. Contact number 44 was with Marija VK5MAZ.

With 46 contacts in the log, it was time to pack up and head to VK5/ HSE-042.

During my activation I had two Wedge-Tailed Eagles soaring above the adjacent scrub and then the park. They are an amazing bird to watch soaring in the thermals.

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK2BYF/p (Morton National Park VKFF-0334).
2. VK3NCR
3. VK5MAZ
4. VK3UH
5. VK3UH
6. VK2VW
7. VK2HFI
8. VK3PF
9. VK2IO
10. VK2MOP
11. VK1NV/m
12. VK3YV
13. VK3SQ
14. VK3UCD
15. VK3TV/m
16. VK3ACT
17. VK3EJ
18. VK2JDL
19. VK6HLY
20. VK4FDJL
21. VK3KTT
22. VK3MTT
23. VK3AWA
24. VK3CU
25. VK3FBIC
26. VK3HKV/m
27. VK3VRA
28. VK3ZM
29. VK5HAA
30. VK7EE
31. VK4SMA
32. VK3MLU
33. VK3ARH
34. VK3HRA
35. VK3DRH

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

1. VK3SQ
2. VK6NU
3. VK5HAA
4. ZL1TM
5. VK3PF
6. VK2VW
7. VK2HFI

I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

1. VK5FANA
2. VK5CZ
3. VK5MAZ
4. VK5HAA
5. VK5IS

References.

Nature Glenelg Trust, 2021, <https://natureglenelg.org.au/stipiturus-conservation-park-two-years-on-winter-rains-transform-an-ecosystem/>, viewed 26th May 2021.

Protected Planet, 2021, <https://www.protectedplanet.net/357246>, viewed 26th May 2021.

Victor Harbor Times, 2021, <https://www.victorharbortimes.com.au/story/4656013/conservation-fun-at-stipiturus-park/>, viewed 26th May 2021.

Wikipedia, 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_emu-wren>, viewed 26th May 2021.

Wikipedia, 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_brown_bandicoot>, viewed 26th May 2021.

After 2 years in the waiting, a few weeks ago I received via email our certificates from the Denby Dale Amateur Radio Society for the 2019 Mills Weekend.

Marija and I operated in 2019 at Nixon’s Mill at Hahndorf. For full info on the activation, please have a look at my previous post at…..https://vk5pas.org/2019/05/14/nixons-windmill-hahndorf/

On Thursday 6th day of May and Friday 7th day of May 2021, Marija and I had the special call of VK100AF for 2 days.

Over the 2 day period we operated from both at home and out in the field. This included an activation for the Summits on the Air (SOTA) program, and two park activations for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program and the VK5 National & Conservation Parks Award.

All up we made a total of 282 QSOs on 15, 20, 40, & 80m SSB.

• 15m……….2 QSOs
• 20m……….88 QSOs
• 40m……….146 QSOs
• 80m……….46 QSOs

The graph below shows our contacts per band.

The map below shows our contacts around the world over the 2 day period. We worked 22 different DXCC.

Unfortunately on Sunday afternoon, right in the middle of a pile up, I had significant equipment failure. After an hour or more of trouble shooting, I found that it was an issue with the cable from the tuner to my antenna/transceiver switch. By the time I had found and fixed the problem, the 20m band had closed. Oh well. I still managed to log the following DXCC entities:-

• Asiatic Russia
• Australia
• Austria
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• England
• European Russia
• Germany
• Finland
• France
• Hawaii
• Indonesia
• Italy
• Malta
• New Zealand
• Poland
• Romania
• South Africa
• Ukraine
• USA

Our SOTA activation was at Mount Lofty VK5/ SE-005 which is located within the Cleland Conservation Park 5CP-042 & VKFF-778. We made a total of 48 QSOs on 20, 40, & 80m SSB into VK1, VK2, VK4, VK4, VK5, VK6, VK7, and New Zealand.

Our second park activation for the day was at the Kyeema Conservation Park 5CP-107 & VKFF-0826 where we made a total of 48 QSOs into VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK6, VK7, and Indonesia.

THANKS to everyone who called.

On Thursday 29th and Friday 30th April 2021, Marija and I used the VI100AF call for 2 days. VI100AF is one of two special event calls to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Royal Australian Air Force.

Over the 2 day period we made a total of 342 QSOs on 20m, 40m, & 80m SSB

• 20m……….203 QSOs
• 40m……….73 QSOs
• 80m……….66 QSOs

I did put out CQ calls on 10m and 15m but had no takers on those bands.

The map below shows our contacts around the world over the 2 day period. We worked a total of 33 different DXCC entities as follows:-

• Alaska
• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• England
• European Russia
• Germany
• Finland
• France
• Greece
• Italy
• Japan
• Latvia
• Lord Howe Island
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Scotland
• Slovenia
• South Africa
• South Cook Islands
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Ukraine
• USA
• Wake Island

Each afternoon we had a nice (but short) opening on 20m long path into Europe and the United Kingdom. The map below shows our contacts to that part of the world.

Callers from VK and ZL had slowed down a bit from our first activation as VI100AF back in March. The map below shows our contacts around Australia and New Zealand.

THANK YOU to everyone who called.

On Friday 23rd April and Saturday 24th April 2021, Marija VK5MAZ and I had use of the special event callsign of VK100AF, to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Royal Australian Air Force.

We operated from home and also out in the field. All up we made a total of 303 QSOs into 27 different DXCC entities.

DXCC worked were as follows:-

• Antarctica
• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• England
• European Russia
• Germany
• France
• Greece
• Hawaii
• Hungary
• Israel
• Italy
• Japan
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Ukraine
• USA
• Wake Island

The map below shows our contacts.

First in the log on the weekend was Marty VK4KC who was activating a park for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program, the Currimundi Lake Conservation Park VKFF-1522. My final contact was on Sunday evening with Tim VK5AV.

There was a nice opening each day on 20m long path into Europe.

On Saturday morning Marija and I headed to Lake Albert and operated from there for about 2 hours. Why Lake Albert? On the 3rd day of June 1942, an Avro Anson, No. W2370, was on a training flight from No. 6 Service Flying Training School at Mallalla. The crew on board lost their way in the darkness and after circling the town of Meningie and Lake Albert for some time, the aircraft finally crashed into Lake Albert. All four RAAF personnel on board were killed. Marija and I logged 73 contacts at this location.

More info on that specific activation can be found at…..

https://vk5pas.org/2021/05/15/vk100f-at-lake-albert/

Over the 2 days we operated on 10, 15, 30, 40, & 80m SSB. An equal number of contacts were made on 20m and 40m SSB.

• 10m 3 QSOs
• 15m 1 QSO
• 20m 138 QSOs
• 40m 138 QSOs
• 80m 23 QSOs

Just 3 QSOs were made on 10m into VK2 and VK5. And just one QSO on 15m into VK2.

The most interesting QSOs over the weekend were with Paul VK0PD in Antarctica on 40m, and Randy WW6RG/KH9 on Wake Island on 20m

I have also received in recent weeks, two more WWFF Activator Points Award certificates.

I have also qualified for a couple of new WWFF Global Activator certificates. Issued for having activated 286 and then 297 WWFF references. Each of those activations have a minimum of 44 QSOs.

Thanks to all of the WWFF hunters and thanks to Friedrich DL4BBH.

After my recent trip to the Riverland region of VK5, VK3, and VK2, and a number of new park activations, I have qualified for another VKFF award.

It is the VKFF Activator Honour Roll 350 award, issued for having activated a total of 350 different VKFF reference areas.

Thanks to all of the VKFF Hunters.

Back in March I received my latest global World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) certificate, the 1,744 WWFF Hunter certificate. It is issued for having worked 1,744 different WWFF references.

Thanks to all of the WWFF activators and thanks to Karl DL1JKK the Awards Manager.