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.

After packing up at Mount Lofty I headed to the Kyeema Conservation Park 5CP-107 & VKFF-0826. The park is located about 62 km south of Adelaide

The Kyeema Conservation Park is about 346 hectares (850 acres) in size and was established on the 12th day of November 1964. In those days it was a wildlife reserve proclaimed under the National Park & Wildlife Reserves Act. On the 2rd day of August 1967 the wildlife reserve and another section of land were proclaimed as the Kyeema National Park. On the 27th day of April 1972 the park was reconstituted as the Kyeema Conservation Park. On the 4th day of April 1974 further sections were added to the park.

The name Kyeema is believed to be local Kaurna aboriginal language meaning ‘dawn’.

The park is bounded in the south by Woodgate Hill Road, in the east by Blackfellows Creek Road, and the park’s boundary with the locality of Kuitpo in the west and in part to the north.

Prior uses of the land included the use of part of the current day park as a labour prison reserve, the Kyeema Afforestation Camp, which was opened on the 22nd day of March 1932. This was South Australia’s first prison camp. On the 27th day of October 1932 it was gazetted as the Kyeema Prison Camp. It operated until 1959 when it was replaced by the current Cadell Training Centre in the Riverland region of South Australia.

Above:- News article re escapees from Kyeema, The News Adelaide, 15 March 1948. Image c/o Trove

The overstorey in the park is predominantly messmate stringy bark (Eucalyptus obliqua), with some pink gum (E. fasciculosa) and cup gum (E. cosmophylla) and a diverse under storey.

Birds Sa have recorded about 84 native species of bird in the park including Superb Fairywren, Striated Thornbill, Brown Thornbill, White-browed Scrubwren, Crescent Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, and Grey Shrikethrush.

The park was significantly damaged during the devastating Ash Wednesday bushfires in February 1983. Following the fires, the park became the focus of a large revegetation project involving local school students. About 20,000 seedlings were planted in the first three years after commencement of the project. This area is now known as ‘The Childrens Forest’.

There are some nice walks in the park, including the famous Heysen Trail walking track passes through the park.

After setting up I called CQ on 7.144 on the 40m band and this was answered by Peter VK3PF. It was very slow going however, and it took me about 14 minutes before I had contact number ten in the log, a QSO with none other than my wife Marija VK5MAZ.

I logged a total of 28 stations on 40m before callers dried up. Contacts were logged into VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, and VK7. This included two Park to Park contacts, with Bob VK2BYF/p and Gerald VK2HBG who were activating the Brundee Swamp Nature Reserve VKFF-2547.

I then moved down to 7.090 and logged David VK3IL, Glen VK3YY, and Andrew VK3JBL who were activating SOTA summit VK3/ VT-011.

After logging the SOTA contacts I moved back to 7.144 where I logged a further 5 stations from VK3, VK5, and VK7. Unfortunately callers dried up very quickly, so I headed to the 80m band. I logged 6 stations on 80m, all from VK5.

It was then off to 20m where I logged 6 stations from Indonesia, VK4, VK5, and VK6.

To conclude the activation I went back to 80m and logged Adrian VK5FANA who had missed me during my first go on 80m.

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK3PF
2. VK3CAT
3. VK2VW
4. VK2HFI
5. VK3SQ
6. VK3VRA
7. VK3DWL/m
8. VK2LEE
9. VK3DEN
10. VK5MAZ
11. VK7FAMP
12. VK3ARH
13. VK2IO/m
14. VK3UH
15. VK3AV
16. VK3AMB
17. VK7LTD
18. VK7ME
19. VK3PI
20. VK7QP
21. VK4KLA
22. VK3TV/m
23. VK2BYF/p (Brundee Swamp Nature Reserve VKFF-2547)
24. VK2HBG/p (Brundee Swamp Nature Reserve VKFF-2547)
25. VK3AZN
26. VK3FIMD
27. VK7KT
28. VK3DAC
29. VK3IL/p (SOTA VK3/ VT-011)
30. VK3YY/p (SOTA VK3/ VT-011)
31. VK3JBL/p (SOTA VK3/ VT-011)
32. VK7JFD
33. VK3KV
34. VK5CZ
35. VK3IH
36. VK3EJ

I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

1. VK5CZ
2. VK5MAZ
3. VK5ST
4. VK5LA
5. VK5GY
6. VK5WG
7. VK5FANA

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

1. YB1TIA
2. VK6NU
3. VK5MAZ
4. VK6XN
5. VK4JWT
6. VK4CZ

I packed up and made the short drive back to my home at Ashbourne, travelling down Kirkham Road, enjoying the fabulous views of Ashbourne and surrounds.

References.

Birds SA, 2021, <https://birdssa.asn.au/location/kyeema-conservation-park/>, viewed 17th May 2021.

Wikipedia, 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyeema_Conservation_Park>, viewed 17th May 2021.