On the weekend just gone (Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th August 2015), myself and John VK5BJE operated as VI5ANZAC to commemorate the 10th Australian Infantry Battalion.

The 10th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during the First World War. The battalion was recruited in South Australia, and was raised within weeks of the declaration of war in August 1914.  The Battalion embarked for overseas just two months later, and after a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, arriving in early December.

The 3rd Brigade was the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915 and so was the first ashore at around 4:30 am. Two soldiers of the 10th Battalion, Lance Corporal Philip Robin and Private Arthur Blackburn, are believed to have penetrated further inland than any other Australians at ANZAC.  The 10th Battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC position, and served there until the evacuation in December.

After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the 10th Battalion returned to Egypt and, in March 1916, sailed for France and the Western Front.  From then until 1918, the battalion took part in bitter trench warfare. The battalion’s first major action in France was at Pozieres in the Somme valley in July. After Pozieres the battalion fought at Ypres in Flanders before returning to the Somme for winter. In 1917, the battalion returned to Belgium to take part in the major British offensive of that year – the Third Battle of Ypres.  For his valorous actions at Polygon Wood east of Ypres in September 1917, Private Roy Inwood was awarded the Victoria Cross (we will be commemorating Inwood next month as VK100ANZAC).  INWOOD’s brother Robert had been killed at Pozieres and another brother, Harold, had been badly wounded and invalided to Australia in November 1917.

In March and April 1918 the 10th Battalion helped stop the German spring offensive and was then involved in the operations leading up to the Allied counter-stroke. In June, during an attack near Merris in France, Corporal Phillip Davey became the third member of the battalion to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Davey had been awarded the Military Medal for bravery near Messines in January.  His brothers Claude and Richard were also members of the battalion and both had been awarded Military Medals in 1917.

The battalion participated in the great allied offensive of 1918, fighting near Amiens on 8 August 1918. This advance by British and empire troops was the greatest success in a single day on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as “the black day of the German Army in this war”.

The battalion continued operations until late September 1918. At 11 am on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent. In November 1918, members of the AIF began returning to Australia. At 8 am on 5 September 1919, the final detachment of the 10th Battalion arrived at Adelaide, aboard the transport Takada.

Above:- Lines of the 9th and 10th Battalions at Merna Camp, looking towards the pyramids.  Image courtesy of Wikipedia.  The kangaroo was the regimental mascot.

Saturday was quite challenging on the 40 m band with ‘close in’ propagation (within about 400 km) coming and going.  Conditions on 20m, long path into Europe were quite good.

However, everything fell apart on Sunday.  Solar conditions wreaked havoc on the bands.  There was absolutely no close in propagation and long path into Europe on 20m was almost non existent.  Very disappointing.

Here are some of our stats over the 2 days…..

• total of 281 contacts
• 26 DXCC entities worked
• 11 ITU zones worked
• 23 IOTA references
• VI4ANZAC
• 24 x Australian lighthouses
• 1 x Puerto Rican lighthouse
• 1 x USA lighthouse
• 1 x SOTA contact
• 1 x WWFF contact

References.

Australian War Memorial, 2015, <https://www.awm.gov.au/unit/U51450/&gt;, viewed 19th August 2015

I did a bit of research tonight and found that I have activated a total of 126 unique South Australian National and Conservation Parks out of a total of 292.  That’s about 43%.  So I have a way to go yet.

Below is a map from Google Earth showing my VK5 park activations.

I received another certificate via email today for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.  This time around it was from Poland, and was the SPFF-Hunter Award for having worked 24 different SPFF references.

Many thanks to Sylwester SP2FAP, the SPFF Award Manager, and all of the Polish WWFF activators.

This morning I received via email, my latest Belgian Flora and Fauna (ONFF) award.  it is for working 25 different Belgian ONFF reference areas.  The next step is the Gold, which requires 50 different ONFF reference areas.

Many thanks to Gino ON4BB for the certificate.

And also thanks to all of the Belgian activators, particularly Danny OT4V, Swa ON5SWA and Yves ON8ON.

I was very pleased to receive this morning my new Hunter certificate in the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.  It is issued for having worked a total of 352 different WWFF reference areas.

Many thanks to all the WWFF activators and thanks to Pit YO3JW.

Recently I have worked numerous Belgium reference areas for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.  This has mostly been due to the efforts of Danny OT4V and Swa ON5SWA.

Both Danny and Swa take the time to listen out for the Australian park hunters which is great.  It is often very difficult to break through the European pile up with many of the European park activators.  So it is very refreshing to hear Danny and Swa specifically listening for outside of Europe.

And Danny has been sending me some great QSL cards from his activations.

Yesterday I received via email two France Flora Fauna certificates for working 5 different, and10 different French Flora Fauna reference areas.

Many thanks to Marco F5SSN, the France Flora Fauna (FFF) co-ordinator.

For more information on the FFF program, please check out their website at……

http://www.france-flora-fauna.fr/diplomes-fff/diplomes-fff/

Following up on the recent Top VKFF Activator certificates that I recently released, I have now released the Top VKFF Hunter certificates.

These will be released annually for the Top VKFF Hunter.  In other words, the amateur who has worked the most number of VKFF references in that year.

I have started off in 2013, as this is the year that VKFF kicked off in Australia.

The Top VKFF Hunters in 2013 were myself and Larry VK5LY (we both worked 39 different VKFF references).

In at second place (again shared) was Ron VK3AFW and Bernard VK3AMB (on 38 references),  in 3rd was Nick VK3ANL with 35 references, Peter VK3PF at number 4 (34 references).  And at number 5 was Allen VK3HRA (with 32 references).

The Top VKFF Hunter in 2014 was Peter VK3PF, with 85 VKFF references worked.

In second place was Paul VK5PAS with 83 references.  In 3rd was Amanda VK3FQSO with 81 VKFF references.  Fourth spot was shared by Nev VK5WG and Matt VK1MA with 62 references.  And in 5th position was Ron VK3AFW with 59 references.

So far in 2015, the Top 5 VKFF Hunters are:-

This morning (Friday 31st July 2015) I headed out to the Cromer Conservation Park, which is located about 5 km north of Birdwood in the Mount Lofty Ranges.  It is about a 30 minute drive from home, through the Adelaide Hills.

I had activated Cromer previously as part of the VK5 National and Conservation Parks Award, but this was my first time in the park as part of the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.  Cromer had been allocated a VKFF number in March this year.

And today was also World Ranger Day.  World Ranger Day, which is observed annually on the 31st of July, commemorates rangers killed or injured in the line of duty, and celebrates the work rangers do to protect the world’s natural and cultural treasures.  For more information, please see…..

http://www.thingreenline.org.au/event/world-ranger-day/

It was a freezing morning, with the Adelaide Hills having had another very cold night and a morning frost.  I was on a day off from work, and had slept in a bit, so it was just after 8.00 a.m. by the time I hit the road.  I had to use a bucket of water to get the ice off the windscreen of the Toyota Hi Lux.  Generally the temperature gauge is accurate, and it was showing 0 degrees C.

Above:- Map showing the location of Cromer CP.  Image courtesy of mapcarta.com

I travelled out through Nairne, to Woodside and then on to the little town of Mount Torrens.  I continued north to Birdwood which is the home of the National Motor Museum.  From Birdwood I travelled north on the Cromer Road which starts off as bitumen, but soon changes to dirt.  The park is located about 5 km out of Birdwood and is well signposted.  The Mount Crawford Forest borders the park and this part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges is very picturesque.

Cromer CP is 50 hectares in size and represents one of the largest contiguous native remnant vegetation parcels within the Upper Torrens catchment area in the Mount Lofty Ranges.  The park was declared in 1976.  It provides significant habitat for a variety of flora and fauna.  There were quite a few Western Grey kangaroos on the road, braving the morning cold.  And sadly I found a young female kangaroo (doe), dead on the side of the road, not far from the park entry on Cromer Road.  And deceased alongside of her was her young joey which was probably only a few months old.  Obviously she had been hit by a passing vehicle.  Not the most pleasing start to the activation.

I set up my fold up table and deck chair just inside the park entry on Cromer Road.  For this activation I used my normal portable equipment consisting of the Yaesu FT-857d, and my 40m/20m linked dipole, supported on the 7 metre telescopic squid pole.  I tied off the ends of the dipole to some gum trees in the parks, so the ends of the legs were about 4 -5 feet off the ground.

Above:- Map showing my operating spot.  Map courtesy of mapcarta.com

I headed to 7.144 which I had nominated as my operating frequency, and asked if the frequency was in use.  This was immediately answered by Greg VK5GJ at Meadows, in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges.  Greg was running just 4 watts, but still had a good 5/7 signal to Cromer.  Greg kindly spotted me on parksnpeaks.

Next caller was John VK5BJE at Scott Creek with a nice 5/9 signal, who also spotted me on parksnpeaks.  This was followed by Tony VK5FTVR at Strathalbyn who was very strong.  I worked a total of 12 stations before the UTC rollover, in VK1, VK2, VK3, VK5, & VK6.  This included a call from Julie VK3FOWL who was at a school at Ormond in Victoria.  Julie conducts amateur radio classes at schools, and asked if she could call back a bit later with some of the students.  Of course, I agree, as anything to promote the hobby is a great thing.  And Julie and her hubby zJoe VK3YSP certainly do a lot to promote the hobby.  After the UTC rollover I worked a further 5 stations in VK2, VK4, & VK5, before heading off to 20m.

On 20m I called CQ on 14.244 and this was answered by George VK4GSF at Toowoomba with a good strong 5/9 signal.  This was followed by Greg VK5GJ, who although very weak, was very readable.  Again, Greg spotted me on parksnpeaks.  Spotting is very much appreciated, as it not only helps the activator, but also helps the park hunters.

Next up was another Queenslander.  This time, Ron VK4QO with a nice strong 5/9 signal.  My next taker was Brian VK5BC who was kind enough to place me on the DX cluster.  This clearly resulted in my first DX contact for this activation, Dave YB0AJZ in Jakarta.  My laster taker on 20m was Anthony VK6MAC who was portable in the South West of Western Australia.

After working a total of 11 stations on 20m in VK2, VK4, VK5, VK6, VK7 and Indonesia, I headed back to 40m and called CQ again on 7.144.  This was answered by Col VK5HCF at Mount Gambier.  I worked a further 7 stations including Mick VK3PMG who spotted me on parksnpeaks.  Shortly after I was called by Julie VK3FOWL.

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When things slowed down a little, I tuned across the 40m band and found Rob VK2QR calling CQ from SOTA summit, Mount Ikes, VK2/ SW-030.  Rob was a very nice 5/9 signal, and is always one of the strongest SOTA activators that I hear on the band.  I headed back to 7.144 and called CQ again, where I spoke with Cleeve VK2MOR, who placed me on the DX cluster.  This was followed by Rex VK3ARG.  But despite a number of CQ calls I had no further callers, so I headed back to 20m for a final listen before going QRT.

I headed to 14.244, but found Colin VK4LAC calling CQ on 14.245.  I gave Colin a call who had a good 5/9 signal.  Colin advised that he was just newly licenced, so I was very pleased to get Colin in the log.  Colin kindly left me the frequency and I was then called by Albert S58AL in Slovenia.  I was a little surprised to hear Albert as it was very early, only midday local time.  So long path to Europe was still opening up.  My last taker was Brooke VK4RZ with a 5/9 plus signal.

I ended up with a total of 51 contacts in the log for this activation, which I was very pleased with, considering that this was a weekday.

I have a special QSL card for this activation for World Ranger Day, which I will send via email upon request.  Send an email to vk5pas@wia.org.au

The following stations were worked on 40m SSB:-

1. VK5GJ
2. VK5BJE
3. VK5FTVR
4. VK5EE
5. VK2UH
6. VK6DW
7. VK3MEG
8. VK3FOWL/p
9. VK1DI
10. VK5PL
11. VK2IO
12. VK2GAZ
13. VK4GSF
14. VK7MK
15. VK2PDW
16. VK2MMM
17. VK5GJ (after the UTC roll over)
18. VK5HCF
19. VK5FANA
20. VK3PMG
21. VK4AAC/5
22. VK3UH
23. VK3TKK
24. VK5ZGY/m
25. VK3BHR
26. VK3FOWL/p
27. VK2XXM
28. VK3FENV
29. VK3PF
30. VK4RF
31. VK4HA
32. VK2NCS
33. VK2PKT
34. VK2LAD
35. VK2QR/p (SOTA)
36. VK2MOR
37. VK3ARG

The following stations were worked on 20m SSB:-

1. VK4GSG
2. VK5GJ
3. VK4QO
4. VK5BC
5. VK7MK
6. VK6BP
7. VK2GKA
8. YB0AJZ
9. VK4CEF/m
10. VK6MAC/p
11. VK4LAC
12. S58AL
13. VK4RZ

I recently received an email from the SPFF Award Managers with my certificate for the next level of the SPFF Hunter Award.  It was awarded to me for working 18 different SPFF reference areas.