On Friday morning, 16th August, 2013, myself and 7 other amateurs ventured over to Kangaroo Island, OC-139 for the annual International Lighthouse & Lightship weekend.

Today (Wednesday 24th July, 2013) I activated a total of 4 Conservation Parks.

My first park of the day was the Charleston Conservation Park which is situated on Bell Springs Road, at Charleston in the Mount Lofty Ranges ‘Adelaide Hills’.  The park is about 46 kms east of Adelaide, and about 25 kms north from my home qth.

Charleston is a beautiful little town, situated on the Onkaparinga Valley Road between Woodside and Mount Torrens,  on the main route from the Adelaide Hills to the Barossa Valley.  If you blinked, you would probably miss Charleston, as it has a pub, a General Store, and a few other businesses.  The Charleston Hotel enjoyed some national attention as one of the main props in a car advertisement, based on Slim Dusty’s famous song “Answer to a Pub With No Beer”.  Charleston is very close to the source of the Onkaparinga River, and was named for its founder, Charles Dunn, a brother of the prominent miller John Dunn.

I headed out early from home just after breakfast and was set up in the park just after 9.00 a.m.

The park which is about 56 hectares in size, preserves a pristine remnant representative of the transition between the wetter stringy bark forests on the western side of the Mount Lofty Ranges and the drier mallee woodlands to the east.  The park consists of open eucalyptus (blue gum) woodland with reasonably extensive areas of mature banksia, numerous acacia and grass trees.  The park is surrounded by farming land.  The park is in a near pristine condition despite its surrounds, having never been grazed.  A large diversity of flora and fauna are represented in the Park including at least seventy-six bird species.

Access to the park is via Bell Springs Road on the northern side of the park.  Take Newman Road which runs off Onkaparinga Valley Road, and travel east.  Then turn left onto Lewis Road, and Bell Springs Road is the first road on your right.  The park is a short distance up on your right.  There is a track which runs along the western boundary of the park, but this cannot be accessed in a vehicle as there is a locked gate on Bell Springs Road.  I parked my car near the gate and found a clearing about 50 metres in from the northern boundary.

I strung up the dipole between some trees, with the centre supported by the 7 m squid pole.  There are plenty of options here for securing a dipole, as there are lots of trees.  The only problem is finding an area of cleared land, as the vegetation within the park is quite thick.  I made myself comfortable on my deck chair and put a few calls out on 7.100 with no takers.  But I was 15 minutes early from my posted activation time.  So I went down the band to 7.078 and checked in to the Riverland Radio Group, and spoke to Ron VK5MRE and Larry VK5LY, who both had beautiful signals.

At 9.30 a.m. local time I moved back up to 7.100 and was called by regular ‘Hunter’ Brian VK5FMID.  This was followed by a call from Billy VK2NWC/8.  He was portable at The Olgas in the Northern Territory.  Although light in signal strength, Billy was perfectly readable.  Quite a surprise to work into VK8 on QRP at this time of the day.  This was followed by 7 QSO’s, including a few of the regular ‘Hunters’ Tom VK5EE, & Nev VK5WG.  John VK5FMJC called in to say hello from Crystal Brook.  John was QRP on just 5 watts and was a good strong 5/8.

During the activation I worked a total of 11 stations in VK3, VK5, & VK8, on 40m SSB.

The following stations were worked:- Ron VK5BRL; Larry VK5LY; Brian VK5FMID; Billy VK2NWC/8; Tom VK5EE; Terry VK3UP’ John VK5FMJC; Bernard VK3AMB; Mal VK5MJ; Nev VK5WG; and Dennis VK5LDM.

Yesterday morning, Saturday 29th June, 2013, I woke up quite excited as I was sitting on just under 950 points as a Chaser.  I knew that there was going to be quite a few activations during the day, and fingers crossed, this would hopefully take me over the 1,000 point mark.

My first contact of the day was with Wayne VK3WAM/p, who was on Mount Ritchie.  The SOTA goat bleated on my i-phone, so I rushed up to the radio room and spoke with Wayne.  A good start with another 8 points to add to the tally.

At the end of my QSO with Wayne, Andrew VK1NAM, asked me to QSY up 5, and I obliged.  I  had a good chat with Andrew, only to find out that he was very close to Shack Sloth as well, and he too, was hoping for a good day.

And at 0258 UTC I tipped over the 1,000 point mark, after speaking with Peter VK3PF, who was on Mount Selma, VK3/ VT-013.  The number 013 wasn’t unlucky for me in this instance.  Thanks Peter.

And by the end of the weekend, I had 18 SOTA QSO’s, and I am now sitting on 1,058 points.

And I also found out that Andrew VK1NAM had nudged over the 1,000 point mark.  So congratulations to you Andrew.

My first ever SOTA contact was with Mike, 2E0YYY/p, on 1st December, 2011.  He was portable on Moel Famau summit, GW/ NW-044, in Wales, and I was lucky enough to work him on 15 m SSB.   This was my first ever exposure to SOTA.  I hadn’t even heard about the SOTA program before this.

It took another 5 months to pass, 22nd May 2012 in fact, before I would get my next SOTA contact.  And again it was with Mike, who was using the special call of 2Q0YYY/p.  This time he was on Shining Tor summit, G/ SP-004, in England.  I had an enjoyable QSO with Mike on 20m SSB.

My first Aussie SOTA contact was on the 10th June, 2012, with Wayne VK3WAM, who was portable on Triple Peak, VK3/ VW-005.

Between May 2012 and December 2012, I worked a total of 29 activators and reached 155 points.  The Victorian VK3 Association had kicked off earlier that year, in February, but it was not until May, that I was bitten by the SOTA bug.

My interest really hightened with talk that South Australia was going to join the SOTA brotherhood, and in October the VK5 Association kicked off.  Thanks to Ian VK5CZ and Wayne VK3WAM.

But it has been this year, 2013, that SOTA has really soared here in Australia.   Activations in VK3 really took off, and in February, 2013, the ACT VK1 Association also joined the fold.  So far in 2013, I have worked a total of 210 stations for a total of 901 points.

Thankyou to all the guys who have made the effort in going out to activate a summit.  Now that I have also become an Activator (started in March this year – 26 activations), I know that it is not just as simple as going out to climb the nearest hill.  There is a fair bit of organisation and determination involved.  But it is a lot of fun.  For me, nothing beats getting out in the bush, going for a walk, getting fit, and enjoying the hobby of amateur radio at the same time.

The following stations appear in my Chaser log:-

Wayne VK3WAM; Ron VK3AFW; Allen VK3HRA; Peter VK3ZPF; Peter VK3PF, Andrew VK1NAM, Ian VK5CZ, Rik VK3KAN, Matt VK1MA, Andrew VK1DA, Marshall VK3MRG, Al VK1RX, Ernie VK3DET, Ian VK1DI, Peter VK1IRC, Glenn VK3YY, VK3FMDV,  Kevin VK3KAB, Warren VK3BYD, Rhett VK3GHZ, Brian VK3MCD, Andy VK5LA, Darren VK3FDJT, VK3XJM, VK3CBV, Chris VK3QB/VK9, Brenton VK3CBV, Glen VK1FB, Mark VK3DEE, Mark VK3PI, Ray VK3YAR, and Andrew VI100ACT.

Other than my 2 DX QSO’s with Mike, I’ve been lucky enough to work a total of 10 other DX SOTA activators in Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Greece.  And every one of those has been a real thrill to get in the log.

I hope that the rest of 2013 and the future, sees a lot more activity from South Australia, VK5.  To date, there has only been a handful of activators, which is a little disapointing.

I’ve enjoyed every minute of Chasing and again thanks to all you guys who have made the effort of climbing to the top of a summit.

Now that I am a Shack Sloth, I can try to concentrate on my Activations.

I decided at late notice yesterday afternoon to go out for a drive down to Kyeema Conservation Park (CP), and activate the CP as part of the VK5 Parks Award.

Kyeema CP is situated about 60 kms south of Adelaide, between Meadows and Willunga.  It covers an area of about 360 hectares and consists of thick scrub including messmate stringybark, pink gum, cup gum and candlebark gum.  It  provides habitat for a diverse range of wildlife, including the southern brown bandicoot and the swamp rat.  I didn’t see any of those, but I did see a heap of kangaroos.  And they were pretty game, as they got within about 30 metres of me, grazing on some grass.

The Kyeema Conservation Park has a colourful history. The area was once mined for alluvial gold for several years until it was abandoned in 1890 due to a low yield.  A few years later some of the area was cleared for pine plantations before being used as a labour prison reserve.  Following the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, the Friends of Kyeema Conservation Park started to revegetate cleared areas of the park.  This work still continues today.

Access is off the Brookman Road (road between Meadows & Willunga) and then Woodgate Hill Road.  The views down to the south are really terrific.  There was some evidence a little further south on Woodgate Hill Road of a recent bushfire going through the park, but it appears the majority of the park was not affected.  Part of the Heysen Trail also goes through the park.

I set up the normal operating equipment (Yaesu FT-817nd & 40m/20m dipole) in a small clearing not far from the car park on Woodgate Hill Road.

I had just set up the antenna and turned the radio on to 7.090 and I heard David VK5KC in QSO with Peter, VK3ZPF, so I quickly picked up the mic and gave them a shout, not realising that I was on the 1 watt setting on the 817nd.  Surprisingly they could both hear me very well.

I then turned up the Yaesu to the 5 watt setting, sat back on the deck chair and watched the sun set in the west.  We had quite wet weather during the week, but by Friday afternoon the weather had cleared to the west.  This made for a spectacular sunset.

Following the sun going down, it was initially quite mild as there was a fair bit of cloud cover.  But that disappeared soon and although this was a possitive in that the night sky and the moon were spectacular, the cold snap crept it and it was pretty chilly.  Only other bonus was that it was too cold for the mozzies !

I had some really enjoyable chats during the night.  This included catching up with Jessie, VK6JES over in WA.  I also managed quite a few mobile QSO’s which was great, including with Peter 3ZPF, Grant 5AMC who was tractor mobile in his field over on the Yorke Peninsula, Andy 5AKH up at Waikerie in the Riverland, and Wayne 7NET down in Tassie.

I also got a pleasant surprise when Andrew VK1DA gave me a shout from the top of Mount Ainslee (SOTA VK1/AC-040)  Andrew was a great signal….5/8 here with no QSB.

Just after 7.00 p.m. local time I jumped onto the 7130 DX Net on 40m and worked a few fellas there, including some DX…Bill W1OW who gave me a 4/4 from Massachusetts, William FO5JV who gave me a 5/1 from French Polynesia, Brian ZL2ASH who gave me a 5/7, Gary ZL3SV who gave me 5/9, and Chuck K9RM who gave me 5/6.  I took some video of  the net, which I’ll place on You Tube.  Gary ZL3SV has an amazing antenna…a centre fed dipole which is 640 metres long and he was absolutely rocketing in as always.

Some of the fellas were talking about conditions on 20m being really good and that the USA was coming in well, so I quickly jumped onto the Southern Cross DX Net and worked Jack W1FDY (gave me a 5/4), Larry W4VES (gave me a 5/2), and Bill W1OW (gave me a 5/4).

Stations worked were:- Peter VK3ZPF/m; David VK5KC; Peter VK5KPR; Peter VK3PF; Brooke VK4RZ/p; Grant VK5AMC/m; Andy VK5AKH/m; Andrew VK1DA; Jessie VK6JES; Adam VK2YK; Graham VK2FPW; Wayne VK7NET/m; Bill W1OW (on 40m); William FO5JV; Paul VK7CC; Rick VK2HFP; Brian ZL2ASH; Gary ZL3SV; Chuck K9RM; Roy VK7ROY, Andy VK4TH; Don VK7DON; Dean VK2FLYS; Jack W1FDY; Larry W4VES; & Bill W1OW.

All in all a really enjoyable late afternoon and evening, with some really interesting contacts with just my 5 watts.

I took some video & photos on my i-phone which I’ve placed on You Tube.