Yesterday (Saturday 20th December, 2014) I activated the Belair National Park (NP), VKFF-022, in the Mount Lofty Ranges ‘Adelaide Hills’.  I had already activated Belair NP earlier in the year, so there were no VK5 Park Award points up for grabs.  And I had already passed the 44 QSO threshold for Belair NP in the World Wide Flora and Fauna (WWFF) program.  But my real motivation, was to try out my new radio.  My beautiful wife Marija (and yes I am constantly reminded I am ‘boxing above my weight’) and my lovely daughter Olivia, purchased a Yaesu FT-857d for me, and gave it to me as an early Christmas present and early 50th birthday present.  I turn 50 on the 5th January.  So it was off to Belair for me, just a 15 minute drive to the west from home.

I set up just inside Gate 1 off Sheaok Road, at Crafers.  This is on the northern side of the park.  This gate was locked, however there is no restriction to access to the park at this point.  There is a walking track here, Wilyawa Track.  But to gain access to it, you need to either jump the fence, which has barbed wire, or jump the padlocked gate.  Why DEWNR do not have a pedestrian access point here I do not know?  Anyway, I got all the gear from the 4WD and then jumped the fence and walked a short distance down the track, where I set up my station, under the shade of some gum trees, as it was a warm 30 deg C day.

Map courtesy of mapcarta.com

I started off on my nominated frequency of 7.095.  I had posted on the VK5 Parks Yahoo group and the WWFF Australia Yahoo group that I would be on air at 0600 UTC on 7.095.  I was about 15 minutes late, but still did not have to call CQ.  I asked if the frequency was in use and this was responded to by Les VK5KLV at Port Augusta with a beautiful 5/9 signal.  Les gave me a 5/9 in return, and it seemed the band was in very good shape.  It was certainly very quiet.  There was no man made noise on the band due to the remote location of the park, and the QRN (static crashes) that have been present over the past few weeks were noticably absent.  My second caller of the day was Adam VK2YK who was a good 5/8.  Adam was struggling with me a little bit due to QSB, but gave me a 5/4 signal report.  This was followed by Mal VK5MJ in The Riverland in South Australia, who was 5/9 plus.  David VK5KC then called me, using just 1 watt, and was a very nice 5/8 signal.  I had already caught up with David earlier in the day for a coffee.

I went on to work a further 20 stations in VK1, VK3, and VK5.  A few of those stations were operating QRP.  The first QRP caller was Peter VK3TKK who was running just 5 watts.  Peter’s signal was only signal strength 3, but due to the low noise floor, I was able to receive him perfectly.  This was followed by Andrew VK1NAM mobile in VK3, in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne.  Andrew was running just 2.5 watts from his FT-817 in the car, but nether less had a great 5/7 signal.  Tom VK5FTRG then called in from the South East of South Australia, running just 5 watts, with a nice 5/9 signal.  My final QRP caller was regular QRP operator, Ian VK5IS, again running 5 watts.  Ian had a beautiful 5/9 signal coming in from the Mid North of South Australia.

I also worked a few mobile stations.  Other than Andrew mentioned above, I also spoke with Greg VK5ZGY who was mobile in the South East of South Australia, with a good strong 5/7 signal.  Greg had co pilot and wife, Gabbie, alongside of him.  I then spoke with Ian VK6PXF who was mobile in VK5 at Lonsdale, south of Adelaide.  Ian has started activating National Parks, and has sent me quite a few of his logs for upload to the WWFF Log Search facility.  And lastly I was called by Robin VK5TN who was mobile at Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills.

But to make my day, I was called by Richard VK5ZRY, who had decided to head out to the Ramsay Way Conservation Park.  The park is/was located on Richard’s property on the Yorke Peninsula.  Richard was trying out his new Yaesu FT-817 and had a magnificent 5/9 signal coming across the Gulf St Vincent to Belair.

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I left the frequency to Richard, and lowered the squid pole and removed the links in the dipole, so I could operate on 20m.  However, I was disapointed when I tuned across 20m, to hear only very weak signals coming in from Europe.  I found that my nominated frequency of 14.244 was clear, so I put out about 8 CQ calls but had no takers.  Rather disapointed, I tuned across the 20m band and could hear three stations coming in from Spain.  However, their signals were well down compared to normal conditions.  I also heard Jason ZL3JAS, working long path into Europe.  However, all the European stations he was making contact with, were very weak to me.

So I headed back to 40m.  Prior to calling CQ again, I tuned across the 40m band and I could hear quite a few Europeans & stations from the United Kingdom coming through, including Javier, EA7GAK on 7.178 who was working into the USA.  I gave Javier a few calls, but sadly he could not hear me.  I also heard W1AW/3 on 7.161 working into Europe.  I also called him, but again my 40 watts just wasn’t making the grade.   So I went back to 7.095 and called CQ again, and this was responded to by Nic VK5ZAT who was portable at Carrackalinga on the Fleurieu Peninsula.  I had worked Nic a little earlier, prior to QSYing to 20m.  He had been having problems with a high VSWR on his dipole.  And this time, his signal had dropped down a good 2 S points.  I was then called by Mick VK3FAFK in Stawell in western Victoria, with a beautiful 5/9 signal.  And this was followed by Andrew VK5UR mobile in VK2, about 100 km south of Parkes.  I had a lengthy chat with Andrew and his signal always remained around the S9.  Andrew was running an IC7100 and a roof mounted whip antenna.  My last contact on 40m was with Adam VK2YK who had called in again, as conditions had improved.  I was now 5/9 with Adam, and he was 5/9 plus.  I worked a further 13 stations from VK2, VK3, VK4, & VK5.

My curiosity had got the better of me, so I again lowered the squid pole and removed the links in the dipole, and again tuned to 20m.  I was hoping that the band had improved.  But it was getting a little late, approaching 8.00 p.m.  Again, I could hear some weak Europeans, who were certainly not strong enough for me to try to make contact with.  I managed just 1 DX contact and that was with Michio, 7L4LKK, who was a strong 5/9 to Belair.

So after a number of hours in the park, I had a total of 41 contacts in the log.

The following stations were worked:-

1.  Les VK5KLV
2. Adam VK2YK
3. Mal VK5MJ
4. David VK5KC/qrp
5. David VK5HYZ
6. Peter VK3TKK/qrp
7. Nev VK5WG
8. Ian VK5KKT
9. Matt VK1MA
10. Andrew VK1NAM mobile VK3/qrp
11. Tom VK5FTRG/qrp
12. Greg VK5ZGY/m
13. Ian VK6PXF mobile VK5
14.  Amanda VK3FQSO
15. Marshall VK3MRG
16. Ian VK5IS/qrp
17. Stuart VK5STU
18. Peter VK5KPR
19. Keith VK5FEKH
20. Steve VK3MEG
21. Nic VK5ZAT/p
22. Tom VK5EE
23. Richard VK5ZRY/p (park to park contact)
24. Robin VKTN/p
25. Nic VK5ZRY/p
26. Mick VK3FAFK
27. Andrew VK5UR mobile VK2
28. Gary VK4MDZ
29. Ian VK3VIN
30. Rob VK4FFAB
31. Bruce VK3FBNG
32. Darren VK2NNN
33. Kevin VK2VKB
34. Peter VK3ZPF
35. Andrew VK2UH
36. Jim VK5JW
37. Tony VK3AN
38. Nick VK3ANL/qrp
39. Tom VK5FTRG
40. Adam VK2YK
41. Michio 7L4LKK

Yesterday afternoon (Monday 15th December 2014) I headed over to the Onkaparinga River National Park (NP), VKFF-402, which qualifies for the VK5 National and Conservation Parks Award, and the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.  I have activated the park a number of times previously, and it is a nice 40 minute drive from my home via Echunga, Meadows, and Kangarilla, through the southern Adelaide Hills.

Onkaparinga River NP is located about 35 km south of Adelaide, and is about 1,544 hectares in size.  It is a magnificent park in close proximity to Adelaide.  The park is disected by the Onkaparinga River, which is South Australia’s second longest river after the mighty Murray.  The river enters the park in a steep sided valley and flows into a spectacular gorge with cliffs up to 50 metres in height, with large permanent rock pools.

Map courtesy of mapcarta.com

I set up on Chapel Hill Track which runs off the northern side of Chapel Hill Road.  I parked my vehicle at gate 21 and walked about 50 metres down the track.  This location is situated on the southern side of the park.  On the southern side of Chapel Hill Road was the beautiful valley containing the vineyards of McLaren Vale and McLaren Flat, and to the north was the park, leading down to the Onkaparinga River cutting its way through the gorge.

It was quite a warm day (about 28 deg C), so I found some nice shade under some large gum trees.  I kept an ever vigilent watch for some of the crawly inhabitants of the park, and fortunately did not encounter any.

I started off with the little Yaseu FT-817nd and just 5 watts.  I powered the radio with a 12 volt 4 ah sealed lead acid battery (SLAB).  My antenna was a 40m/20m linked dipole, supported on a 7 metre squid pole.

I had nominated 7.095 as my calling frequency, but the Kandos Net was still running on 7.093, so I held off for a little while until that finished, and I then called CQ on 7.095.  My CQ call was immediately responded to by Peter VK5NAQ in the Mid North of South Australia with a beautiful 5/9 signal.  This was followed by Les VK5KLV at Port Augusta who was also 5/9.  Park Hunter reliables John VK5BJE and Greg VK5GJ then called in.

After working 11 stations on 7.095, my SOTA Goat application on the i-phone bleated, so I tuned down to 7.090 where I worked Andrew VK1DA/2 who was portable on the top of Livingstone Hill VK2/ SM-093, for the Summits on the Air (SOTA) program.  Andrew was a good solid 5/6 and he gave me a 5/7 signal report.  Livingstone Hill is 932 m above seal level (asl) and is located near the New South Wales and ACT border.

I then returned to 7.095 where I spoke with Amanda VK3FQSO and Ivan VK5HS in the Riverland.  But things slowed down from that point on, and despite a few more CQ calls, I had no takers.  The static crashes were also starting to pick up on 40m.  So I lowered the squid pole and removed the links in the dipole, so that I could operate on 20m.  I was to be disapointed on 20m, as there was no long path propagation into Europe and the United Kingdom.  I could hear John EA7BA on 14.156 but John was very weak.  I could not hear the G stations at all, that he was speaking to.  John was the only European signal I could hear.  The only other activity on 20m that I could hear were some weak Japanese signals.  The band was also covered in the Over the Horizon radar.

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So I returned back to 40m and due to the noise on the band, I started running 40 watts from the Yaesu FT-450.  I spoke with Andrew VK1NAM who was portable on SOTA peak, Mount Taylor, VK1/ AC-037 (5/7 both ways).  I then went back to 7.095 and started calling CQ but the static crashes had become louder making it difficult to pick up a couple of weak stations that were calling me.  However, I did manage to speak with George VK4GSF near Toowoomba in Queensland, Matt VK1MA, and Lee VK2LEE.  I put a few more CQ calls out but had no takers, so I tuned across the band and found Simon VK1FAAS calling CQ from SOTA peak, Mount Ainslee VK1/ AC-040 (5/6 sent and 5/8 received).

I then started calling CQ on 7.090 and worked a further 14 stations from VK1, VK3, VK4, VK6, and VK7.  My first taker here was Peter VK6YV in Perth (5/9 sent and 5/7 received).  This was followed by Wayne VK4XG, south west of Brisbane (5/9 sent and 5/4 received).  I went on to work a further 2 stations in Western Australia.  They being Mark VK6BSA mobile, on his way home from work.  And Alek VK6APK in Perth, who is on the WIA Awards Committee with me.  From past experience and confirmation during this activation, this time of the evening is very good for propagation on 40m into Western Australia.  Adelaide to Perth is a distance of about 2,500 km.  A local QSO we call that here in Australia.  In other parts of the world, it is a DX contact, working across multiple countries.

Sadly, there was a display of poor operating practice again during this activation.  I won’t mention his call sign here, but I had a VK3 come up straight over the top of Alek VK6APK, without asking if the frequency was in use, and start calling one of his mates in VK3.  He did this a number of times until he was sternly told off by a number of stations listening on the side.  No apologies, he just quietly slipped away off the frequency.

Before packing up I decided to book into the 7.130 DX Net.  And I am very pleased I did.  I went on to work William FO5JV in French Polynesia in the Pacific, Joe CU2CE in the Azores Islands off the coast of Portugal and north western Africa, Bill W1OW in Massachusetts in the USA, and four stations in New Zealand.  This included Noel ZL1DAI who was running just 5 watts from his Elecraft KX3 (4/6 sent and 5/6 received).

As the sun was setting, the kangaroos in the park had become very active.  Despite the noise from the radio, many of them came up quite close to my operating position.  The park was also alive with birds during my stay, including Yellow tailed Black Cockatoos, Blue Wrens, Eastern Rosellas, and Rainbow lorikeets.

So after a number of hours in the park, I had a total of 42 contacts in the log, to add to my other tally of contacts from previous activations from Onkaparinga River NP.  This is a great park to operate from.

For more information on the park, please have a look at…..

DEWNR website:

http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/Find_a_Park/Browse_by_region/Fleurieu_Peninsula/Onkaparinga_River_National_Park_and_Recreation_Park

Friends of the Onkaparinga Park:

http://www.communitywebs.org/onkaparingaparks/

The following stations were worked on 40m SSB:-

1. Peter VK5NAQ (qrp)
2. Les VK5KLV
3. John VK5BJE
4. Greg VK5GJ
5. Tony VK5FTVR
6. Nev VK5WG
7. Peter VK3PF
8. Brian VK5FMID
9. Trevor VK5ATQ
10. Larry VK5LY
11. Nick VK3ANL
12. Andrew VK1DA/p (SOTA)
13. Amanda VK3FQSO
14. Ivan VK5HS
15. Andrew VK1NAM/p (SOTA)
16. George VK4GSF
17. Matt VK1MA
18. Lee VK2LEE
19. Simon VK1FAAS/p (SOTA)
20. Peter VK6YV
21. Wayne VK4XG
22. Ian VK1DI
23. Paul VK3KLE
24. Graham VK7ZGK
25. Ian VK3VIN
26. Rob VK4FFAB
27. Mark VK6BSA/m
28. Jim VK5JW
29. Alek VK6APK
30. Ron VK3JP
31. Peter VK5FLEX
32. Kevin VK2VKB
33. Daniel VK3FACC
34. William FO5JV
35. Joe CU2CE
36. Brian ZL2ASH
37. Lamont ZL2ALK
38. Noel ZL1DAI (qrp)
39. Bill W1OW
40. Ray ZL4WRC
41. Mike VK3GYH (qrp)
42. Frank VK2HFS