Martin Washpool Conservation Park

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After packing up at the Coorong National Park, I continued south east on the Princes Highway heading towards my next park, which was the Martin Washpool Conservation Park.

In September last year I had activated this park, which has a rather macabre history.  The park was named after Malachi Martin, who was a convicted murderer.  It was so named after the pool in which he washed the blood from himself after committing murder.  For more information on the park and my previous activation, have a look at …..

https://vk5pas.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/martin-washpool-conservation-park/

Screenshot 2014-06-10 15.04.20

 Map courtesy of Mapcarta

I set up in exactly the same spot as last year which was at the end of Salt Creek Road.  Access to the park is via a closed but unlocked gate at this location.  And as per last year, this park was absolutely alive with honeyeaters and wattlebirds, as many of the native trees and shrubs were in flower.

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I used the park sign to attach my squid pole to, with the assistance of some octopus straps.  There is a track heading off to the south along the eastern boundary of the park, but I have never ventured up there, as the track is very sandy and boggy.  It would certainly not be passable in a conventional vehicle.  From looking at maps, this track takes you right down to the water in the park, which is fed by the Tilley Swamp Drain.

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My first contact was with Greg VK5ZGY, who I was looking forward to meeting at Mount Gambier.  Greg and his wife Gabbie are very keen park activators and hunters.  Next up was Nev VK5WG from Crystal Brook with his normal enormous signal, and then Greg VK5GJ who has become a regular park hunter.  This was followed by Nigel VK5NIG and John VK5BJE.  A steady flow of callers followed from VK2, VK3 and VK5.

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Peter VK3PAH called in again, from his mobile, making this his 2nd park contact for the day.  Peter was using an Alinco DX70 and a whip and had a beautiful 5/8 signal.  I managed to get Col in the log again, using the special call of VI50CONV.  My only QRP contact was with Simon VK3SMC who was running his FT-817 and 5 watts into an end fed antenna at Bonnydoon near Lake Eildon.  Another mobile station that called in was Rod VK5KFB who was mobile on his way down to the SERG convention.

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After 45 minutes in the park, it was time to pull stumps again and head off to the Messent Conservation Park, just a few km away.  I had a total of 20 contacts in the log.

The following stations were worked:

Greg VK5ZGY; Nev VK5WG; Greg VK5GJ; Nigel VK5NIG; John VK5BJE; Tony VK5FTVR; Dennis VK5HH; Peter VK3PAH/mobile; Amanda VK3FQSO; Col VI50CONV; Simon VK3SMC/p; Tom VK2KF; Norm VK5GI; Hans VK5YX; Larry VK5LY; Albert VK3KLB; John VK2AWJ; Rod VK5KFB/mobile; Brian VK5FMID; and Col VK5HCF.

Coorong National Park VKFF-115

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The weekend of Saturday 7th June 2014 and Sunday 8th June 2014 was the 50 year celebration of the South East Radio Group in Mount Gambier.  They were holding their annual convention and had kindly asked me to attend to deliver a presentation on the VK5 National and Conservation Parks Award.  So bright and early on Friday morning (6th June 2014) I headed off from home in the Adelaide Hills towards Mount Gambier in the south east of South Australia.  This being a journey of around 400 km.  I decided to head to Tailem Bend and then travel south east along the Princes Highway.

My plans were to activate 5 parks along the way.  Some of which I had activated previously, but there were two new ones on my activation list: Tilley Swamp, and Mount Scott.  My first stop was the Coorong National Park.  This park qualifies for both the VK5 Parks Award and also the World Wide Flora and Fauna (WWFF) program.  The Coorong is VKFF-115

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Map courtesy of mapcarta

It was a very crisp morning.  When I left home the temperature was only about 2 degrees C.  However I was greeted by a spectacular sunrise as I travelled towards the Coorong.

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I had previously activated the Coorong National Park, however I needed to accrue some more QSOs to get me over the 44 QSO mark to qualify the park for the WWFF global award.  Previously I had operated from Seven Mile.  This time I decided to operate from Parnka Point.

Information about my previous activation can be located at…..

https://vk5pas.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/coorong-national-park/

Parnka Point is located at the end of a narrow strip of land.  This is the narrowest part of The Coorong as the water is less than 100 metres wide.  Parnka Point is where the northern and southern lagoons of The Coorong meet each other.  The water at this point is often referred to as Hells Gate.

The northern lagoon is partly fed by the waters of the River Murray, and varies in salinity from brackish to hyper saline.  In contrast the southern lagoon is always hyper saline.  While this narrow channel often appears calm, a change in wind direction or water levels can create treacherous currents through this narrow but deep channel.

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Map courtesy of mapcarta

Parnka Point was a significant meeting site for the five aboriginal tribes that formed the Ngarrindjeri clan.  Parnka is a Ngarrindjeri word meaning ‘sandy beach’.  As you look out across the lagoon, you can see wooden poles in the seater.  These are the remains of a ferry built last century to access the Younghusband Peninsula.  I ha previously camped here at Parnka Point, many years ago with my children when they were young.

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The Coorong is located about 160 km south east of Adelaide.  Its name is thought to be a corruption of the local aboriginal word kurangh, meaning ‘long neck’, which is a reference to the shape of the lagoon system.  The name is also thought to be from the Aboriginal word Coorang, “sand dune”, a reference to the sand dunes that can be seen between the park and the Southern OceanMore information on the Coorong National Park can be found at…..

http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/Find_a_park/Browse_by_region/Limestone_Coast/Coorong_National_Park

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I drove down to end of Parnka Point and set up my little fold up table and deck chair, looking out towards the southern lagoon.  It was a spectacular morning, with some fog over Younghusband Peninsula and the water.  And it was cold!  In fact, it was 2 degrees C.  The same temperature as when I had left home.

This morning I used my Yaesu FT-450, running 40 watts into the 40 m / 20 m linked dipole supported on the 7 metre telescopic squid pole.  I powered the radio with my 44 amp hour power pack.

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There was lots of bird activity, of the feathered kind.  This included black swans and cormorants (see photos below), and various other water and wading birds.

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There were lots of very strong Europeans coming in on 40m so it was a bit difficult to find a clear frequency.  Finally I found that 7.105 was clear and I put out a CQ call to be answered by parks stalwart, John VK5BJE.  This was followed by Larry VK5LY in the Riverland and Brian VK5FMID down in Mount Gambier.  Greg VK5GJ then called in from Meadows.  Greg attended the SOTA & Parks symposium and since that time has been a regular parks hunter.

My first interstate caller was Paul VK7CC who I regularly talk to on the 7.130 DX Net.  Paul always calls in to say hi when he hears me in a park.  He had a beautiful 5/9 plus signal into The Coorong.  Then to my surprise, a few QSOs later I was called by Barry VK6WF who was a genuine 5/9 signal.  Barry gave me a 5/5 signal report from Kellerberrin, about 200 km east of Perth.  Next up was Col VK5HCF from Mount Gambier.  I also worked Col under the special call of VI50CONV for the SERG 50th year anniversary.

Some stations came up very close to me after operating for about 40 minutes, and one in particular was extremely wide and splattering badly.  This made things a little difficult at times.  However I did manage to work Craig VK3NCR/2 who was portable in the Warrumbungle National Park.  The QRM was so bad I QSYd up to 7.110 but was still being clobbered.  So it is with thanks to Ken VK3YXC, who was my final contact.  Ken was mobile and was very low down and was being killed off by the splatter.  But we perservered and I was finally able to get his call in totality.  Thanks Ken.  They were very trying conditions.

I read a blog tonight put out by Marshall VK3MRG who experienced the same over the weekend, with wide and over driving stations.  It makes it very difficult for everyone else.

http://vk3mrg.weebly.com

After an hour of operating at this beautiful location, it was time to pack up.  I was already behind schedule.  But it was very hard to go QRT as I sat back in the deck chair and looked across the beautiful Coorong.  It is certainly a treasure of South Australia.

The following stations were worked:-

John VK5BJE; Larry VK5LY; Brian VK5FMID; Greg VK5GJ; Paul VK7CC; Tony VK5ZAI; Greg VK5ZGY; Craig VK5LI; Greg VK7FGGT; Charles VK5FBAC; Dave VK3DSB; Barry VK6WF; Col VK5HCF; Col VI5CONV; Nick VK3FNCE; Craig VK3NCR/2; Keith VK5ND; Nigel VK5NIG; Dennis VK5LDM; Don VK5NFB; and Ken VK3YXC mobile.

VK5 SOTA and Parks activation day

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Early this morning I headed off to Crafers and met up with John VK5BJE.  John and I had organised an introduction day to SOTA & the Parks awards, with a planned SOTA activation at Mount Lofty, followed by a parks activation at Belair National Park.  The day was targeting those amateurs who had an interest in SOTA & parks activations, but for whatever reason had not previously completed an activation, or for those that wanted to pick up a few more operating tips.

We met at the Crafers bus interchange just before 8.00 a.m. and we were soon joined by a group of keen amateurs.  It was a very chilly morning, but the weather gods were smiling down on us, as the heavy rain from Saturday had disappeared and although the sky was grey and overcast, the weather was generally fine.  (As I type this, it has recommenced raining here at Mount Barker, so we were very lucky!).  I was also moving a bit slow after my neighbour’s 50th birthday party last night and the consumption of a little too much red wine.

John and I spoke briefly to the group about our respective introductions to SOTA and parks activities, and this was followed by some tips on portable operation.  Of the group, about 50 % had never conducted a SOTA or parks activation, so John and I warned them about pile up management and general operating tips.

At 8.30 a.m. we headed off in convoy, just up the road, to Mount Lofty summit, VK5/ SE-005 which is also located within the Cleland Conservation Park.  So apart from being a SOTA peak, it also qualifies for the VK5 Parks award.  We parked our cars just inside the main gate to the Mount Lofty summit, and then walked a few hundred metres down a track through the scrub, which leads out to the east.  This track leads to the spot where John and I have operated from previously.  It is away from the crowds at the obelisk and the restaurant, but is well within the activation zone.  So for those that showed a willingness to get on air, we did the ‘walk out, walk back in method’.   We walked out of the activation zone and then back in, after walking downhill for about 600 metres.

Because we had a number of willing hams, lugging gear was not a problem.  So we decided to share the load, and to take a few of the comforts from home, including a small fold up table and chair.  Our operating equipment was a Yaesu FT817nd, 5 watts output and a 40m / 20 m linked dipole, supported on a 7 metre squid pole.  The transceiver was powered by small SLAB batteries.

First in the ‘hot seat’ was Patrick VK5MPJ, who is one of the younger members of the Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society.  Well, Patrick didn’t really volunteer….it was more a case of Patrick being pushed into the operators chair.  Conditions appeared to be very good, and as we warned, Patrick was soon greeted with a pile up and had his first SOTA activation under his belt.

Tony VK5FTVR was next up.  Tony is recently licenced and is enjoying retirement.  This was Tony’s first ever SOTA and parks activation, and he performed admirably and also qualified the summit.  Next up was David VK5NQP with his mascot, a little goat, which can be seen in the photographs below.  David has activated parks previously, but I believe this was his first ever SOTA activation.  Well done David.

Mark VK5FMRK then followed.  Again, Mark is just recently licenced, and considering he had the preying eyes of all his peers on his on air performance, Mark did a great job and qualified the summit.  Chris VK4FR/5 then hopped in the driver’s seat, followed by Graham VK5GW.  This was the first SOTA activation for both Chris and Graham.  I think they may have been bitten by the bug.  Keith VK5OQ then qualified the summit.  You may recall Keith’s recent article in AR magazine re activating SOTA peaks in the Falls Creek area.

Not sure how it happened, but the boys encouraged me to warm up the operator’s chair for a short time, as did John VK5BJE, and Nigel VK5NIG.  And our final SOTA activator was Steve VK5AIM.  Again, this was Steve’s very first SOTA activation, although he has been active in the VK5 Parks Award.  Steve won the ‘biggest mascot of the day’ award with his kangaroo which can also be seen in the photographs below.

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After completing our activation of Mount Lofty just after 11.00 a.m. local time we headed over to the Belair National Park, which was just a short 10 minute drive to the south.  We entered the park via Sheaok Road, and set up in a little clearing, about 500 metres down the track off Sheaok Road.  Belair National Park qualifies for both the VK5 National & Conservation Parks award, and the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.

Again we set up the 40 m / 20 m linked dipole and initially used John’s Yaesu FT857 on the 10 watt setting.  John displayed to the guys his LIFePO4 battery with powered the radio, and passed on some tips re the various batteries.  We then moved to the Yaesu FT-450 and 40-50 watts, with the transceiver being powered by a 44 amp hour power pack.  The extra power made our signal just that little bit more readable considering that it was now lunch time, and the 40 m band was going to sleep.

Again Patrick was first up in the ‘hot seat’, followed by Mark VK5FMRK, then Tony VK5FTVR, Keith VK5OQ, and Steve VK5AIM.  A few of the guys managed park to park contacts with Bob VK5FO who was activating Morialta Conservation Park, and David VK5NQP who was activating Charleston Conservation Park.  As Bob and David had activated parks before, they decided after Mount Lofty, to head of to Montacute and Charleston to give the new guys an opportunity of having a ‘park to park’ contact for the VK5 Parks award.

 

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The following amateurs took part…..

  1. Tony VK5FTVR
  2. Mark VK5FMRK
  3. Victor VK5KAB
  4. Chris VK4FR/5
  5. Graham VK5GW
  6. David VK5NQP
  7. Patrick VK5MPJ and his Dad
  8. Bob VK5FO
  9. Ray VK5RR
  10. Steve VK5AIM
  11. Keith VK5OQ
  12. Nigel VK5NIG

Many thanks to John VK5BJE for helping me out with the day.  And also thanks to Nigel VK5NIG @ Mr Mount Gawler, for helping out at Mount Lofty.  A lot of the guys walked away from the day, amazed with what 5 watts and a simple little antenna can achieve.

I would also like to say thank you to the many patient SOTA chasers and park hunters that called the activators today.  It was a big learning curve for many of the activators, and I would imagine it would not be easy performing to a crowd behind the mic.

Also thanks to the fellas who turned up this morning to brave the elements.  It was a pretty chilly day, but fortunately we dodged the rain which is the most important thing.  From feedback provided, I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

We are planning on running a similar day in Spring later in the year, so we hope to see some new faces at the next activation day.  I think we all learned today, that there are never ‘silly questions’ and it is all about giving it a go and learning from each other.

John Moyle Memorial Field Day 2014 results

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Another pleasant surprise in today’s mail was my certificate in the 2014 John Moyle Memorial Filed Day.  I received a certificate for first place as a portable station in the ‘Single operator, phone only, HF band operation and 6 hour categories’.

Although it was a wild, wet, and woolly day on the top of Mount Barker, it was a lot of fun, and I will definitely be competing in next year’s Field Day.

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Certificate from Andrew VK1NAM

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I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I went down to the post office.  Amongst the bills, I had  a few QSL cards, a batch of QSL cards forwarded to me by Tony VK3VTH to check for DXCC, but I also had a certificate from Andrew VK1NAM.  Greatly appreciated Andrew.

Andrew and many others have set a high benchmark for SOTA and have certainly formed a strong foundation for the program here in Australia.  And now Andrew has been hooked on WWFF.  Again thanks mate, and look forward to working you when either your or I, or maybe both, are on a SOTA peak or in a National Park.

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GMA – Chaser stats

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Last night I had a bit of an issue with loading a csv file with my Chaser log from the SOTA website.  So I sent off an email to GMA and was promptly answered by Mario DL4MFM, who was kind enough to reformat the file for me.  This morning I successfully uploaded it to the GMA website.

Here are my Chaser stats…..

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My top 25 chased activators consist mostly of VK1s & VK3s, with Ian VK5CZ creeping in at number 8.  Mike 2E0YYY appears at number 13.  As you would expect, Peter VK3PF (Australia’s 2nd Mountain Goat) appears at number 1, followed by Allen VK3HRA.  Andrew VK1NAM appears at number 3 as VK1NAM/p and at number 12 as VK1NAM/2.  The SOTA website only shows your top 10 chased activators.

I did notice some discrepancies here with statistics from the GMA site and the SOTA site.  This is due to the different point scoring system within the GMA.

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And here is a list of my top 25 chased summits.  Mount Gowley is actually Mount Gawler.  The SOTA database was corrected some time ago and I have advised Mario of this issue with the GMA database.  Mount Taylor in Victoria is certainly a very popular summit for activators.  The GMA website shows your top 25 whereas the SOTA website shows your top 10.  Again, I noticed some discrepancies here between the GMA stats and the SOTA stats (due to the point scoring system).

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More on the GMA – Activator

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Here is a little bit more info on the German Activity Group (GMA).

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On the Stats page, in the red area in the left hand column, you can view your Activators log, a list of GMA activators ranked by points (see the image below), a list of GMA activators ranked by QSOs, a list of GMA activators ranked by unique summits, and a summit 2 summit ranking.  There is also a Globetrotter list (similar to the SOTA Mountain Hunter), and Regionhopper list.

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And you can also click on your own call sign (this is the last option in the top red box).  This will bring up some interesting individual statistics including a breakdown on your activations and points, activated associations and activated regions.

My GMA score as an activator is 370 points and my SOTA score as an activator is 153 points.  This is due to the difference in point scoring as mentioned in my previous post.

The ‘top 3 most QSO’ stats interested me.  This showed that my activation of Moun t Gawler, VK5/ SE-013 on 12th January 2014 produced my most number of QSOs.  A total of 61 in fact.  This was closely followed by my early activation of Tothill Range VK5/ SE-010 with 55 QSOs, and in third place was another activation of Mount Gawler in April 2014 when I managed a total of 54 QSOs.

The highest number of QSOs per activation was in the 20-29 QSO bracket.  And this was preceded by the 10-19 QSO bracket.

My average operating time was 68.4 minutes on a summit, with a total operating time of 76.4 hours which equates to 3 days and 4 hours.  Geez, I can’t believe I’ve sat on the top of hills that much.  I would love to see some of the stats from some of the SOTA gurus in the eastern states.

In all, I had a total of 1,640 QSOs as an activator, with 1,420 of those being on 7mhz on 40m, and a total of 220 QSOs on 14 mhz on 20m.  So 86.6 % of my QSOs were on the 40 m band, followed by 13.4 % on the 20 m band.

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There is also an event called the GMA Triathlon, which appears to be a combination of your SOTA activities, World Wide Flora and Fauna (WWFF), Castles on the Air (COTA), Islands on the Air (IOTA), and Lighthouses.  I am still looking at this to work it out fully.

A little lower down on the Stats page, in the orange area, if you click on your call sign, you can view various personal call sign statistics.  Those stats include your total activations, the number of activator QSOs, your activation modes, and your unique stats.  There is also an average column which shows the average for activators who have uploaded their logs to GMA.  And a total column which shows all the totals for activators who have uploaded their logs to GMA.

There were some interesting stats on the GMA site which you cannot see on the SOTA site.  For example, the total number of activator QSOs and the average number of activator QSOs per activation.  In my case I had a total of 1,640 activator QSOs with an average of 24 activator QSOs per activation.  All of those were on HF SSB.  I really must make the effort of taking the 2m handheld to the top of Mount Lofty one day, and also give CW a go.

Furthermore, the stats showed that I had 11 unique activations in Victoria with a total of 374 QSOs and a total of 37 unique activations in South Australia with a total of 1,266 QSOs.  My total activation count was 67, however, 48 of those were unique.  This goes back to the problem of submitting 2 logs across the UTC rollover, which I now still has some heated debate.  And activation of the same summit within the calendar year.

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You can also view the top 25 chasers that have worked you.  The SOTA website statistics only list your top 10 activation chasers.  This matched the stats on the SOTA site.  And also the top 25 chasers who appear in activator logs that have been uploaded to the GMA website can be viewed (worldwide).  Here are my top 25 worked chasers, a mixture of VK1s; VK2s, VK3s and VK5s…..

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You can also view your top 25 activated summits and the top 25 activated summits from all activators.  On the SOTA website, your statistics will only show your top 10 activated summits.

Screenshot 2014-05-29 21.30.17Other than the Mountain Award (MA), there is also the Mountain Challenge (MC) which is an annual competition where the winner is the participant who has achieved at the end of the contest period, the most points.  The contest period is defined as 1st January at 0000 UTC to 31st December at 2400 UTC.  Each participant with more than 50 points will be awarded a certificate of participation.  If you have achieved the 50 point threshold, your total appears in red.  Again, you can view a table of your progress.

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German Mountain Activity Group

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Tonight I was looking at the Adventure Radio mapping project and found the German Mountain Activity Group website which is located at…..

http://www.cqgma.eu/

The scoring system for GMA is different to that of SOTA.  In GMA a summit is definable when it is 100 metres or higher.  Each full height of 100 metres is awarded a point. Examples: 120 metres = 1 point, 700 metres = 7 points, 1299 metres = 12 points.

After looking at the site I realised that I was eligible for some award certificates.

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