During this period I activated the following SOTA summits:

• vk1/ac-023 Mt Coree on 11th July
• vk2/st-053 Mt Mundoonen on 26 Aug, 4th time this year
• VK1/AC-042 Black Mt on 27 Aug
• vk1/ac-044 Boboyan Range on 11th September
• vk1/ac-021 Pheasant Hill on 12th September
• vk2/st-005 Webb’s Ridge on 17th September
• vk1/ac-023 Mt Coree on 18th September
• vk1/ac-040 Mt Ainslie on 18th September
• vk1/ac-042 Black Mt on 22nd September, 5th activation this year so far
• vk2/st-042 Bowning Hill on 27th September

One of my goals this year was to earn activation points for CW mode. I was aiming to qualify for MG on CW. My operation would generally commence on CW then move to SSB once I had made at least 4 contacts on CW. This is fairly easy now as many more chasers are looking for CW contacts. On a few occasions I closed down without getting the 4 CW contacts and that meant a return visit later in the year.

Mt Coree VK1/AC-023 on 11th July 2020

This popular site is easily accessed using a 4WD vehicle and this visit was with Wade VK1MIC. it was foggy and cold, just above freezing. Rain was forecast from about 11 AM so we packed up before that time. As we put everything back into the car, the cloud lifted and we could see that there was no rain anywhere near us. A pity as we could have stayed making contacts for a while yet. On this occasion we were trying to make contacts on 6m. 20 contacts were made there and some on 2m and 23cm. No CW contacts at all as we packed up expecting wet weather to arrive. A return visit was planned. No photos taken.

Mt Mundoonen VK2/ST-053 26th August 2020

As this is the nearest summit to where I live, I tend to activate it several times a year. 80m – 1 contact, 40m – 12 contacts, 20m – 1 contact, 2m fm – 3 contacts. No new photos.

Black Mt VK1/AC-042 27th August 2020

Contacts made on 23cm fm and 80m ssb with vk2 and vk3. None on 40m. No new photos.

VK1/AC-044 Boboyan Range and VK1/AC-021 Pheasant on 12th September

Contacts were made on 80m, 40m, 20m and 2m, with a mix of CW and SSB. The first contacts on Boboyan range were made just before 0000 UTC so the activation date in the sota database is 11th Sept.

VK2/ST-005 Webb’s Ridge on 17th September

This was a joint activation with Andrew VK1AD. He operated on 144 and 1296 and I operated on HF ssb and cw. As the first contacts were made before 0000 UTC the local date for these contacts was 18th Sept. After finishing here with light rain starting to fall, we drove to Mt Coree, the next activation.

VK1/AC-023 Mt Coree on 18th September

This activation was made directly after the Webb’s ridge activation earlier in the day. No new photos taken. I completed the 4 contacts needed to get this summit into my activation log for CW. Also made some contacts on 144 and 1296 using Andrew’s gear.

VK1/AC-040 Mt Ainslie on 18th September

15 contacts made on HF ssb/cw and 2m FM.

VK1/AC-042 Black Mt on 22nd September, 5th activation this year so far

11 contacts made on HF and 2m fm. Activated from a site fairly close to the comms tower.

VK2/ST-042 Bowning Hill on 27th September

This activation was the second I’d made this year. It was the occasion of a charity walk up the hill, where the owners of the property made it available for people to climb the hill and enjoy the view, while making a donation to a local charity which supports people requiring long term health care due to illness other than cancers. I thought this was a good cause and it allowed me to activate it again and hand out the summit points.

A number of local service organisations were present, including the Rural Fire Service. There was a coffee vendor offering espresso coffee, which I was happy to find! I think there would have been hundreds of climbers supporting the event during the day.