SOTA Activations October 2020 to December 2020

During this quarter I activated as follows:

Black Mountain VK1/AC-042 (again) on 3rd October

9 contacts on HF, 9 on 2m and 3 on 23cm.

VK2/ST-008 (Baldy Range) 10/10

Wade vk1mic and I went first to Baldy Range, activated on HF and 2m and 23cm.

Part of the road to Baldy Range

Wade in traffic directing mode I think

The two radios used for 2m ssb and 23cm ssb (via a SGLAB transverter)

VK1DA seen in his natural setting

VK1/AC-008 (Mt Ginini) 11/10

Arrived at Mt Ginini to find the gate locked at the bottom of the hill. We walked up with 2m and 23cm gear only. About 500-600m uphill.

The locked gate on the Mt GInini access road.
our setup just to the east of the compound

VK2/IL-003 (Mount Wanganderry) 14/10

This summit is actually off the road but is only a metre or two above the road level. Looks like I didn’t take any photos. After this I went to Mt Alexandra.

VK2/IL-005 (Mount Alexandra) 14/10

I walked very carefully up and down the access track. Some years ago I slipped when coming down the track and fractured a bone in my right wrist. No photos…

VK2/IL-001 (Mount Gibraltar) 14/10

The next morning I drove up to Mt Gibraltar and activated it before 0000 UTC, so this one is dated 14/10.

VK2/IL-002 (Wingecarribee) 15/10

This was a new summit for me. It is a bit uncertain where to find a good operating position, the summit is spread out over a large area. the actual Trig point is within metres of a house that was under construction when I visited. I worked out a reasonable position on the roadside to activate from. After finishing here I went to Knight’s Hill and tried to find a place to activate from, but found it was all inside a gate labelled Private Property, No unauthorised access etc.

VK1/AC-040 (Mt Ainslie) 15/10

On my way home from the failed Knight’s Hill activation I called in at Mt Ainslie where Andrew VK1AD was completing an activation and working Mike 2E0YYY in the UK on 40m ssb. I don’t think I had many contacts but it was an activation.

VK1/AC-037 (Mt Taylor) 18/10

9 contacts on HF and 2 on 2m fm.

VK1/AC-035 (One Tree Hill) 20/10

10 contacts on HF and 2 on 2m FM

VK2/ST-036 (Spring Hill) 14/11

18 on HF and 2 on 2m FM

VK1/AC-008 (Mt Ginini) 21/11

Returning to Ginini to make the cw contacts not made on the previous activation. 15 contacts on HF and 2 on 2m FM.

VK2/IL-007 (Knights Hill) 2/12

The access problem was solved by Compton VK2HRX and I joined him and Phil VK2JDL to activate this summit. 12 contacts on HF and 1 on 2m FM.

VK2/ST-039 (Mt Marulan) 02/12

After Knight’s Hill activation Compton and I went to Mt Marulan to activate it. 10 HF contacts and 1 on 2m FM.

VK2/SW-028 Mt Tomorrama and VK2/SW-034 Billapoola State Forest

While writing up this blog I found that although I had photos from this trip with Wade VK1MIC, I had not submitted my logs for these activations.

The blackberry infestation on Yankee Ned hill, making it very difficult to access the summit. This used to be a fire trail.
We decided to go to Mt Tumorrama as Yankee Ned was impossible. Wade is here in the comfort of the palace/shade tent.

VK2/ST-010 (Mt Foxlow) on 31/12 and 1/1/2021

I chose Mt Foxlow for my New Year’s Day activation, as it is worth 8 points so I got 16 points for this trip, getting 7 contacts on 2m FM on 31/12 and lots more on 1/1 on HF and 2m.

Palatial operating conditions on Mt Foxlow
Looking into the palace
rectangular loop antenna used on 2m ssb

and that ties the ribbons on 2020.