2014 ANZAC weekend activations Part 2

Hi all,

After activating four summits the previous day in clear, but windy conditions, the task today was to activate four more in the general Mt Hotham area.

The Twins VK3/VE-017

This summit is accessible from The Twins Rd. With care, I got the Prius down this road, from the Great Apline Rd. I parked the car at the saddle immediately to the east of the summit and then headed up. The walking track is not distinct on the way up, so it is a case of find your own way. It’s navigationally easy, just head up, it’s physically not so easy, but it’s not technically difficult.

I reached the first “twin” and took a photo towards the SOTA summit.

The Twins summit from the other twin

Conditions were overcast, and there was some shower activity around. The wind had intensified overnight – at times it was strong enough to make walking difficult. I tried to stay on the lee side of the ridge to decrease the intensity.

Antenna setup at The Twins

Choice of operating location was not straightforward. There were some short snow gums just underneath the summit, but they were on the windward side. I put the squidpole up on the Trig point and operated on the lee side – but it was still very windy. Today, I would again operate the KX1 on 20/30/40 CW using the “random” wire, on the 7m squid pole. It’s proving a pretty reliable and convenient setup.

At the conclusion of operating, the piece of foam that I was sitting on blew away down the hill. I thought about leaving it, and then went to see if I could retrieve it. It was 30m vertical down the southwestern side. Whenever I got near, the wind would take it about 10m further way. It got close to a near cliff, but I got it just in time. Certainly made me work a lot harder than expected to then climb up to get the rest of the gear to go.

I headed down the hill on the western side. It would be easier to access this summit from that side than the eastern side. The road would be passable by 2wd to this side.

VK3/VE-023

My next target was a summit not far to the west of The Twins. The land drops to a saddle between The Twins and the VE-023 summit and then climbs straight up. I decided to use the Twins Rd up to the spur and then use it to access the summit. Might be a bit longer in distance, but much easier and would likely be faster anyway. There is a water tank on the spur, not far from where the road approaches the spurline.

The summit of VE-023 cloudbound

As can be seen, not much could be seen from the summit today.

Due to the wind and shower activity, I operated a little to the south of the high point of the summit. The effect of this was very marginal phone coverage, not even enough to reliably send SMS. Speaking of SMS, I find that using RadioRuckSack to send them is not a great idea – if it can’t send them, it does not tell you, and then it sends them hours later when you do have coverage – and of course then they are worse than useless. I prefer to use the phone’s own SMS facility to send them – at least if it doesn’t work I can decide to retry or not.

Due to the impaired self-spotting, I worked fewer from here. The shower activity was becoming a little more persistent. I made up my mind on this trip that the time had come to get a bothy shelter. It would be ideal for conditions experienced on this summit today.

With that, I returned to the car via the Twins Rd. I decided not to follow the spur down, but make for the road more directly. It was not a mistake, but it would remain easier to simply take the spur until the road is only 30m away, rather than head down the steeper part of the hill.

VK3/VE-030

Next on the menu is this unnamed summit to the west of the Alpine Rd. It had not previously been activated. I proceeded to Buckland Gap and got the car up about 10m vertical from the main road. That was it for the Prius. At least a Awd is needed to proceed further. A high clearance 4wd could make it all the way to the summit, but for me it was typical fire trail up and down walking. Keeps you fit. As mentioned, tracks go all the way to the summit, it is an emergency helipad.

I setup just to the north of the cleared area, just in case the helipad was in need of use.

Operating at VK3/VE-030

I operated starting on 20, then 30 (no takers) to 40 and back to 20. There was no EU pileup today, but I did get OH9XX in at the end, and NS7P for some W action at the start. The random wire is not as good as the vertical for DX, but it appears well ahead of an end fed in inverted V formation.

Here’s a picture from the helipad looking back into the Buckland River East Branch valley:

The Twins and the Buckland River East Branch valley

Mt Hotham VK3/VE-006

The final summit, in the twilight, was Mt Hotham. I parked the car on the side of the Alpine Rd and walked up from there. All my other activations were on the 7m pole, but knowing that my US trip is coming up I took the 4.7m pole and activated on it for this summit. I got some contacts on all three bands I tried, including four EU contacts on 20. It’s a great feeling to work people around the world on 2 watts! The interesting thing about some of these contacts is how readable I was to them. It is interesting that I am giving 319 and 419 and some of them are giving 559!

With that – and the fact it was very glum with the fading light, it was time to pack up and start the long trip back to Melbourne. My next planned activations are in the states, something to look forward to.

Regards, Wayne VK3WAM