With Winter hitting us here in VK5 and cold, wet and windy conditions it has made for some very short expeditions out to activate VI5MCP.
On Saturday afternoon (11th July), we got out and set up on 20M and logged 7 stations before it closed out – the very first contact was a DX station S58AL from Slovenia. Also on 20M we logged Germany, Azores, Indonesia as well as a few VK stations. We switched over to 40M and worked a further 12 stations from VK1,2,3,4 and 5. As it was now dark, and very cold (around 3deg) it was time to pack up and get warm! We were using a vertical on 20m and an inverted V on 40M with the KX3 running 10W.
Sunday Morning saw very similar wx – cold and windy with a threat of rain. as we arrived there was a very light drizzle, and as soon as it stopped we set up. Again it was quite cold and windy and we also did get a few spots of rain. It was fairly slow going, and worked 19 stations across VK3 and VK5 on 40M before going to 15M, where we worked our only dx station of the day KA1R. We tried other bands – 30M and 20M each without any takers. We were joined by Andy Vk5AKH and he added a further contact to the logs on 40M for a tally of 21. As it was slow and starting to rain, we called it a day. For this activation, we were just using an Inverted V dipole on each band and the KX3 at 10W.
This morning, Ben, VK5BB braved the elements and set up the station. He worked 13 contacts on 40M before the rain came in. I managed to work him from the Office on 2m Simplex when the rain stopped and he was packing up the HF antenna and he also made a 2nd contact on 2m to give him a tally of 15.
So, as of right now, this gives us 55 contacts and 6 countries in the logs. not too bad considering that it is the middle of winter!
The next activity will be on Saturday where we will be running a 100W 20m station with a 2 ele beam looking for EU.
Between the 11th and the 26th of July Members of AREG will be activating a special event station VI5MCP.
The Special event is in celebration of the 100 years of Proclamation of the Morialta Falls Pleasure Resort, which we now know as Morialta Conservation Park. The 100th anniversary of the park is on Wednesday the 15th of July 2015.
Morialta CP is located in the Hills to the East of Adelaide and is a popular location for Portable operations. Activations of this park qualify for the SANPCPA – South Australia National Parks and Conservations Parks Award and also for WWFF and VKFF as VKFF-783
The Aim of this special event station is to celebrate the 100th anniversary and to further promote awareness of portable operations and awards.
We are planning on Activations from the park over the 2 week period and at the moment we have some confirmed and some tentative activations scheduled, please keep an eye on this post as we will update the schedule in the coming days.
VI5MCP Calendar July 2015
Planned activation dates and frequencies/bands
Date
Local Time / UTC
Band/Freq
Notes
Saturday 11th
Sunday 12th
10:00 / 00:30UTC
7.140 SSB /147.500 FM then 14.240 or 14.310
Around 2 hours
Monday 13th
Tuesday 14th
Wednesday 15th
10:00 / 00:30UTC
7.140 / 10.130 /14.240 or 14.310
Around 2 hours or longer if a lot of chasers
Thursday 16th
Friday 17th
Saturday 18th
13:00 -17:30 / 03:30 - 08:00 UTC
14.240 or 14.310 and
7.140
Looking for EU DX on 20M * running a 2Element on 20M
Sunday 19th
10:00 / 00:30UTC
7.140 SSB /147.500 FM then 14.240 or 14.310
Around 2 hours
Monday 20th
Tuesday 21st
Wednesday 22nd
10:00 / 00:30UTC
7.140 / 10.130 /14.240 or 14.310
Around 2 hours or longer if a lot of chasers
Thursday 23rd
Friday 24th
Saturday 25th
Sunday 26th
10:00 / 00:30UTC
7.140 SSB /147.500 FM then 14.240 or 14.310
Around 2 hours
*Note Mode will be SSB unless specifically noted as otherwise.
Please also check out QRZ.com for the QSL details.
Tuesday evening (28th April) A small group of us put the VI5ANZAC special event call on air with a QRP portable activation from Morialta Conservation Park.
Morialta Conservation Park the location of our operation
First off, let’s step back a few weeks. I was chatting with Grant VK5GR and he asked if I was available for 1 evening during the week whilst AREG has the VI5ANZAC callsign to put it on the air. It eventually came to pass that the best option would be for me to lead a small group and do it as a QRP portable activation from one of the Local Conservation Parks just East of Adelaide in the Mt Lofty Ranges, the rest is now history!
This was not going to be an issue getting a portable station set up, so of course, we went 1 better and put 2 portable stations together so we could do our best to cover more than 1 band. If you have been following, you would have seen my proposed activation details
With a whole 2 weeks to get it together, I set about doing a quick review of available operators within the Club and then on the qt also invited Paul VK5PAS to come along. It was literally a case of hoping we had decent weather! The best laid plans and we had a last minute work commitment by one of the operators, but still we managed to pull it all together.
The Wx held out and we had a predicted clear evening (no rain or wind) but knowing it would be still quite cool on the the top of the hill.
We were not disappointed!
Sun setting over Adelaide
On Tuesday afternoon, I met Gary, VK5FGRY on site at around 17:00 local time and we started getting set up for the evening.
A quick review of where to set up antenna’s and we got started.
Bob (left) and Gary (right) setting up one of the Squid poles next to the tent
Paul VK5PAS arrived as we were setting up and assisted with the final details and we had the station ready to go and started calling at around and the first contact was logged at 08:49
Just as we got underway, Andy, VK5AKH arrived, and Ray VK5RR arrived about 20 minutes later.
Andy (front) and Paul (back) operating the 2 stations
The initial flurry on 40m was to be expected and we worked at a steady pace, rotating thru the operators on 40m for the next 90 minutes or so. As the calls dried up on 40m we wound down the calling somewhat and 40m did in fact close out for all local contacts as well. We could hear quite a bit of DX, but not work it.
The 2nd station started out on 20m and it was very slow – as feared, we had only just caught the tail end of 20m and had just a handful of contacts.
Gary (center) Ray (right) watching the operations by Bob
Given the conditions, we decided to move the 2nd station over to 80M earlier than we had initially planned and started calling there as well. It was a slow and steady trickle of takers on 80m and we had an unusual request – could we try 160m!
Well, this was a bit of a challenge in itself as we were not at all prepared to have any sort of antenna on top band, but being challenged, we jury-rigged an EFHW as an extension onto the end of 1 of the 80M dipole elements, hit the tune button on the KX3 and managed to get it to tune!
Andy Operating one of the Stations
The 2 stations for this operation were both KX3 Transceivers with a headset running 10 watts on SSB, each set up with a laptop for logging.
Yes, we did manage 2 contacts on 160m – the first to Mt Gambier (400km) and the 2nd to an Adelaide Station. Pretty impressive really considering the “Antenna” and power we were using!
Grant, VK5GR was a very late arrival and his plan was to set up and see how many local contacts we could get on 2m and 70cm to add to the mix.
Once everything really slowed down, we decided to call it quits just on 21:30 local time (12:00 UTC) and started pulling the station down. Within 30 minutes we had everything down and packed up, with the final task to check the logs and upload them.
The final tally for the Tuesday Evening QRP* activation (QRP on HF) was as follows.
Total contacts logged 73
160m 2
80m 12
40m 45
20m 3
2m 5
70cm 5
In the mix we had 1x US, 2 x ZL and remaining VK1 (VI1ANZAC), VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK6 and VK7 -so a good representation right across the country, and we only missed on getting a VK8 in the logs.
Operators for the evening
VK5FO, Bob
VK5PAS, Paul
VK5AKH, Andy
VK5RR, Ray
and Grant VK5GR
Without the awesome logistical support from Gary VK5FGRY we would not have been as comfortable in the heated tent!
Bob (l) Andy (mid) and Paul (r) in the heated operating tent
A big thanks to all the chasers who make such an activation even more enjoyable, and yes, all of the logs will be uploaded to WWFF in the coming days as the HF operation was compliant with VKFF and from a recognized park.
Thanks To Paul for the photos from the Evening’s Event.
For chasers of the AX QSL Award I have created a Special AX5FO QSL card. When I had my last lot of cards printed, I had 25 AX cards printed as well, so the first 25 cards received will be replied to within a few days.
I will respond to all DIRECT QSL requests only – Do not send via buro (I will never see the card and therefore not respond).
Please send cards to:
Bob – VK5FO
GPO Box 2900
Adelaide, SA, 5001
Enclosing a SASE will guarantee a fast turn-around and would be appreciated!
Hope to get you in the logs and receive your card for this historic year.
On Tuesday Evening the 28th April (approx 2 weeks time) it is our
privilege as part of the AREG – Ray, ‘5RR, Mark ‘5QI and myself, Bob ‘5FO plan on activating the special event station VI5ANZAC for a few hours. There will be a couple more AREG members whom will also be part of this activity. Please keep an eye on both the AREG website and here for any updates.
We will be operating QRP Portable from the Morialta CP, VKFF-783 using my “normal” portable station/s. This will be a QRP SSB activation and Yes, I know that this does have limitations and we may or may not be able to work everyone.
This of course will be local weather-dependent – as long as it is not
raining, we plan on being on the air. We will confirm on the day.
All being well, we should have the 40M station on air by 17:45 (local
time) and plan to operate to 21:30 local time. This is approx 08:15UTC to 12:00UTC.
We will be calling CQ VI5ANZAC /QRP /Portable
We will have a 40M station on-air for the duration and potentially look at working on other bands during the evening as well to try and put this station within reach of all of VK (and beyond).
All being well, we will be on or around 7.145, 14.245 and given the
success of the QRP contest a few weeks ago, we are considering moving the 20M station to 80M on 3.675 at around the 10:30-1100UTC time.
We have the capability of operating 2 and maybe even a 3rd station, but no promises other than 40M. If you have a special request for another band then please contact me via the contact form so we
can try and co-ordinate, we might be able to try for a short time on other bands.
In all cases we will go split and be listening up ~5Khz from our
(nominated) TX frequency.
I am extending this invitation to all of the “regulars” whom I chase and who chase me whilst I am out portable, and hope that We can log some of the Regular portable operators and non-regular chasers as well.
Our target for the evening will be to work at least 100 stations across all VK call areas, and hope to be early enough to work ZL stations as well.
We will NOT be spotting on Parks and Peaks, but we will be operating in accordance such that all contacts are valid for both VKFF and SANPCPA.
Please feel free to post this advance notice to your contacts, club
members and any other interested parties and we hope to work you on the evening of the 28th.
Once we are On-Air and we we will be asking early on for stations to spot us on the Clusters – we may not be able to self-spot.
There will be a lot of other opportunities to work VI5ANZAC so if you are not able to get in our logs on the 28th, keep an ear out across the whole week around the bands. The AREG will be operating over the weekend and during this week in various capacities.
At the conclusion, we will be providing the full logs to the WIA who are co-ordinating the eQSL’s – Please see the WIA website for the details and roster.
