de AX5FO Calling CQ from Torrens Island Conservation Park.

Lets just step back a bit and see what it took to get here.  Last Monday, I gave Andy ‘5AKH a call and asked if could borrow his KX3 as I was planning to go over to Torrens Island CP  and Activate it on Anzac Day.  My request was countered with ” Can I borrow a kayak and I’ll bring my radio with me!”

With a final check of the weather reports and tides  saw us meet up at St Kilda boat ramp at around 08:00 (local time) where we sorted ourselves out and packed up to paddle the approx 2km over to Torrens Island Conservation Park.

We arrived a little after 9am right on low tide and dragged the Kayaks up above the expected tide level onto the beach.  We quickly assembled the station – a sand spike to hold the squid pole, up with the pole and we tied off the dipole to some mangroves.

At 23:47 UTC 24/04/2014 I made a CQ call on 7.100 and over the next 20 – 30 minutes we worked  11 stations.   We think that this was the first time this CP had been activated and when Paul, ‘5PAS came up,  we asked and he was fairly sure that it was the first as well.

Whilst I was working thru the calls, Andy was also busy, taking a few photos – you can see them on his Blog.

After the initial contacts, Andy came up and he also called CQ as AX5AKH.   Of course, given that the new day (UTC) had rolled over, he had a few repeat calls, but within the next 20 -30 minutes he logged 8 contacts in the log.

We then switched over and I made a CQ call under the Club Call of AX5ARG and we made 2 contacts.

About this time we had a visitor drop in on us – Matt, VK5ZM was out with his boys in the boat and he had gone via St Kilda and picked up Ray VK5RR and they joined us on Torrens Island.

Since he was there,  and we had both been calling, we told Matt to give it a go!  He also put out a call – and logged a further 7 stations in just 6 minutes!

With the tide showing signs of coming in, I made a final call and logged 3 more stations before we decided to pack up and head back to St Kilda.

A big thanks to everyone who answered our calls from this first activation of Torrens Island CP.  Given that the only access to the CP is via water, it takes a bit more planning and effort than the CP that you can drive right up to and I can hope that someone else will activate this CP again so I can log it as a hunter.

Much like the ANZAC’s 99 years ago, we arrived by boat and landed on the beach, but unlike all that time ago, we did not have anyone shooting at us.  Lest We Forget.

We came, we landed, we called CQ.

Apologies to anyone up front if you were calling as AX instead of VK, as we only logged the number’s and not the prefixes for most stations.  Please do let me know if you called as AX and I will adjust my logs.

Logs:

Bob Operating as AX5FO:

VK5ZAR, VK5LY, VK3UBY, VK5QI (Happy Birthday Mark), VK5ZKT, VK5HCF, VK3FQSO, AX5PAS, VK3ZPF, VK5KGP, VK5ZK   Then I logged VK3HRA, VK5FTRG and AX5KX.

Andy Operating as AX5AKH

VK5NIG, VK5AV, VK3AFW, VK5ZAR, VK5KC, AX5PAS, VK5HCF and VK5ZEA.

Bob Operating the Club Callsign  AX5ARG logged 2 calls

00:14UTC 25/04/2014 VK5ZEA
00:15UTC 25/04/2014 VK5LA

Finally, Matt Operating as AX5ZM

VK5HCF, VK5ZAR, VK5LI/p, AX5MTM/p, VK5DT, VK5WG and VK5FGRY who was portable from Morialta CP for a Park to Park contact.

Cannot promise to add a new park to the activated list next time, but hope to hear you from another NP or CP on 40M soon!

On a whim, after working VK5ZAR whom was portable from a couple of Conservation Parks  on Friday the 18th of April, we (Bob – VK5FO and Ray – VK5RR) decided to go portable and activate a couple of Conservation Parks ourselves!

Not being totally prepared, in terms of a decent lightweight setup, we grabbed a (large and heavy) battery from our holiday shack, the IC706, A 9M squid pole, and a 40M dipole that I had made that morning.

We set up about 400M from the Road –  in the direction the sign is pointing.

Screenshot from Android Tablet Showing Location of Activation

For my Very First Activation it was White Dam Conservation Park about 15km up the Burra Road from Morgan.  We arrived, found a suitable site to set up the Inverted V,  Set the power to 30W, tuned to 7.100 and found it un-occupied and call CQ  at 05:45UTC (15:15 Local Time) and was rewarded with a reply from VK5PAS – A fitting First Contact!  Is it considered cheating to send an email out to the list at the same time you call CQ?

Over the next 1 1/4 hours, We logged 35 contacts from VK1, VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5 and VK7 stations!   2 noteworthy contacts in the log were from VK5ZAR who was at the time in Mintacowie CP, followed by a contact from VK5GY who was operating in Scott Creek CP, so 2 Park to Park contacts in my very first Activation.  With the Assistance Of Ray VK5RR doing the logging, I was able to keep calling and working everyone.

Setup – very Crude, but Effective, not even a chair!

Full log of calls from my First Activation  – VK5PAS, VK5DT, VK5FMID, VK5KGP, VK3BWZ, VK5ZAR, VK5GY, VK5DJ, VK3TKK, VK5NQP, VK3AFW, VK5NRG, VK3HY, VK7NWT, VK3ZRY, VK5MBP, VK5HCF, VK7YUM, VK2SS, VK3ERW, VK5KLD, VK2FMIA, VK5MTM, VK5FRHB, VK3VZZ, VK1DR, VK7LG, VK2CCW, VK2HBG, VK4SD, VK3HAC, VK3FOWL, VK5ND, VK2BRF, VK7AN.

The Calls were coming thick and fast and at times logging was a challenge.  When it quietened down, we pulled stumps, knowing that we provided another Park to 35 Hunters!

After we had something to eat, we headed out in the Evening to Activate Morgan Conservation Park as well.

Yep, we went up that little track to a clearing about 100M off the main road and set up.

When the Antenna was up, we found a clear frequency and started calling CQ on 7.085  At the same time we sent out a couple of SMS’s and an email to the list and we were rewarded within a minute or so with our first Contact.

First logged contact was at 09:55UTC (19:25 local) and the last one in the log was at 11:23UTC, when we pulled stumps again with a further 20 Contacts logged from VK2, VK3, VK4 and VK5.

Setting up in the Dark.

Since I listed my Contacts from the First, here are my Contacts for this park as well – VK5AKH, VK5MTM, VK5PAS, VK3ERW, VK5AV, VK5FYD, VK5VRB, VK3FONZ, VK3HRA, VK5MCB, VK5FLEN, VK5STU, VK3XP, VK3ETC, VK3MEG, VK2YKW, VK3BWZ, VK3MH, VK2UH, VK4HJB

Well, 2 parks, 1 day, had a blast!  Stay tuned for the next Activation as what is being planned is to activate a CP that we don’t think has yet been activated and is one that is a little bit difficult!