SOTA vk2/il-001 Mount Gibraltar 3rd March 2016

Only a couple of days left before I leave the southern hemisphere πŸ™ so it was time for a couple of easy vk activations!
Both virtually drive on summits, so that was niceΒ  first one, just off the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne, vk2/il-001, Mount Gibraltar, I drove past the gate to the many transmitting towers, so I did have to walk up to the activation zone. I was stopped by a couple of tourists who wanted to know where the viewpoint was.. they said they thought I would know as i looked like a “professional walker” ( Huh?. They’d obviously been out in the sun too long! Damned tourists…. oh.. yes… err… πŸ˜‰ )
Anyway, there appeared to be a lot of work happening on one of the towers, installing another dish, so i kept out of the way, finding an old tree to bungy the pole to, one end of the linked dipole in a tree, the other wrapped around a rock on the ground.

MountGibraltar

pole bungied to the tree, rig on the ground being investigated by ants πŸ™

The RF noise from the transmitters made things a little difficult in hearing chasers, my reports to most being significantly worse than the reports i received in return, however, all QSOs were successful in the end, 10 on 40m, and a further 6 on 20m.

It was quite ple:)asant, in the shade of the trees, the thermometer showing 32c, a nice change from 32f πŸ™‚

Time Call Band Mode Notes
00:29z VK2YW 7MHz SSB s33 r55
00:32z VK2IO 7MHz SSB s33 r55
00:34z VK2YK 7MHz SSB s58 r58
00:36z VK2UH 7MHz SSB s48 r58
00:38z VK3PF 7MHz SSB s44 r42
00:39z VK1AD 7MHz SSB s22 r57
00:51z VK5CZ 14MHz SSB s53 r53
00:57z VK5PAS 14MHz SSB s44 r57
00:59z VK5WG 14MHz SSB s33 r55
01:01z VK4RF 14MHz SSB s58 r55
01:01z VK4HA 14MHz SSB s58 r55
01:05z VK5IS 14MHz SSB s21 r52
01:13z VK3LED 7MHz SSB s47 r59
01:19z VK1AT/P2 7MHz SSB s22 r53
01:21z VK4RF 7MHz SSB s21 r55
01:22z VK2NP 7MHz SSB s45 r54

Quite an enjoyable time in the shadows of the trees,many thanks to all the chasers.
Rig was the 817nd, with the MP-817 Amplifier,into a linked dipole, not too far off the ground.
After close to an hour playing radio, it was time to pack up, and make my way down the Hume Highway again to Canberra