We headed into Adelaide today from the farm to explore the sights and I had a chance to activate a summit on my way into town.

Mt Lofty VK5/SE-005 sits above Adelaide and has the towns Radio and TV transmitters. at the summit proper is a lookout/cafe/shop tourist place.

We drove up into the carpark and paid our $3, My youngest had fallen asleep in the car on the way up, so the big child and I grabbed the sota gear and walked down the hill a little way, out of the carpark and down towards the main road turnoff, to ensure we were outside the activation zone before turning around and walking back up the hill to the summit/lookout.

We searched for somewhere to set up, the lookout space had a constant stream of tourists around it so we avoided the people and walked down a small set of stairs on the left side of the lookout and set ourselves up beside the path.

I had spent some time optimising the 40m dipole I made with the 1:1 Balun yesterday and had taken this antenna with me, i popped it on the squid pole while nathan helped me walk out the earth counterpoise and dipole legs, tying them off and i was on the air!. As Christine had stayed in the car with toby, I had set her up with the car radio and she was our first contact, Nathan called her as second operator and was able to work his mum as a sota activator, as well as me to ensure we qualified! I’m sure she did the eye roll thing!

Then a quick call on 7090Khz and Peter VK3PF came back, he must have seen the spot and walked out to his car at work! Followed by a steady stream of chasers over the next 20 mins. with some chatting and conversation instead of the normal pile up! was a nice relaxed activation.

Nathan chatted with some more chasers and is starting to enjoy this radio caper! Thanks to all the chasers for this quick VK5 Activation!

After the activation, toby and Christine came up to the lookout, before we headed into Adelaide proper and had fish and chips for lunch!

Date:25/Sep/2014 Summit:VK5/SE-005 (Mt Lofty) Call Used:VK3BQ Points: 4 Bonus: 0