Sota Activation – VK3/VC-030 Flinders Peak

Because too much radio is never enough, having finished at midday a decent effort for the Summer VHF/UHF Field day as a home station, and because I’m trying to loose some weight and an afternoon mountain climb seemed like a good idea at the time. Sunday afternoon was warm, and we didn’t have anything else to do (we should have been painting more of the house), we packed ourselves all into the car and headed to the You Yangs ranges towards Geelong for a look, and maybe a walk/ Sota Activation on Flinders Peak VK3/VC-030.

We arrived in the mid afternoon, and it was a bit warm, we had a look around the lower picnic areas and went for a small walk to a place called Big Rock, before taking the aptly named Great Circle Drive road around the mountain range to take in the sights and see the sun drop a bit lower in the sky to take some of the heat out of the day. I had made a tentative alert for 4pm, but we were well and truly going to miss that. We finally pulled up at the turntable carpark some time after 4 and set about tackling the Flinders peak walk. The sign at the bottom of the walk talked about it being a challenging walk featuring 450 steps and rising 200m in elevation. We had plenty of water and some afternoon tea, and we set off. It was an easy walk, even with the steps, but the kids kept having to stop for a drink, it was still 30 degrees, but as we climbed, the afternoon sea breeze was a nice relief. The walk’s stats.

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The track is very well formed with steps and track section, some steep areas, but the steps are well placed and spaced as you climb up, ¾ of the way up, there is a lookout towards Melbourne before the final step section to the top, before you know it, you are at the final lookout. We all walked to the top of the lookout and had a photo, before i found a spot and setup the station against a tree and some rocks and started my activation while the kids climbed over the rocks and lookout.

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40m first with some very strong vk2 and VK7 stations but weak local Melbourne contacts. Then i moved to 10m and 6m before giving 20m a try. I had planned to fire up the 2m/70cm handheld, but totally forgot in the end. I had easily qualified the summit anyway, as had Christine. Thanks to all those who we worked.

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We packed up and began the walk down the mountain, the kids wouldn’t listen to us, and proceeded to run the whole way down, Christine and I finally reached them as they sat bored at the bottom waiting for us! Thats what they get for not waiting. We jumped back into the car and headed into Geelong for a Fish and Chips dinner in the park by the bay before the return trip home, a nice way to spend a summers evening!.

Christine’s Log, just enough to qualify!

Date:10/Jan/2016 Summit:VK3/VC-030 (Flinders Peak) Call Used:VK3FCEK Points: 1 Bonus: 0

Time Call Band Mode Notes
06:20z VK3CAT 7MHz SSB thanks tony
06:20z VK7CW 7MHz SSB thanks stew
06:21z VK3FPSR 7MHz SSB thanks peter
06:21z VK5PAS 7MHz SSB thanks paul

And my Log. Including some 10m and 6m contacts for the challenge.

Date:10/Jan/2016 Summit:VK3/VC-030 (Flinders Peak) Call Used:VK3BQ Points: 1 Bonus: 0

Time Call Band Mode Notes
06:14z VK2HL 7MHz SSB thanks horst
06:16z VK3AFW 7MHz SSB thanks ron
06:17z VK3PF 7MHz SSB thanks peter
06:18z VK5FANA 7MHz SSB thanks adrian
06:19z VK7BO 7MHz SSB thanks allen
06:19z VK3LED 7MHz SSB thanks
06:22z VK3HRA 7MHz SSB thanks allan
06:23z VK2IO 7MHz SSB thanks ian
06:24z VK4RF 7MHz SSB  Thanks
06:24z VK4HA 7MHz SSB  Thanks
06:24z VK5IS 7MHz SSB thats ian
06:24z VK2VW 7MHz SSB thanks brett
06:25z VK3PMG 7MHz SSB thanks
06:25z VK3FADM 7MHz SSB thanks
06:26z VK5WG 7MHz SSB thanks brett
06:27z VK3AFW 28MHz SSB thanks ron
06:27z VK3CAT 28MHz SSB thanks tony
06:29z VK3AFW 50MHz SSB thanks ron
06:29z VK3CAT 50MHz SSB thanks tony
06:33z VK7BO 50MHz SSB thanks
06:34z VK3HRA 50MHz SSB thanks allan
06:39z VK3WE 50MHz SSB thanks rhett
06:43z VK3CAT 14MHz SSB thanks tony
06:46z VK4RF 14MHz SSB thanks
06:46z VK4HA 14MHz SSB thanks
06:48z VK4WTY 14MHz SSB thanks

4 thoughts on “Sota Activation – VK3/VC-030 Flinders Peak

    • Christine isn’t THAT interested in the radio caper, she has her callsign and entertains the kids while I get a chance to play, was a nice afternoon.

  1. And with that Flinders is recaptured by the Aussies!
    🙂
    Nice read. Brings back a wonderful November holiday memories in Oz.
    Though I cringed a little bit hearing your kids ran ahead…my wife saw a giant brown snake hiding under one of the steps when we walked it!
    Did your kids sing “We’re Climbing Up The You Yangs?” I got inspired to activate it from my singing Aussie nieces.

    Cheers mate, SOTA is a blast!
    I bequeath my 3 month “King of the You Yangs” crown to you and the queen.
    Congrats and 73,
    Mel

    • Thanks mal. In my near on 40 years living in Melbourne. I’d never climbed this prior to the other week. As for snakes. The kids spend a lot of time in the bush and would have known what to do. But yes. They could have been surprised. There were a pretty constant stream of walkers at afternoon. And my kids are so noisy any snake would have long vanished!!!

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