Mt Richardson - ZL3/CB-612 Winter Bonus and Shortest Day - 21 June 2020

I don't normally write a blog for subsequent activations but this one was special in a few ways.

After a rough week of weather (Westerlies and 20 Deg immediately followed by Southerlies and snow to low levels) and just about resigned to a weekend without SOTA, Chris ZL4RA and I were chatting on Saturday afternoon and both commented that actually, Sunday weather wasn't looking too bad! We selected a couple of hills and alerted - we were committed! We agreed an early activation time was best so aimed for 10:30am QRV. I decided on Mt Richardson as it's the nearest to me (40 min drive) and a very nice hill - becoming one of my favourites. At 1047m it's just 53m short of being worth 4 points but it's not all about the points...

I set sail at just after 7am on a cold morning with low cloud in Kaiapoi. By the time I got to the Glentui picnic area and set off at start of the track it was 8am - sunrise on the Shortest Day. 4 degrees and high cloud. The DOC sign says 2 hour 15 to the summit so I was right on target.

I ran into the first patches of snow at the 800m point and added another layer.

Pushed on and got into fairly solid snow cover around 870m. I was surprised to see boot prints coming down the hill but think they must have been from the day before. Either that or someone (and their dog) had made a very early start!

Getting icy

I reached the summit just before 10am . Good covering of snow with high cloud above

Mt Oxford in the background under the cloud

I set up jamming the pole in a convenient bush and sitting on the remains of the old wooden trig. Worked the locals on 2m FM including S2S with Ian on Mt Pleasant ZL3/CB-822 and then got on HF looking for my sked with Chris on 60m CW at 1030am. He was running a little late so I started calling CQ and was called by Mr Reliable - AKA John ZL1BYZ with a great signal. John ZL3MR just about blew me off the hill from his Loburn QTH, about 10km away! It was so loud I was busy winding down the volume and missed his callsign! Recovering quickly I was chuffed to be called by Wynne ZL2ATH. Wellington is a tricky distance from Christchurch so 60m proved it's worth again!

Then came the highlight of my day (in a day full of highlights) - I was called by Jacky ZL1WA - her very first CW SOTA contact!! I bet I was smiling just as much as you were Jacky! Thank you, it made my day!

Next up was Chris ZL4RA from ZL3/OT-354 with a good signal and sure fist. Another very tricky distance but 60m seems to be the answer for Queenstown to Christchurch.

I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself at this point so I QSY to 40m SSB to see if Warren was around and was promptly called by Andrew VK2UH/VK1DA. He said he was also copying me on 60m (c'mon Aussies, keep lobbying for some access, it's a great band!) and then John VK4TJ also called me. Weaker but perfectly readable. Pretty sure it's the first time I have worked VK QRP on SSB in the middle of the day.

The cloud had broken up and the sun was shining out of a clear blue dome. I had several groups of visitors some whom seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing but it was time to pack up and head down. I sent David ZL3DRN a txt to see if he wanted a couple of points towards his Shack Sloth award and blow me down, he says he's just arrived at Saddle Hill summit ZL3/CB-725!! Called him on 2m and another S2S in the bag!

View of Lees Valley and Southern Alps in the background. You can see the antenna wire (41 foot UNUNTenna) sloping down left to right from my beanie.

Given advice from my alpine mentor David ZL3DRN that one should (almost) never descend the same way one ascended, I decided to take the long way home via the aptly named Blowhard Track and then the Bypass Track back to the carpark. Turns out it's the best way down this hill, despite it being a little longer distance-wise, it's a lot gentler on the knees (Mark - take note) and much safer given it's more Northerly aspect. It's actually faster too.

View of the start of the Blowhard Track, as you can see, all my summit visitors had headed down this way too.

Looks like I'm finally getting my layering right too, toasty warm even after spending over 1.5 hours sitting on the summit.

Thanks everybody for a truly memorable day I will remember for a long time.

Kahikatea ZL3/MB-274

This was my second Marlborough summit and is just across the road from MB-286 which I activated at Queens Birthday weekend in 2019. Research on Google maps showed a forestry road network and Topomaps showed a vehicle track nearly to the pre-summit where a large TV and microwave tower is located.

The forestry road is a good one, suitable for 2WD vehicles with care. There is a locked gate but about 100m before this, the public track veers off left and climbs steeply. Don't take your car up here! The road is suitable for high clearance 4WD vehicles and skilled drivers only! Lots of scouring on corners etc. Francie was staying with the car so I parked in the track entrance and set off on foot. If leaving your vehicle, there's an area to park it about 300m back down the road.

View from the track, looking south down Port Underwood

It's a fairly easy walk up the road to the locked gate which prevents public vehicle access to the transmission tower site. Climb over the metal stile at the left end and continue up the road to the tower. It's about 30 minutes to this point.

Gate to the tower and summit

Entrance to the summit track is over the rock in centre of view

Climb up the rock and you'll find the track!

The track up the ridge is unmarked but well used and quite distinct. Soon you come to a clearing and a few meters further reveals the summit with a disused tower base.

As the wind was fairly brisk and cool, I set up on the lee side of the clearing and ran the 41' UnunTenna up with the pole bungeed to a tree. This is another bush-clad summit.

I wanted to work Wynne ZL2ATH who was holed up in his cabin in the Orongorongo Valley across Cook Strait. we tried 2m simplex but no joy. I also put out a general call on the Belmont 2m repeater that I was looking for simplex contacts on 146.5 but no calls. Wynne heard me weakly on 40m CW so we tried 80m which resulted in an easy QSO. That done, I saw Soren ZL1SKL spotted so called him for a nice S2S. Great signals on 40m up and down the country  and across the Tasman on 20m. Also managed a SSB QSO with David ZL3DRN who hastily erected his SOTA gear BYOTA-style.

Mark ZL3AB reported he was running late to his summit so I packed up and headed down. A great day on a nice hill. You could very easily do both Kahikatea and MB-286 in a couple of hours.

Getting there: Use my ZL3/MB-286 instructions and instead of parking, turn left onto dirt road. Follow until you see the road fork and head uphill. Park in the clearing about 200m back (another road heads off South here) and walk up the road, taking the LH fork. Make sure you park in a safe spot, lots of logging trucks through here!

Access permission: None needed Kahikatea Scenic Reserve
Repeater: Belmont 147.1 ok, others not tried.

Time: 40 minutes from the fork.

GPX track uploaded to the SOTA Mapping site.