Southern sojourn Oct 2020

We had been invited to spend the weekend in Luggate celebrating the first wedding anniversary of our son and daughter in law. An extended family and friends gathering, I was a little under the weather on Saturday morning so was glad I had only alerted for Mt Iron, a 1 pointer in Wanaka!

The day dawned fine but with a predicted lunchtime change. The climb is an easy one, about 20 minutes up a popular public track to a large activation zone with spectacular views over Wanaka and the surrounding mountains. I set up away from the busy summit with a convenient fence-post supporting the pole and worked a steady string of contacts around VK and ZL using the KX2 and 41 foot EFRW. 

View towards Chris on Isthmus Peak. QRPGuys UNUNtenna in foreground

One interested Mountain Biker stopped and chatted about what I was doing. I headed down once the rain started to settle in. I hadn't heard from Chris ZL4RA on Isthmus Peak - of course he was spotted once I was about 10 minutes into the descent!

Relaxing (over a couple more drinks!) afterwards I figured I should do Mt John on the way home on Monday. Mark ZL3AB and Rick ZL3RIK provided the email address for the onsite UC Superintendent who was good enough to confirm access a couple of hours later.

 

After a pleasant 2 hour drive from Luggate, the Mt John turnoff is reached (just before Tekapo). You follow the public road and then reach the UC tollbooth (operates 10.30am to 2.30pm) where your $8 toll is paid (Eftpos). It's a pleasant 10 minute drive to the summit and a large carpark which is within the AZ.

Panorama from the operating site.

  I found a spot on the Western edge of the carpark where you can sit on railway sleeper edging (or down on the grass out of the wind). A couple of concrete blocks made an excellent pole support and so I decided to use the 66 foot (60-15m) open wire fed doublet. 

Tip of Lake Alexandrina and the Southern Alps. Open wire feeders and balun in foreground

 

 Good signals from all around the country meant I comfortably activated the hill on 60m prior to UTC rollover. 2m was tried with Rick ZL3RIK and Robin ZL3REW but no contacts resulted. After rollover I worked the ZLs again along with a good number of VKs including Gerard VK2IO mobile! At this point the wind changed and it started to rain quite heavily. A hasty pack up ensued due to the thunderstorm threat.

Operating spot showing the antenna support and SOTA-Dog Skye keeping an eye on me.

 

These are both very easy summits with incredible views - well worth doing if you are down that way. 

As always, thanks to the Chasers, especially the weekday ones!