SOTA/Parks activation – Mt Kosciuszko VK2/SM-001

Previous SOTA Activations: 34Height: 2229mPoints: 10Walk time to activation zone: 20 minute, $60 chair lift then 1.5 hours walk to the topSnakes: 0 (woot!)KM’s driven: Zero (walked to the chairlift from my Thredbo accommodation)Tesla battery used: 0%Tesla charges: NoneSOTA:Mt KosciuszkoPOTA: Kosciuszko National ParkWWFF: Kosciuszko National Park This wasn't planned. How could I not have thought of it? …

SOTA/Parks Activation – Lynes Sugarloaf VK7/EC-031

Previous Activations: 0Height: 552mPoints: 2Walk time to activation zone: Zero, 4WD to the summitSnakes: 0 (woot!)KM’s driven: 397 (+ some smelly dinosaur juice km's in Greg's 4WD)Tesla battery used: 80% (+ some smelly dinosaur juice km's in Greg's 4WD)Tesla charges: 28 min (39%) at SwanseaSOTA:Lynes SugarloafPOTA: Apslawn Regional ReserveWWFF: Apslawn Regional Reserve I was long overdue for …

SOTA/Parks activation – Mt Barrow

Previous Activations: 14Height: 1406mPoints: 10Walk time to activation zone: 20mins steep uphill on walkway/stairs with some rock hoppingSnakes: 1 (dead on the road)KM's driven: 505Tesla battery used: 116% Tesla charges: 20 min Kings Meadows and 7 min OatlandsSOTA: https://sotl.as/summits/VK7/NE-003POTA: https://pota.app/#/park/VK-0564WWFF: https://wwff.co/directory/?showRef=VKFF-1818 We could see Mt Barrow when we did Legges Tor (Ben Lomond) last year so …

SOTA Activation – Mt Mangana VK7/SC-017

Previous Activations: 5Height: 571mPoints: 2Snakes: 1Tesla battery used: 34%Ferries: 2SOTA: https://sotl.as/summits/VK7/SC-017POTA: https://pota.app/#/park/VK-6279WWFF: yeah, naah I planned to do this on a Wednesday but Jim VK7JDZ contacted me to say he was doing two summits in VK3 on Tuesday so I bought things forward a day and left earlier than intended to make my summit around the …

SOTA Activation VK7/SC-068 – Unnamed peak

Previous Activations: 0Height: 582mPoints: 2Snakes: 0Tesla battery used: 40%Link: https://sotl.as/summits/VK7/SC-068 I'd been stuck at home for a week with my first dose of the dreaded C and needed to get out in the bush again. I checked the sotl.as map for summits south of me that hadn't been activated before and had road access that …

SOTA activation – The Needles

Wow, what a great day. The Needles is an impressive rocky outcrop off the side of the road to Strathgordon in the Tasmanian Southwest National Park. I'd looked at it on the map and read a few walk notes but dismissed it as a bit hard for me to do. That's where Jim VK7JDZ comes …

Mount Walter SOTA activation

A SOTA expedition to another peak that had yet to be activated. Mt Walter is a side trip off the Wielangta Road which runs between Kellevie and Orford in the South East of Tasmania. There are signs warning that sections of the road are open to 4WD's only but technically the Tesla is a 4WD …

SOTA activation – Woods Quoin

I like to search for SOTA summits that have never been activated before and then go exploring. Today my target was Blue Hill VK7/CH-065 to the north west of Bothwell in central Tasmania but I ended up activating Woods Quion VK7/CH-063 instead. I drove for about two hours from Kingston, up the Midlands Highway, across …

My first SOTA activation, Tinderbox Hills

I had done lots or research but really had no clue. I packed my IC-705, a 7Ah LifePo4 battery from Jaycar, a portable EFHW antenna, Haverford 9m squid pole, LDG antenna tuner and 50W amplifier. My pack weighed way too much but I headed off on the walk from the carpark at the end of …

First radios

Before I was licensed I purchased the obvious first radio, a Baofeng UV5R handheld. There's so much hate around these cheap Chinese radios but it was a great first radio for me. Whilst I had much experience talking through repeaters on marine radio you don't have to program anything or think too much about how …