Previous Activations: 0
Height: 552m
Points: 2
Walk time to activation zone: Zero, 4WD to the summit
Snakes: 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 Swansea
SOTA:Lynes Sugarloaf
POTA: Apslawn Regional Reserve
WWFF: Apslawn Regional Reserve
I was long overdue for an overnighter with my lovely friends Greg and Vicki at Bicheno. Greg had just given a fantastic presentation to our radio club (REAST) on the radio network that he manages for a volunteer organisation and as a result had a new found interest in amateur radio so combining a visit with some radio play seemed like a great idea.
There are three SOTA summits close to Bicheno. Only one had been activated before and the start of the track was within walking distance of my friends house but I left it up to Greg to decide which one he would like to do. I expected him to choose the summit in the reserve high in the hills above Diamond Island as he had been looking at that site and how to access it for a possible repeater location. My preferred site was Lynes Sugarloaf as it was the highest of the three and had old logging tracks that appeared to go all the way to the summit. It looked on Google maps like the sort of location I would take my car up to (yeah, naah as it turned out). Greg chose Lynes Sugarloaf.
After a lovely lunch and some good conversation we set off in the afternoon in Gregs Jeep. It was about a 20 minute drive south from Bicheno to the turn off just past Devils Corner Vineyard. In typical logging fashion the road was called O Road. Such imagination. This was a pretty good gravel road that any 2WD car could do although it was a bit rough with the odd wash out and pot hole. We turned left then left again as the track steadily deteriorated and became steeper. The last few kilometers were very steep with loose rocks and overgrowth encroaching on all sides. Even the track surface had tall brush growing on it that had to be mowed down to make progress. This was very much 4WD territory and not a place you would want to go if you didn’t want to scratch the paintwork. Greg was loving it and in no time we were at the summit. Well not actually at the summit marked on the SOTA map, there were a heap of trees fallen across the track blocking our progress, but we were on the plateau and at the same altitude as the summit so we set up where we stopped.
I strapped the squid pole to a nearby tree, raised the linked dipole, attached the FX-4CR, opened the VK-Porta-Log app on my phone, sent out spots to SOTA, Parks n Peaks and POTA and started to call CQ on 40m. Nothing. Not a sausage. A bit disappointing to be honest, especially as Greg had gone to a lot of trouble to get me there and was super interested in the whole radio thing. Just as I was thinking something must be wrong the ever reliable Peter, VK3PF came back with his usual super strong and crystal clear signal. We were now off to the races, my favorite SOTA activator to chase, Stuart VK7FADZ was next. Stuart is crazy fit and climbs the most ridiculous summits with a 4W radio using only 40m. He’s the leading SOTA activator in VK7 and a lovely guy so it’s always great to make a contact with him, even when I’m the one on the tiny little summit and he’s in his shed at home. There were a few more contacts into VK3 and VK2 before I realised my radio was only set to 5W. Bumping that up to 20W made a bit of a difference.
We soon had the summit activated and moved to 20m. I went to my usual 20M frequency and was excited to hear an American accent. There were two US operators calling CQ POTA but they were so low down for me that I couldn’t make out their call signs or their park details and I didn’t see a spot that would help me out. I went up 5KHz, sent my own spots and called CQ. I quickly had three VK2’s in the log but was one short of the ten required to activate the park for VKFF and POTA. Just when I thought it was a bust for the parks the two Americans met me and tried calling. It was super tough. They could hear me OK but I really struggled to hear them. I find it really difficult to copy overseas callsigns when I’m used to them always starting with VK and then a number. I worked out that they weren’t in the US at all but in a park in New Zealand. We eventually made it over the line and the extra two qualified the park for both VKFF and POTA. Thanks to Larry and Janine, much appreciated! This was the first WWFF and POTA activation for our park and the summit. A great day all round!
Greg played with the hill decent mode in his Jeep on the way back down which handled the steep, loose surface very well. I wouldn’t recommend this summit unless you have a 4WD that you are prepared to bash through the scrub. It would be a very long and steep walk if you were to leave a vehicle at the start of the rough stuff. There is no view at all from the summit as you are surrounded by trees. It was a great day with a great mate and a lot of radio learning and fun but not a great destination in my opinion.
VK7ID 