SOTA The Cascades VK2/SM-014 for UTC New Year Rollover

For the UTC New Year rollover there is a chance to get SOTA activation points for contacts made on either side of 00:00 UTC, which in NSW Australia is 11:00 am local time. Decided to get 20 points by activating a 10 point summit in the Snowy Mountains, The Cascades" VK2/SM-014.

After stopping at Thredbo overnight for New Years Eve slept in a bit. I had been up to after midnight... Had breakfast and drove the short distance to the start of the Cascades Walk, parking about 8:45 am. The weather here was cold for January, about 11c, so dressed warmly.

It's a 4.7 Km walk from here to the summit. Followed the Thredbo River for a while, quite scenic.

The track eventually crosses the Thredbo River at a metal bridge put in by the park rangers.

Looking upstream. Summit around to the right.

Looking downsteam

After crossing the river the track heads up and heads around to the right. Good views. Looking back.

Note the white patches on the main range in the distance. These are snow drifts, in Summer!

Just a few hundred metres from the summit needed to leave the walking track and head cross country to the summit. Lots of tracks to follow, probably left by brumbies, wild horses. A bit of a marshy area before the summit but not too bad to walk through.

After an hour and a quarter of walking reached the summit. A rough post on a rock trig point.

At the top the wind was very strong and cold. Probably gusting to about 30-40 Km/Hr. Found a rocky outcrop out of the wind, and set up the squid pole here, radio shack on the tarp mostly out of the wind.

Shack on the tarp

Even though I was out of the wind the top of the squid pole was not, and collapsed on me a few times. So operating was interrupted now and then by my having to hoist it back up again...

The 40m band was full of activators... Started with an S2S with Andrew VK1AD/p on VK1/AC-043 Mt Stromlo with a good signal. Andrew spotted me and let me have the frequency. Worked my way through a pileup of activators and chasers, also going after new ones on SOTAwatch. Pre UTC

Time	Call	Band	Mode	Notes
23:27z	VK1AD/P	7MHz	SSB	s58 r58 s2s vk1/ac-043
23:29z	VK3PF/P	7MHz	SSB	s58 r56 s2s vk3/vg-001
23:31z	VK3ARR/P	7MHz	SSB	s51 r56 s2s vk3/ve-008
23:33z	VK2AOH	7MHz	SSB	s52 r55 s2s vk2/ct-012
23:34z	VK5WG	7MHz	SSB	s58 r55
23:35z	VK2YW	7MHz	SSB	s58 r57
23:35z	VK2IO/P	7MHz	SSB	s58 r58 s2s vk2/hu-093
23:36z	VK7CW	7MHz	SSB	s58 r57
23:37z	VK5ZAT/P	7MHz	SSB	s58 r59
23:38z	VK5FANA	7MHz	SSB	s57 r33
23:39z	VK3GGG	7MHz	SSB	s58 r54
23:40z	VK3PMG	7MHz	SSB	s58 r54
23:42z	VK1MA/P	7MHz	SSB	s55 r55 s2s vk1/ac-008
23:45z	VK3SG/P	7MHz	SSB	s55 r59 s2s vk3/ve-007
23:50z	VK7ZMS	7MHz	SSB	s58 r25
23:51z	VK7FAMP	7MHz	SSB	s53 r53
23:52z	VK4RF	7MHz	SSB	s53 r55
23:53z	VK4HA	7MHz	SSB	s53 r55
23:54z	VK3ARH/P	7MHz	SSB	s53 r57 s2s vk3/vs-027
23:57z	VK3TST/P	7MHz	SSB	s53 r55 s2s vk3/ve-034

Note VK3TST/p at 23:57. He had just got on air with only 3 minutes to go to rollover. Don't think he made the 4 contacts needed...

Post UTC. Only 1 contact on 20m, John VK6NU/p on VK6/SW-039.

ime	Call	Band	Mode	Notes
00:04z	VK6NU/P	14MHz	SSB	s51 r51 s2s vk6/sw-039
00:10z	VK3ARH/P	7MHz	SSB	s53 r55 s2s vk3/vs-027
00:11z	VK3ARR/P	7MHz	SSB	s52 r52 s2s vk3/ve-008
00:20z	VK5PAS/P	7MHz	SSB	s57 r54 vk5/se-001
00:21z	VK5FMAZ/P	7MHz	SSB	s57 r54 vk5/se-001
00:24z	VK3TST/P	7MHz	SSB	s53 r55 s2s vk3/ve-034
00:26z	VK3AFW/P	7MHz	SSB	s51 r53 s2s vk3/ve-031
00:31z	VK3SG/P	7MHz	SSB	s55 r56 s2s vk3/ve-007
00:35z	VK2IO/P	7MHz	SSB	s57 r57 s2s vk2/hu-093
00:37z	VK7TW/P	7MHz	SSB	s41 r41 s2s vk7/sc-063
00:38z	VK7FREU/P	7MHz	SSB	s41 r41 s2s vk7/sc-063
00:42z	VK3PF/P	7MHz	SSB	s55 r55 s2s vk3/vg-001
01:06z	VK1MA/P	7MHz	SSB	s55 r55 s2s vk1/ac-008

Poor Justin VK7TW and his son Reuben VK7FREU had microphone failure just after I worked them and had to qualify on 2m FM. After midday I had had enough of the wind and cold and packed up, heading back the same way, taking a bit over an hour to get back to the car. Drove to one of the picnic areas down from Thredbo out of the wind for lunch. 20 SOTA points done :)