Drove up the Brindabella Road and turned off onto the Mount Franklin Road. A short drive a sign for Bimberi Nature Reserve on the right.
Bimberi Nature Reserve is on the Western side of the Brindabella Ranges in NSW, between Kosciuszko National Park and Namadgi National Park in the ACT. It is a large reserve of 10,868 ha. Map of the park from Protected Planet website.
I looked at Bulls Head picnic area on a map, but this is just outside the park, a pity as it would be a good spot to operate from. Continued South, looking for a place to park off the road and easy access to the park, also not too steep... Found a spot with a turnoff to a water tank used for fire fighting, very close to the park boundary of the ACT/NSW border. Parked here.
A short walk and I was in NSW and inside the reserve. The ACT/NSW Western border is defined by the Brindabella mountains water catchment, so simply looked for where the ground started to slope down to the West.
Used a burnt out tree stump for squid pole mast support.
Operating spot, from Protected Planet website. I was between the Bendora Arboretum and Mount Franklin.
Looking back the other way. Think one leg of the dipole may have partly been in VK1!...
Shack on the table. It was quite pleasant here, around 25 c. My altitude was around 1,400 m.
Got on 40 m. Started by chasing another park activation on 7.139 Mhz, VK7QP/5 Linda in VKFF-0802 Penambol Conservation Park, near Mount Gambier. Took a while to get over the park hunters but got called in the end.
Worked the following park hunters. Thanks to Peter VK3ZPF for spotting me on ParksnPeaks, there was no mobile coverage here.
VK2FDJL Deryk
VK3ZPF Peter
VK3SQ Geoff
VK4TJ, VK4/AC8WN/VE6XT John
VK2IO Gerard
VK4FMHT Matt
VK2HHA Dennis
VK4NH/VK4DXA/ZL4TY Ray
VK2VW Brett
VK2BBB Brian
VK3BSG Erik
VK3DAC Fred
VK2AR Andrew
VK5FMWW Micheal
VK5FANA Adrian
Got called for another park to park, with VK2JNG/p in VKFF-1989 Queens Lake Nature Reserve near Port Macquarie.
VK4FARR Glen
VK3CM Brenton
VK3PF Peter
VK3HN Paul
VK3FSPG/VK3MPR Steve
VK3ARH Allen
When 40 m dried up switched to 20 m. Had a weak signal contact with VK6GLX, Garry, then a very strong signal from VK2HOT Bruce in Port Macquarie,
Packed up. Headed South to visit the Mount Franklin Ski Chalet memorial. This was lost in the Canberra January 2003 fires. An old photo I took of the chalet in July 2001. Scanned from a print.
The chalet memorial now. Only the wood shed stone foundation and tank stand remain...
The outdoor toilet also survived.
Sign nearby. The toilet and part of the Chalet are in Bimberi Nature Reserve, so could return here for the next activation of the park. There was mobile coverage here.
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