Aranda Bushland Nature Reserve VKFF-0833

With a nice sunny Sunday decided to activate a park. Decided to revisit Aranda Bushland Nature Reserve, VKFF-0833, as not far from home and easy access off Bindubi St. To count towards the Boomerang award point for the park.

Parked off Bindubi St before William Hovell Drive near a walking track into the reserve. Sign for the park. The mountain in the background is Black Mountain, the one with the tower on top if you have been to Canberra. Headed off to the fence line on the right to set up.

Squid pole attached to the fence. I had to drop the pole a bit to avoid the tree overhead, probably only around 6m high. A good spot out of the sun.

Looking the other way. The cars were moving, Bindubi St is a busy road. Was not too noisy where I operated.

Checked the antenna with the Rig Expert stick. A bit low resonance spot on the band at 7.070 Mhz but so broadband did not really matter.

Shack on the table. Power from my Companion 40aH power pack, so ran the FT857D at 50w.

Worked a few parks before settling on my own frequency.

VK3PF Peter in VKFF-2384 Merrimans Creek Flora Reserve

VK3ZPF Peter at VK-CHE3 Chum Creek Silo

VK2EG in VKFF-3102 The Hunter Lakes Flora Reserve

Spotted on Parksnpeaks on 7.167 Mhz. Worked lots of park hunters

VK2GMC/P, VK2MET/VK1AO, VK2VW/VK2HFI, VK4FW/VK8MM, VK3JE, VK2EXA, VK2NP, VK2EX, VK2FRKA, VK7JU/3, VK3AMO, VK1CHW

Another Park to park with VK2IO Gerard in VKFF-1881 Agnes Banks Nature Reserve

then VK2TER James in VKFF-0550 Wyrrabalong National Park

Packed up and headed home for afternoon tea.

Aranda Bushland Nature Reserve VKFF-0833

With Andrew VK1AD activating Stony Creek Nature Reserve, VKFF-0986, decided to chase him from a nearby park that had not activated for a while, Aranda Bushland Nature Reserve VKFF-0833.

Parked at the end of Galali Pl in Aranda and walked into the park. At the top of the hill a sign for the park, one of the new metal ones the ACT Government has put in, replacing the old wooden ones.

A close up of the map part of the sign

Wandered along the track towards the high point in the park. Dropped off down the slope when I spotted a tree stump suitable for squid pole support and set up the 40m dipole. Note there are lots of mountain bike tracks in the scrub here so access is fairly easy, and the scrub not that thick.

Squid pole attached to the tree stump

Looking back the other way. Houses in Aranda visible, still far enough away to not cause QRM.

Operating Spot, from Protected Planet

Radio perched on a nearby log, with a rough log seat. In the sun so quite warm, even if it made reading the tablet logging screen a bit hard... There were also mosquitos, but was well covered up.

Got on 40m. Managed to work Andrew VK1AD/p in Stony Creek Nature Reserve, VKFF-0986 with a good strong signal. Then had a look for other parks on. Worked

VK1IO/p Gerard in VKFF-1787 Wolli Creek Regional Park

Spotted myself on Parks n Peaks and worked

VK3BBB, VK2CCP, VK2VW, VK2HFI, VK2LEE, VK3FIMD, VK3MPR, VK4NH, VK4DXA, ZL4TY/VK4. VK5FANA, VK4SMA.

Andrew VK1AD had suggested trying a 2m contact, so stuck up the 2m Jpole ribbon antenna on the squid pole. Andrew was 59... I had a look later, he was only around 5 Km away so no wonder.

Also worked VK1MA Matt, mobile on William Hovell Drive just below me, was very strong...

Returned to 40m and worked

VK3MTT, VK2YK/5, VK5GA, VK3ZPF, VI100AF with VK5PAS operating, VK7ME, VK7QP, VK3DAC.

A couple more park to parks, VK3PF/p Peter and VK3NRB/p Ross in VKFF-2235 Wonthaggi Heathlands Nature Conservation Reserve

VK2PKT, then another park to park, VK5CZ/p Ian in VKFF-0812 Clements Gap Conservation Park

Also VK3AWA/p Daryl in VKFF-2329 Herb Guyatt Flora Reserve

Finally VK2VRO/p Joel on SOTA summit VK3/VC-022 Mt Cowley

Packed up and headed home for afternoon tea.

Aranda Bushland Nature Reserve VKFF-0833

With a nice sunny Saturday afternoon decided to activate a nearby WWFF park. I chose Aranda Bushland Nature Reserve VKFF-0833, as it is close by and only needed 9 contacts to complete for a WWFF activation point.

Last time I activated it walked up Aranda Hill, so for a change picked a spot off Bindubi Street, where there was an access gate off the road.

This gate is in the South West corner of the park, at the end of Old Weetangera Road, an old road from a time when Canberra was a group of sheep stations... Map courtesy of Openstreetmap

Note this is not very far away from Black Mountain, SOTA summit VK1/AC-042 and Telstra Tower. Walking a bit to the South I could see it quite well.

Set up the squid pole on the park sign, running one of the dipole legs out to the fence

The other leg to a nearby tree. The dipole cleared the road okay, did get some use by joggers, walkers and mountain bike riders.

Radio shack on the table, my TS-480SAT set to 40 W output.

Got on 40 m. The band was in good shape, nice to hear as has been poor conditions lately with nearby NVIS signals missing.

Started with a couple of park to park contacts, Ken VK2KYO/3 in VKFF-0620 Chiltern-Mt Pilot NP, and Rob VK4AAC/3 in VKFF-0627 Organ Pipes NP.

Got on 7.144 Mhz and got spotted, a steady stream of hunters followed.

Another couple of park to park contacts, Neil VK4HNS/p in VKFF-0702 Pidna NP, and Stuart VK5STU/p in VKFF-1739 Para Wirra Recreation Park.

After hunters dried up on 40 m briefly tried 20 m, but no contacts. Saw a spot on 40 m for John VK2AWJ/p in VKFF-0373 Murray-sunset NP, and made my 5th park to park contact.

Had made 26 contacts so qualified the park okay. Headed home for afternoon tea.

Aranda Bushland VKFF-0833

Aranda Bushland Nature Park is located between Black Mountain and Mount Painter Nature Reserves, bounded by Bindubi Street, William Hovell Drive, Caswell Drive and the suburb of Aranda. It protects a rare collection of Snow Gum trees in the South and Eucalypt forest in the North.

I chose to park at Vargi Place and walk to Aranda Hill, the highest point in the park. I could have parked closer but wanted to do some walking :)

Aranda Bushland park sign

After a short walk along the summit track reached Aranda Hill. Marked by yellow concrete markers marked McKier. Black Mountain partially visible through the trees.

Set up the squid pole using one of the concrete posts for support

Radio shack at the base. I'd forgotten to pack the tarp so sat on my pack.

Got on 40 m. Good strong signals from VK1, VK2, VK3, VK5 and VK7. SOTA contacts with Tony VK3CAT/p on VK3/VE-033, and Peter VK3ZPF/P on VK3/VC-037.

Made 28 contacts on 40 m before the hunters dried up. Changed to 20 m, this time spotting myself on the DX cluster to help the EU stations find me.

They found me quite well...Several of the regular park hunters, S58AL, I5FLN, IK1GPG, DK4RM, EA4DTV and DL2ND.

The band died off around 4:30 pm and starting to get cold, so packed up and headed home.
A total of 35 contacts so a good activation.