SOTA Mount McDonald VK1/AC-048

The weather on Sunday was nice and sunny, without the strong cold winds that have been blowing lately. Decided to go activate a SOTA summit and get out in the sun. I enjoy Mt McDonald, an easy walk up, plus it would be too warm to do later in the year as no shade. Parked at the car park off Brindabella Rd and started the walk up. Track to the left of the sign.

The walking track joins the Mt McDonald road. I did a brief detour to the lookout over the Cotter dam.

Continued on up the road. View to the South over the Cotter and Bullen Range

Reached the summit. Usual trig and old fire tower remnant structure.

Track log of walk. Taken from Alltrails App. It's a couple of Km walk to the summit

First got up the 2m ladder line Jpole. Matched in well, resonant at 146.11 Mhz

2m antenna on the trig

Got on 2m FM, 146.500 Mhz. Ran 40w from the FT857D. Worked several local stations.

VK1MA, VK1AD, VK1BAR, VK1DVO, VK1ARQ, VK1CHW, VK1MIC

Set up the 40m dipole.

Worked a park first, VK4HRE Bob in VKFF-1526 David Fleay Conservation Park

Then some of the usual chasers.

VK1MA, VK2IO, 

VK3PF Peter in VKFF-3878 Tarago River, Neerim South SS.R. Natural Features Reserve

VK1AO/VK2MET, VK1ARQ, VK2WP, VK2GMC

Packed up and headed home for lunch.

SOTA Mount McDonald VK1/AC-048

With a nice sunny Sunday morning decided to do a walk up a SOTA summit, Mount McDonald VK1/AC-048. Start of the walk

Good view along the Bullen Range on the way up

Took about 25 minutes to get to the top. View towards Mt Stromlo and Canberra, Black Mountain tower on the left.

Set up the squid pole on the trig. One leg of the dipole tied to the remnants of the fire tower, the other to a tree branch opposite. Noticed the vegetation at the base of the tower had been cleared, so no more shady spot to operate now... Anyway was a mild morning so not too bad in the sun.

Shack at the base of the trig

Got on 2m FM first. A summit to summit with Bill, VK1MCW/p on Mount Tuggeranong, VK1/AC-038. Then Mark VK2KI at Bowning, strong. After these contacts 2m FM was quiet, no more chasers. So headed to 2m 144.200 SSB to find more contacts. Worked Rob VK1KW and Al VK1RX doing some antenna tests, so at least qualified on 2m mixed mode.

Went to 40m. Worked before UTC rollover Matt VK1MA, and VK2IO/p Gerard on VK2/RI-006 NSW 6884. Quite a close by summit so 40m short NVIS skip working well.

After rollover worked VK1EM/2, VK3LOC, VK3RM, VK2VH, VK1MA, VK3HN, VK2IO/p again on VK2/RI-006, VK5IS, VK5PAS, VK3PF, VK5MAZ.

Saw a spot for a park activation, Linda VK7QP/p in VKFF-0227 Hartz Mountains National Park, so worked her, a new park for me.

Packed up and headed back down, then home for lunch.  

 

SOTA Mount McDonald VK1/AC-048

After a picnic BBQ lunch at Cassaurina Sands headed to nearby SOTA peak Mount McDonald for an activation. Found the walk car park off Brindabella Rd full, some motor bike meet up in progress, taking photos of motor bikes heading down the road. Managed to squeeze a spot in for the car and started walking. After the initial 700 m climb up to the fire trail its a further 1.4 Km to the summit. View from the road looking North along the Bullen Range, Mount Tennent in the distance.

 

View down to the Cotter River.

After about 20 minutes reached the top. View to the East and Mt Stromlo

It was cold and windy on the summit. Decided to set up away from the trig, too exposed. Instead used a small sapling near the fire tower remains for squid pole support, hiding behinds the bushes to get out of the cold wind. Used a support cord tied to the fire tower to stop the pole bending in the wind.

Shack on the tarp behind the bushes. The rock is to stop it taking off...

Got on 40 m and spotted myself on 7.090. First contact ZL1BYZ John, so band not too bad...

Worked

VK3ZPF

VK5AYL

VK1DA/p just operating portable on an oval

A summit to summit with VK4MGL/p Scott on VK4/SE-101 Mt Dunsinane

VK4TJ

VK5HAA

VK3PI

VK4NH VK4DXA ZL4TY/VK4

VK2IO/p Gerard in VKFF-1881 Agnes Banks Nature Reserve, weak but workable

VK3PF

Also found Adam VK2YK/5 on 7.144 in VKFF-1683 Anstey Hill Recreation Park with a good signal.

Was going to try 20 m, but then started raining lightly, so packed up and headed down.

SOTA Mount McDonald VK1/AC-048

With a cooler Sunday than it has been recently, 20c instead of the 35-40c temperatures last week, decided to get some exercise and do a local SOTA summit, Mt McDonald VK1/AC-048. Noticed last time I drove past the start of the walk a new track was now open, so wanted to give it a try.

Drove from home to the car park for the walk, off Brindabella Road. There is now a sign on the Lower Cotter Catchment reserve here.

A close up of the sign showing the track to Mount McDonald

Previously had to walk along Lookout Road then climb up. Followed the new track until it joined the road up to the mountain, close to the Cotter Catchment lookout.

Followed the road up to the top of the mountain. Good views over the Bullen Range to the South.

Reached the top, trig and remnants of the fire lookout tower. Looking East to Mt Stromlo and Canberra.

Set up the squid pole on a leg of the trig.

Looking back from the other end of the dipole, tied to a bush near the tower.

Shack on the tarp at the base of the trig. Got on 40m. The band was not that good, signals down with lots of static. Also some intermittent buzzing, think from a nearby power pole, luckily only about an S3.

Started with local Matt VK1MA, strong as usual. Then several of the usual chasers from VK1, VK2, VK3 and VK5. Most only S4 or so. Paul VK5PAS called me with a good S8 signal.

After 40m dried up switched to 20m. First contact Paul VK5PAS again, this time 59+! Very strong on 20m. Worked John ZL1BYZ and Jacky ZL1WA both good S9 signals. Ian VK5CZ a good S7, and local Andrew VK1AD S9.

Headed down at midday. Noticed a sign on the way down close to the top, 1.8 Km by the lookout track, and 2.5 Km by the old management road. So a 0.7 Km saving with the new track.

Track log confirmed the distances. 700 m shorter walk now. Dark blue the new walk, light blue the old road route.

SOTA Mount McDonald VK1/AC-048

With a warm day forecast decided to do a morning only SOTA activation of a nearby summit. Mt McDonald is about a half hours drive from home and a 2.6 Km 40 minute walk so easy enough to do before too hot.

As per other activations parked off the Brindabella Road in the car park for the walk. Sign for the walk.

Climbed up the mountain. Some good views towards the Tindbinbilla Range to the South West.

Looking due South along the Bullen Range.

Reached the summit. trig and the remnants of an old fire tower burnt out in the Canberra 2003 fires.

View from the summit to the East looking towards Mt Stromlo on the right. Black Mountain tower visible

As too hot in the sun didn't use the trig for the squid pole, instead used a stump by the fire tower structure, which had some shady gum trees growing around it.

View from the trig looking South. I used it to support one of the dipole legs.

Set up the SOTA shack in the shade of the trees.

Got on 40 m. Conditions not great, close by NVIS skip gone, seemed to be limited to parts of VK3, VK5 and VK7. Worked same chasers again after UTC rollover. A massive strong signal from Matt VK1MA.

Switched to 20 m. Got Paul VK5PAS, not as strong as usual but enough to work with no problems. Also worked Tony VK5TT in Adelaide.

As the sun had gotten higher lost my shade and getting warm, so packed up after about a half hour operating. A total of 12 contacts. Headed back down and home for lunch.

SOTA Mount McDonald VK1/AC-048

SOTA peak VK1/AC-048 Mt McDonald is only about a half hour drive from home and is an easy mid morning SOTA activation. Last time was a disaster, my old SLA battery died...this time had my LifePO4 battery so should have no power problems...

Drove to the start of the walk off Brindabella Road. A proper car park for the walk. Sign detailing walk.

Locked gate at start of walk

Turned off onto Mt McDonald Rd

This rises steeply, bending about before heading for the summit. Some good views. Looking South along the Bullen Range, Mt Tennent in the distance on the left.

Looking East. Black Mountain tower visible in the centre. Mt Stromlo on the right.

Reached the top. The summit cairn, a pile of rocks...Mount McDonald Ecce trig and remnants of the fire tower on top

The trig and remnants of the fire tower, destroyed in the Canberra 2003 bushfires

Set up the squid pole on the trig, using the fire tower to support one end of the dipoles legs.

Other ends tied to branches of nearby trees Had both 20/40 m and 6/10 m linked dipoles up in a fan configuration.

Had real problems with the wind today, quite strong, the pole telescoped on me several times...Shack in the small amount of shade at the base of the trig

Got on 40 m first. Found an electrical buzz on the band, about S2, annoying. It was quiet last time I was here. Probably from the nearby power pole.

A S2S with VK1RX/p Al on nearby VK1/AC-033 Bullen Range. Chasers from VK1, VK2, VK3 and VK5.

Switched the dipole links to 20 m. VK5WG, VK5EE, VK8GM, VK2KTT with good signals. Tried 6 m, only 1 contact with Al VK1RX nearby on Bullen Range. Another S2S with VK2IO Gerard on VK2/IL-015 Mount Kembla on 40 m,

Saw a spot for John VK6NU/p on 20m, on VK6/SW-039. Managed a S2S, not real strong but workable. Heard him get called by Nick VK3ANL/p on VK3/VC-032 so another contact with Nick, a good strong signal on 20m.  Went on to work a few more chasers on 20 m, including VK6YS Wally and VK6NI Nigel with good signals.

Tried 10 m. Got a call from Ross VK4CQ, as usual 59+...Had a chat with Andrew VK1NAM. Heard a weak W7 calling me, but didn't answer me back, probably just saw my SOTA spot and tried calling anyway...Finally a call from Steve VK2NSS, a huge 59+ from Murrumbateman on his beam.

Packed up and headed home.

Track log of walk. 2.7 Km. About 45 minutes to get up and 30 minutes down.

SOTA Mount McDonald VK1/AC-048

After seeing several SOTA activations planned for Saturday morning decided to get out an activate a summit and get some S2S points. Mt McDonald seemed like a good choice as only a 30 minute drive from home. This summit was added recently to the VK1 summit list on 1st February by Andrew, VK1NAM.

Have been up it before doing Geocaching and trig bagging a couple of years ago. Drove down the Cotter Road then turned up Brindabella Rd, drove past the Cotter Dam, on a bend on the left was a car park and the start of the walk.

The sign indicates 2.6 Km to the summit. Note the small sign in the background, it says "Track Closed". This was the walking track I used a couple of years ago, a lot shorter than the new track...Anyway set out on the new walk behind a locked gate.

After 700m reached a junction, took the road on the right, McDonald Rd fire trail.

Sign indicating now 1.9 Km to the summit

The road climbs steeply up the mountain. You pass a turnoff to a lookout over the Cotter Dam on the way. I didn't go to the lookout.

Got to the top. Note Mt McDonald is unusual in that it has 2 trigs. The pile of rocks in the foreground is the actual McDonald trig, the usual square trig in the background is McDonald Ecce trig.

Topo map shows the 2 trigs, 50 m apart...The McDonald trig is supposed to be a metre higher than the Ecce trig, but didn't look that way to me...

Walked up to the McDonald Ecce Trig. There is the remnants of the McDonald Fire tower nearby, which was destroyed in the Canberra 2003 bushfires.

On the Ecce trig was an interesting device, a reflector used by the nearby Mt Stromlo laser ranging station, probably for calibration.

View across to Mt Stromlo

Set up the squid pole on the trig, running dipole legs to the remnants of the fire tower and trees on the other side.

Set up the shack at the base of the trig

Got on 40m. First call from Matt, VK1MA. As I was signing with Matt the radio shut down...This was when I found out the SLA battery voltage was low, down to only 8.8v, must have forgotten to charge it since my last activation!... After waiting a bit found the 4Ah SLA battery recovered enough for short contacts. Concentrated on quick S2S calls only. Managed brief contacts with 

VK2TWR Rod on VK2/ST-034

VK3ANL Nick on VK2/VC-033

VK3PF Peter on VK3/VT-014

VK3APC on VK3/VC-025

Tried calling VK5NIG Nigel on VK5/SE-013 but the battery finally gave out...

With 2m FM only on the hand held managed to work Matt VK1MA who I think kindly rounded up Steve VK2NSS, for 6 contacts and qualifying the summit with over 4 contacts. Phew!

Track log of walk