SOTA End Peak VK2/MN-098

After activating VK2/MN-176 returned to Coffs Harbour for lunch, then headed up to Sealy Lookout to the start of the walk to End Peak. See my last activation  End Peak for how to get there.

Sealy Lookout Forest Sky Pier.

Great views, the weather was perfect, no wind and around 20c. Looking towards Coffs Harbour

Looking South. Several SOTA peaks visible.

There are signs to help identify peaks. Several are SOTA peaks that have yet to be activated, and would require serious 4WDing to access..

Just past the lookout car park a picnic area, with the track to End Peak

Walked along the track. Steep in places. There are 2 minor peaks that must be climbed first prior to reaching End Peak... so down, up, down, up, down and up to the summit... About a 1.5 Km walk taking around 30 minutes to get to the End Peak summit.

No trig here, really just a high point in the track. Spotted a small sapling in a good spot for squid pole support, but too small to support the weight of the pole on its own. Found a branch with a bend at the end of it, by lashing this to the sapling with compression cords was able to get the squid pole and dipole up in the middle of a clearing. Would have fallen over if any wind but luckily there was none today...

Shack on the tarp. My dodgy squid pole support arrangement shown...

Got on 40m. Worked VK2JDS/m and VK2YW with good signals. Worked S2S with Gerard VK2IO/1 on VK1/AC-044, also Andrew VK1MBE/2 on VK2/ST-006. Went on to work local Paul VK2KTT in Coffs Harbour with a strong signal, VK4RF/VK4HA, VK3LED.

Changed the links to 20m and tried calling CQ. Got Allen VK3HRA plus a Russian station, who kept talking over the top of Allen, anyway worked Allen okay.

Packed up and headed back to the car, and the picnic area for afternoon tea.

In the evening walked to the end of the Coffs Harbour Jetty and climbed Muttonbird Island to see the sunset. End Peak above the harbour and the 2 minor peaks to the right of it visible.

SOTA End Peak

End Peak, SOTA ref VK2/MN-098 is located about 4 Km from the Centre of Coffs Harbour, so figured an easy one to do in the morning after a night in town.

Drove North on the Pacific Highway, past the "Big Banana" (tourist attraction) to Buxner Park Road on the left. This climbed up through the banana plantations, reached a turnoff on the left "Sealy Lookout Drive"

This took me past Sealy Lookout, ending at "Forest Sky Pier", a tourist lookout over Coffs Harbour

Fantastic views over the town and surrounding area. Looking due East

Looking South over the town suburbs to distant peaks.

Some signs to help identify features.

Nice as this was, this was not the SOTA summit, still 1.6 Km away. The road ended at the end of the lookout car park, and a walking track started beyond.

Just past the bollards a picnic area, then a walking track. Nice rainforest.

The track rose but didn't take me up to the summit, went down again :( There were 2 minor peaks to walk over before reaching the true SOTA summit. No trig that I could find, just a high point on the hill just off the track on the right.

The vegetation off track was quite thick with no suitable room for a dipole, so set up the squid pole and dipole on the main walking track. Had problems with the dipole legs with nearby branches but got something up.

Shack on the tarp

Got on 40 m. Made 1 contact, VK3FPSR, a low 41 signal. As I expected not much luck on 40 m QRP this far North.

Went to 20 m. My first contact was local station Paul, VK2KTT, close by in Coffs Harbour. Had a bit of a chat about the local peaks. He remarked a 4WD is needed for most of the nearby ones, which is why he hadn't done any activations yet...

Worked Nev VK5WG. No more chasers, only 3 contacts, so not qualified yet...Got a spot from Peter, VK3PF asking me to try 30 m. After some more fiddling with close by vegetation got the 30 m dipole up, worked Peter with a 43 signal, and qualified the summit. Stayed on 30 m, worked VK3DET, VK3AUU and VK2EGC/4 so 30 m helped me get this one qualified for sure.

Packed up and headed to nearby Bruxner Park for lunch, then on to Mt Coramba

Track log of walk

Track profile. Note the 2 minor hills climbed and descended to reach the summit...