2018-08-31 Awabakal Nature Reserve

Today I made a number of poor decisions in heading out to VKFF-1882. I had planned to head out nice and early given I needed to drop my son off at the station just before 6am. Poor decision #1. As he was not well today, I went back to bed and didn't wake up until …

2018-08-25 Colongra Swamp Nature Reserve

For a change I ventured out pretty early for VKFF-1910. Arrived about 8:00am (22:00UTC) and was running by 8:30 (22:30). The advantage that I perceived (which played out) was UTC day rollover. i.e. contacts made before and after 00:00 UTC count as seperate days. I'd spent some time poking around this reserve with google earth …

2018-08-22 Wallarah National Park

After a bit of scouting out on Google Earth and the National Parks site I decided to try and qualify VKFF-0511. There were two possible sites. The one that I ended up doing and one to the Northern end of the park off Scenic Dr, Caves Beach. Now here is where you don't necessarily trust …

2018-08-18 Saratoga Island

I'd by lying if I said today was not a challenge. My plan today was to head out to VKFF-2317, quickly knock over the 16 that I needed and then consider heading down to complete the 18 required in the park I did yesterday. I ended up not being set up (but wait) until about …

2018-08-17 Lane Cove National Park

I found myself in North Ryde yesterday visiting an old colleague who was about to head back to the U.K. After I left I dropped in on the bottom end of VKFF-0281. I've driven past this park for the best part of the last two decades for one job or another in that area. The …

Portable Shortened 160m Dipole

I wanted to use 160m while operating portable on the Remembrance Day Contest. I realised that if I placed the right sized loading coil between the 40m and 80m link on the linked dipole, that I should be able to make it do 160m. Thinking further, I decided that I'd make a seperate leg connected …

2018-08-11/12 RD Contest – Mt Bouddi

Well that was an interesting weekend. I combined the RD contest with activating a park that I had previously qualified, thinking that it would be an excellent place for doing the contest only with 5 watts. Unfortunately while I brought the camera I managed to leave its SD card at home so no decent photos. …

2018-08-07 Saratoga Island Nature Reserve

Headed out to VKFF-2713 to have another crack at it. This time I absolutely verified I was within the boundaries before setting anything up. I used a slightly different set up today meaning I only had to make one trip from the car with equipment. All my gear went in to a large backpack (which …

2018-08-04 Saratoga Island Nature Reserve

Well today I thought I was trying to activate VKFF-2713 Saratoga Island Nature Reserve. Today's lesson is, check the park boundaries on google earth BEFORE setting up and transmitting; and don't trust that the National Park sign means that you are inside the boundaries. To those stations that I contacted today believing that I was …

2018-08-01 Wamberal Lagoon Nature Reserve

This another of those close to home parks that I hadn't done yet (VKFF-2013). The maps don't show this well, but some the photos may; From the end of the cul-de-sac that I parked in to where I set up is about a 200m walk, but it's also a drop of about 15m with a …