A cool foggy morning greeted me as I set off on my two-hour, 106-kilometre drive to Bald Mountain VK2/SM-052. All was good.
For trip planning, (this was my first activation of this summit), Google Maps offered me three or four options. The most direct (shortest) route suggested was to depart via Queanbeyan to Captains Flat and then track south via Jerangle Road. Previous activators suggested (by virtue of leaving an excellent GPX track on our local Groups IO ‘SOTAvk1area’ chat group) that I just head south down the Monaro Highway to Bredbo – turn left and heading east then north along Jerangle Road, which results in a half circle looping back towards Captains Flat – and away from the summit.
Being somewhat familiar with the Monaro Highway and wanting to explore some new territory, I opted for the shorter and most direct route via, you guessed it, a coffee drive though at Queanbeyan. For the record, my trip to the summit took 1 hour, 50 minutes, including a brief stop at Captains Flat, which was the last civilisation before the summit! From Captains Flat take Jerangle Road south, then turn onto Anembo Road, which becomes the Slap Up Firetrail. The roads are narrow, rutted – but a 2WD with decent clearance could easily navigate the entire route… just take it easy! Ruts, potholes, very narrow, on-coming traffic, many (MANY!!) kangaroos and wallabies, and just to make things interesting, it was foggy. The route does not involve steep, winding ascents, and effectively follows a ridge line. I did have my Garmin Overlander operating and recording my journey as well).
I drove my car right up to the locked gate, which was barring vehicular access to the trig area.
It is a 100 metre walk from my 4WD to the Bald Mountain trig and, according to my Suunto watch with barometric altimeter, and confirmed by my GPS Garmin Overlander, I was 1466m ASL… The summit, iaw SOTA Database, is 1469… placing me well inside the AZ, so I decided to set up beside my car.
I set up my 10m flowerpot antenna (https://vk1nam.wordpress.com/2022/12/02/28-mhz-antenna-project-10m-flowerpot-antenna/ ) as well as an EFHW which covers 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m and 6m. Radio IC-705 with 7.5Ah Lithium-Ion battery. It’s a drive up – so yeah – table and chair and even a fancy Begali CW key. Unfortunately, I only remembered to take a photo after I had started packing up!
A successful activation with 10m DX into JA, mainland USA, New Zealand as well as some local VK including S2S with Matt VK1MA on VK1/AC-008 Mt Ginini, and Gerard VK2IO/P on VK2/ST-009 Mt Palerang.
| Callsign | Band | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| ZL2IFB | 28MHz | CW |
| WY7N4 | 28MHz | CW |
| JH1MXV | 28MHz | CW |
| W6LEN | 28MHz | CW |
| KF6HI | 28MHz | CW |
| JG0AWE | 28MHz | CW |
| JA1VVH | 28MHz | CW |
| W7USA | 28MHz | CW |
| KG8P | 28MHz | CW |
| VK5IS | 14MHz | CW |
| VK2GAZ | 7MHz | CW |
| VK3PF | 7MHz | CW |
| VK1AO | 7MHz | CW |
| VK2IO/P | 7MHz | CW |
| VK3DL | 7MHz | CW |
| VK1AO | 7MHz | CW |
| VK1MA | 28MHz | SSB |
| VK1RX/P | 28MHz | SSB |
| ZL3ASN | 28MHz | SSB |
| ZL3MR | 28MHz | SSB |
| VK2IO/P | 28MHz | CW |
| N6PKT | 28MHz | CW |
| ZL1TM | 28MHz | CW |
| WA7JTM | 28MHz | CW |
| VK3PF | 7MHz | CW |
With contacts drying up and the temperature dropping I headed for home – arriving at around 3.45pm…………………
My positive mood rapidly vapourised on hearing the horrific news breaking out of Sydney…… it certainly put the rest of my day in perspective.
73, Stay safe
DE
VK1MCW
Bill VK1MCW SOTA Activation Reports 