Saturday night I made the rash decision to participate in the Winter VHF/UHF Field Day. Now the need to decide on where to go had to be filled.... criteria - somewhere close (within 50km), elevated (over 500mASL) and not too many people... made that decision easy with Mt Mee State Forest and Kluvers Lookout fitting the criteria.

 

Byron Creek Road - Mt Byron and Kluvers Lookout

The first obstacle would be the closed gates..... two were encountered, preventing access to Kulvers Lookout.
 We pressed on and set-up at the edge of the road about 5km north of our intended location at grid locator QG62iv.

 

10 element DL6WU 144MHz Yagi at ~5m AGL

A total of 437 points for 17 Qs on both 144 & 432MHz... best contact was with VK2FWB near Tenterfield in Northern NSW (QG50xw). No winning scores, but a bit of fun.

Saturday was a fun morning on 50MHz MS, and whilst conditions weren't the best some good Qs were completed. They included:


Dave VK7DD @ 2043z (RS52) 1683km
Frank VK7DX @ 2044z (RS53) 1719km
Brad VK2QO @ 2054z (RS53) 826km
David VK3AUU @ 2111z (RS57) 1374km
David VK3AUU @ 2129z (RS52) 1374km

Winter Es also were experienced in the afternoon, and the following stations worked:
ZL4DK @ 0301z
ZL4LV @ 0303z
ZL3ADT @ 0312z
ZL3MH @ 0312z
VK7DX @ 0659z

This weekend's 50MHz MS activity has been interesting. Characterised by many short sharp burns that unfortunately didn't produce too many completed Qs.

Following is a  summary of what was worked from here in QG62lp:

Saturday morning,worked were:
Frank VK7DX @ 2029z (RS51) 1719km
Brad VK2QO @ 2031z (RS55) 826km
Frank VK7DX @ 2037z (RS52) 1719km
Brad VK2QO @ 2121z (RS55) 826km
Norm VK3DUT @ 2125z (RS51) 1253km

Sunday morning, worked were:
Frank VK7DX @ 2057z (RS53) 1719km
Dave VK7DD @ 2105z (RS51) 1683km

Monday morning, worked were:
Frank VK7DX @ 2027z (RS51) 1719km
Frank VK7DX @ 2033z (RS51) 1719km
David VK3AUU @ 2037z (RS52) 1374km

Heard and uncompleted Qs were also:
Dave VK7DD - heard providing RS58 report

No amateur radio this weekend... so nil to report. Spent two great days at Landcruiser Mountain Park playing with the non-radio toy!

50.200 was a wash with signals this morning during the normal 50MHz MS sked period... a great level of activity, that unfortunately did not producing too many Qs.

Worked were:
Frank VK7DX @ 2017z (RS52) 1719km
David VK3AUU @ 2020z (RS52) 1374km

Whilst normally I just provide an update about the condx experienced on 50MHz MS, I'm taking a moment today to raise my concern relating to some of the 'team'. It's now very obvious that some of them have started pursuits which may be distracting them, and in turn placing their own safety at risk....

Frank VK7DX planking on his tower!

Saturday was not a great morning for 50MHz MS activity. Whilst a few stations were heard, few were worked.

Worked were:
David VK3AUU @ 2058z (RS51) 1374km
David VK3AUU @ 2116z (RS52) 1374km

Catching up... just posting last Sunday morning's 50MHz MS contacts!

Worked were:
David VK3AUU @ 2125 (RS51) 1373km
Frank VK7DX @ 2128 (RS51) 1719km
Peter VK5PJ @ 2132 (RS55) 1547km