Hi,
We looked John’s spots on sotawatch but we did’t hear nothing.
After 2 hours of calling cq in 20mt cw, we put no vk zl station in log.
The band was quiet, only 2 qso: ik2ley and oh9xx.
Qsy in 40 mt ssb and cw managed some dl,g,ea with strong qsb.
Poor propagation
I hope for the next time to contact antipodes station.
Thanks to all chasers
Monte Barro I/LO-291
73
I spent a while at intervals between 06:30 UTC and about 10:00 UTC hopping to spotted frequencies and tuning about. There were signals to be heard on 40 metres, but only (as far as I could tell) the stronger ones. On 20 metres things were even quieter, with almost nothing heard. I did hear a few chasers, but activators were not easy to hear, and I’m not convinced I heard any of them. About the only really reliable sounds to be heard were the *DSL training-tone whistles at 4kHz intervals up both bands…
Hi Roberto,
but you really deserve 1st PLACE for this picture!
Che fotografia bellissima 
73 Chris
Drove 50 miles to G/SP-017 Billinge Hill, as an insurance policy against the 20m band being garbage… Just as well I did.
20m was shocking, producing Just 6 contacts including 2 x ZL. Also HV0A The Vatican, worked on 50 and 10 watts. The band was so bad there wasn’t much of a pile-up.
40m was the band to be working, this morning. 31 stations logged including ZL…
2E0YYY
My report from today’s Activation Mt.Solus VK6/SW-030.
With a warm autumn day forecast in Western australia and with a hope of some LP DX to Europe on 20 metres a SOTA Activation sounded like a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Chosen summit was Mt.Solus VK6/SW-030 not one of my favourites as its a bit of a hard slog to get there. 6.5kms mostly soft gravel.
Trip to the parking area took about 90 mins where you are greeted with…
I had rang mine site security and got the ok, just for peace of mind as someone might come along the road and ask what you are doing. so at least you are covered.
Old tree that has been through a few bushfires.
Takes about 90 mins to get to the summit and its not that nice a summit, lots of comms gear and really generates a lot of QRN across all the bands. The main feature of the Summit is a Fire lookout that is probably manned during high fire season, but was unmanned today.
I setup and was on the air just before 06:00 UTC but after having a quick tune around I wasn’t expecting much in the way of DX.called CQ on 20 meters and soon had John and Jacky ZL1BYZ and ZL1WA in the log. They were followed by my old mate VK1HW who used to be a VK6 and member of my local Club. Ian VK5CZ called and it was nice to work him again .
Quick switch to 18 MHz got Ernie VK3DET in the Log on SSB. Then back to 20 meters to get Andrew VK2UH on 20 SSB. Signals were not good so decided to go on CW where I worked some regulars, VK4TJ, VK3ARH,VK2IO and VK3BYD. had some issues with the KX2 Paddle as the DAH contact post had worked its way loose, left my tool kit at home so it was tightened the best I could. All the time looking at spots but nothing really heard that I could determine was anyone of my possible S2S contacts from Europe. Also worked VK6XN and VK2YW to bring up a Dozen contacts for the day. Not my best day out but not my worst either.
I had to pack up shortly after 08:00 UTC as I had a welfare check with mine security at 09:30 UTC.
I activated from the shade of the old hut today, may have been used by the Fire look out people in days gone by. antenna just visible.
This pic is taken from Mt.Solus looking over to Mt.Cooke VK6/SW-031 which is 2 metres lower than Mt.Solus at 572 metres.
Thanks all for trying we can do it again sometime, great to see all the photos, love them all.
MY lesson learned from today…
After 5 activations where I never met one person, you take 10 seconds to have a PEE in the bush when I look over my shoulder and a couple are walking towards you 40 metres away down the track. You are never alone. 
73
John VK6NU
While others have posted photos, here are a couple from my collection from this morning on DL/AL-170 Zwieselberg - there will be more on my website when I complete the report in the next few days:
Hmm, perhaps I should have applied for a Zwieselberg call sign rather than using my German one?
Nice pics John.
Guess the Western Australian bush is a bit different to Europe. Love seeing where others were operating from, with snow capped peaks in Europe to fire lookout towers in Australia.
Part of what makes SOTA so much fun. Even bad radio days are good days to be out enjoying life.
73
John VK6NU
Last time I visited WA was before SOTA arrived there, so, even though I had my radio with me, my bush walks were largely geocaching-led. It’s surprising how often that leads to encounters with such delights as pea-gravel…
Mostly, I’ve avoided the wildlife, but I did once have a close look at an echidna near Serpentine Falls, not all that far from Mt. Solus. (It’s a cache I should return to, as my log is the only not-found log still listed against it, but, as with SOTA, sometimes the not-found ones are memorable for good reasons.)
Well yes it is. But what impressed me more was the striking colour saturation and the light in those photos. The ground is very, very rarely that colour in the UK. Just a few places I can think of in Scotland and it’s due to the tracks being surfaced with spoil from mines.
Apologies, John, because I failed to go out and activate looking for S2S with you. It didn’t rain on Saturday morning but I had been a bit sick during the week and I wasn’t feeling comfortable with the idea of being in a cold summit very early in the morning. Instead of that, I went to my house in the village SW of Pamplona to do the mowing and some bush trimming that I didn’t finish before the winter cold and rainy days. Once there, I also took advantage and chased a few SOTAs with my radio station there.
I’m feeling better not, although not fully recovered yet, and I hope I’ll be OK for next April 21st EU<>NA S2S event, as that will be an easier afternoon activation.
As you, John, I always enjoy very much seeing pictures from other activations in different parts of the world. I find very interesting seeing the differences in vegetation, the bushes, the trees or its absence, the mountain rocks, the snow or ice on them, the mountain shapes, landscapes, the skies and clouds, the different colors, etc. The activation reports, particularly when illustarted with pictures of the area, are one of the things I most enjoy in this SOTA Reflector.
73,
Guru
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