Hello really sorry to any chasers today who may have been looking for me.
I felt ill at the top of this climb and I don’t think I will ever go there again it is so hard.
The only thing to save me today was the half wave 2m antenna I took as well as HF, I was able to make 3 x 2m fm qso with my hand held into the bigger antenna. First time ever that I did not make a qso on 40m with anyone and thanks to Gerard for finding me on 20m cw to give me the 4 needed to qualify. I think I spent maybe 20 minutes on the summit and I was walking back down again really lucky to make a score. The wx was closing fast and it was very windy so I could not stay long even to see if the bands did improve. To top it off the lead on my cw paddle would not work at first and the auto cq stuck on into an un tuned antenna, my poor little rig was in a state for a while. I took a lead that was faulty and I had forgotten about it being so, well it won’t catch me again it will be snipped and binned .
I hope this was the bottom of the things to go wrong list .
cheers de Ian vk5cz …
Sorry to hear about that one, Ian, I was worried that you hadn’t qualified - glad that you did given that it was so hard. There was nothing on 40m from you but I’m surprised that no one else called you on 20m, as you were quite workable though down on usual. Being Fathers Day at lunchtime can’t have helped. It did get very quiet on the bands around then.
Hope things go better next time!
Cheers, Gerard - VK2IO
I had a listen for you on both bands but I heard nothing from VK5 on either 20 and 40 all day, not even chasers. Glad you got down okay and with the points too.
Andrew
Thanks to Nev and Roger and Hugh on 2m it would have been a disappointing slog, its even hard coming down especially on the old dicky knee HI. Then Gerard was the final contact cheers for that.
I got the points in the bank do my monster log after tea.
You climb 4 hills on the way to the top so every hill you go over you lose some altitude on the other side then the last 100 m to the top is really steep. 2hrs 56 minutes total time with 40 minutes puff and rest to go 5 km.
I came down in 1 hr 45 minutes with 20 minutes recovery time.
Hi Ian,
Zip heard from you so glad you qualified the peak. Seems like you pushed a bit hard on the way up. For me the hills take longer to climb as I get older. No point in collapsing on the activation, just take it a bit slower is the answer. If the weather closes in a failed activation is better than a DOA report.
Hope to catch you next time.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
Hi Ian
I was at the NCRG but was probably cooking snags at the time. Glad you got your 4 in the bag. I’ll have to fire up some of the spotting programs when I’m there so I can duck into the shack.
73 John
Sorry to read the activation did not go to well Ian. The dicky band conditions have been a pain as noted by more than one.
The hills seem to get steeper as time goes on and equipment failures do not help either.
Better luck with the next ones.
73’s, Nick