Hi Matt, FY5KE is a club station in French Guiana (near Venezuela in South America), not up here in Europe. Nice contact to make portable in any case!
Wolfie DK8MZ is not far from me and yes - he has a beam but not really a “super station” rather a good station.
Sorry I missed you, I might have had a chance of getting you, despite the fact that I have no beam.
73 Ed DD5LP.
I had a listen for you, and couldn’t hear you, but my hexbeam was pointing short-path…
I have posted alerts for Mon VK1/AC-037, Wed VK1/AC-039, Thu VK1/AC-040 and Sat VK1/AC-041. Rain is forecast for Tue next week.
Let’s see if the propagation gods play nice.
Andrew VK1AD
I could hear a couple weakly at 0600, but fading away. Probably should have tried to be setup a bit earlier at 0530. DK8MZ at 0700 with the '817, so worth the trip up.
Anyway a nice still autumn evening, took the missus along because “Sunset is for Lovers”
…
“of DX”
Ha! Funny. I got excited on the peak and thought that must be some French Island or territory. But when I got home their QRZ page just said France, and I assumed the odd prefix must just be a club prefix.
So yes - that really does make the nighttime climb (well nighttime descent at least) worth while!
@ZL1THH - glad you got at least one EU contact out of it. A week ago I’d have been delerious at one EU SOTA contact! Feel a bit spoilt now.
I will be activating VK3/VC-002 from 0500z 17 April.
I’ll be running 100 W SSB and trying 40, 20,15 and 10m.
Sorry - no CW.
I will spot if I have coverage.
Edit - due to vehicle issues I am not on summit today.
Condx where very poor on 20m. Most QSOs unfortunately on 40m.
Next try Monday at around 6:00 UTC from a location with a better takeoff.
73s
Ingo
DL3EC on DL/EW-059 workable in ZL4 on 20m. Fingers crossed for more. Is 20m on its way back?
Hi Andrew,
I’ll be looking for you tomorrow from a PAFF reference nearby. 10W and delta loop.
73, Victor
Hiya Matt @ZL4NVW,
Nic M7NDC and I chose to activate in the early UTC window this morning, on Easington Fell G/SP-012. It worked as well! We both managed contacts on 20m SSB with Paul @VK5PAS and Marija @VK5MAZ.
We used the FT-818, 6w into a SotaBeams 20/40m linked dipole. The VK’s were 5/9 here, our received reports were 5/3.
Chuffed is an understatement. As far as I know, I’ve never worked VK since being licenced in 1996, so to do it from a SOTA summit is an extra bonus. A new DXCC for Nic too.
Hope to catch you one morning soon. We both want a ZL in the log now
Best 73, Simon.
Thanks Victor, I will listen for your callsign on 20m and look for your PAFF spots on Parks n Peaks.
My preferred op freq is around 14.310 MHz.
73, Andrew VK1AD
Hi Simon.
Yes - I heard Marija and Paul work you both there. I could hear odd words of what you were saying, and several of your other chasers, but not enough of you to tell when an over started and ended, so was unable to call you. It would not have taken much more to make a QSO possible though, so fingers crossed for the next one! At UTC+12/13 ZL is just that bit harder as the bands are much further down in their daily cycle by the time you all wake up!
Know what you mean about chuffed!
Matt - ZL4NVW
Hi Andrew, I will be out on Wednesday morning (20th) at 0600 UTC onwards on DL/AM-001 Peissenberg looking especially for an S2S with yourself and contacts into VK/ZL. It may be closer to 0630 or even 0700 UTC before the 20m band opens - we’ll see.
I also plan to test on 17m and may start on 40m (Greyline to ZL).
20 watts and a linked dipole as the main antenna.
73 Ed.
Wow what an opening on 20m, 14.310 MHz SSB, from VK1/AC-037 Mt Taylor!
Apologies for any typos in the log extract.
Worked the following countries (14) in no particular order: New Zealand, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia, UK, Germany, Hungary, France, Alaska, Slovenia, Italy and the Netherlands. 49 QSOs on 20m and 6 QSOs on 40m (local VK).
In VK I worked: VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5 and VK6. Nice to work John VK6NU, it’s been a few years.
Summit to Summit QSOs: Warren ZL2JA @ ZL1/AK-027, Brian VK3BCM @ VK3/VT-049 and Lutz DL3SBA @ DM/NW-204.
The QSO with KL7TC is my first QSO with Alaska. 
Conditions favoured Finland, Germany, Sweden and France. Signal reports were consistently over 5-5, most 5-8 and well above the noise floor at Mt Taylor summit.
| Time | Callsign | Band | Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05:58 | ZL2AJ/P | 14MHz | SSB | Warren s55 r55 S2S ZL1/AK-027 |
| 05:59 | ZL3JD | 14MHz | SSB | Phil s58 r58 |
| 06:01 | ZL2ATH | 14MHz | SSB | Wynne s53 r21 |
| 06:02 | VK5HS | 14MHz | SSB | Ivan s59 r57 |
| 06:04 | EA4M | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r53 |
| 06:06 | SP5BR | 14MHz | SSB | John s59 r55 |
| 06:07 | OH1MM | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r57 |
| 06:08 | VK5AYL | 14MHz | SSB | Sue s59 r55 |
| 06:09 | VK6NU | 14MHz | SSB | John s57 r53 |
| 06:10 | EA4R | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r44 |
| 06:11 | OH1XT | 14MHz | SSB | Yari s58 r57 |
| 06:12 | ZL1SKL | 14MHz | SSB | Soren s58 r53 |
| 06:13 | SA4BLM | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r52 |
| 06:15 | OM5DP | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r45 |
| 06:15 | VK4NH | 14MHz | SSB | Ray s59 r59 |
| 06:16 | VK4DXA | 14MHz | SSB | Ray s59 r57 |
| 06:17 | G0VWP | 14MHz | SSB | s55 r44 |
| 06:18 | DJ5AV | 14MHz | SSB | Michael s59 r55 |
| 06:21 | EA4IS | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r24 |
| 06:22 | VK4HRE | 14MHz | SSB | Bob s58 r33 |
| 06:23 | OH5EP | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r55 |
| 06:25 | DM5BB | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r55 |
| 06:25 | VK4JJ | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r55 |
| 06:26 | ON4VT | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r33 |
| 06:28 | OH6GAZ | 14MHz | SSB | s57 r53 |
| 06:29 | F4WBN | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r57 |
| 06:30 | ZL1BQD | 14MHz | SSB | Roly s58 r55 |
| 06:32 | F1BLL | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r53 |
| 06:34 | FY5KE | 14MHz | SSB | Chris s59 r55 |
| 06:36 | KL7TC | 14MHz | SSB | s57 r41 |
| 06:38 | OH1TP | 14MHz | SSB | s55 r55 |
| 06:39 | HA5MA | 14MHz | SSB | s56 r55 |
| 06:41 | S52KM | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r58 |
| 06:42 | S56RPJ | 14MHz | SSB | s57 r54 |
| 06:44 | OG7J | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r45 |
| 06:45 | IW2BNA | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r53 |
| 06:46 | DL2ND | 14MHz | SSB | s58 r51 |
| 06:48 | PA3GFY | 14MHz | SSB | Rob s58 r55 |
| 06:50 | VK4SYD | 14MHz | SSB | Rob s59 r59 |
| 06:52 | VK4KC | 14MHz | SSB | Marty s59 r55 |
| 06:53 | VK4DOG | 14MHz | SSB | Marty s59 r52 |
| 06:53 | VK4MAD | 14MHz | SSB | Marty s59 r55 |
| 06:55 | SM4CJM | 14MHz | SSB | s56 r54 |
| 06:56 | VK5PAS | 14MHz | SSB | Paul s59 r59 |
| 06:57 | VK/ZL3MR | 14MHz | SSB | John s57 r55 |
| 06:59 | DL6MST | 14MHz | SSB | s57 r32 |
| 07:01 | DJ2MX | 14MHz | SSB | s56 r31 |
| 07:04 | DL3HXX | 14MHz | SSB | s55 r31 |
| 07:06 | VK3BCM/P | 7MHz | SSB | Brian s58 r58 S2S VK3/VT-049 |
| 07:08 | VK2IO | 7MHz | SSB | Gerard s59 r58 |
| 07:10 | VK3PF | 7MHz | SSB | Peter s59 r58 |
| 07:11 | ZL4NVW | 7MHz | SSB | Matt s58 r44 |
| 07:12 | VK3GTV | 7MHz | SSB | Col s59 r59 |
| 07:12 | VK2DA | 7MHz | SSB | Andrew s59 r57 |
| 07:16 | DL3SBA/P | 14MHz | SSB | Lutz s57 r44 S2S DM/NW-204 |
Mt Taylor is also a WWFF park Mt Taylor Nature Reserve VKFF-0854. I will submit the VKFF file separately.
Equipment: FT-857D @ 25 watts, 1/4 ground plane with 3 elevated radials, battery LIFEPO4 4S 8Ah.
The 20m band was open to Europe at 0604 UTC for a QSO with EA4M. At 0705 UTC the band went quiet so I went to 40m to work VK locals. Just before VK sunset I saw a spot for Lutz DL3SBA @ DM/NW-204 at 0715 UTC so I quickly changed back to 14.310 MHz and found Lutz at signal strength 5-7.
I will try 20m to EU and UK again on Wednesday from VK1/AC-039 Yellow Rabbit Hill. Alert posted.
A big thanks to all chasers across Europe, ZL and VK. Tonight’s activation was up there with the best results from 2014/2015.
Pictures
Operating position on the ground:
Antenna: weird formatting by this site has changed the size and orientation of the photo?
Kangaroos provided additional propagation SKIP 
Steep ascent on foot
Descent after sunset
73, Andrew VK1AD
The 20m band was open at 0604 UTC.
Andrew VK1AD
Unfortunately - no luck with wire antennas. I was on the frequency from 6 till 7 AM UTC, but your signal was buried in the noise. I tried a vertical delta loop, and then quickly transformed it into the inverted V - same result. Will be trying again on Thursday with a GP and a HWEF in a vertical configuration.
73, Victor
H Andrew, unfortionately I could not hear any DX. Used a similar antenna as you.
Geoff vk3sq
The goose laid a big golden egg this evening Ron.
Hi Andrew,
Yes I was listening for and just heard you a couple of times on 14310. The trouble was there was a carrier from somewhere in Europe exactly on that frequency as well and my noise level at home, while not bad, is 2-3 S-Points higher than when I go out portable.
I managed good contacts with Ernie VK3DET and Paul VK5PAS but would have loved to work you on Mt Taylor as that’s the only VK1 summit that I have ever activated and that was back on August 10th 2013 - so quite some time ago HI.
I agree the walk up is steep but nothing compared to some summits we have around here.
For my Wednesday activation I have a drive-up summit, so hopefully we’ll manage an S2S between DL/AM-001 (Peissenberg) and VK1/AC-039 (yellow rabbit hill - a summit I have never heard of).
73 Ed.
Worked them both today as well. Amazing signal. Was received with 5W with 53 near Adelaide. Antenna used was a vertical with grounded radials. Worth gettting up earlier in Europe
