Sam VK2AFA and myself decided try and activate the two un-activated summits at the Barrington Tops Mt Carson VK2/MN-001 and the newly added Brumlow Top VK2/MN-120 yesterday.
We set out at 5am with a 200Km drive to the Mt carson turn off. We were greeted with a locked gate. So we set of for our 6Km walk to the summit and then setup ready for some contacts.
Then the dark planets must have aligned and then it started !!!
Firstly every band was dead and we struggled for over an hour to make our 4 contacts with a lot of lighting noise. Then on the way back Sam almost stepped on a brown snake then only to miss another one 5 minutes later.
So after our 12Km round trip we jumped into to the car and headed to the next summit 5Km down the road.
Making 4 contacts this time was a bit easier this time as the lighting noise had passed.
We packed up and headed home down the track we used to get there, then a freak rock jump up and put a hole in my sump dumping all 4L of oil. So with no phone signal the 7Km walk began with 5 of it in hail and rain.
After finally getting phone signal we managed to get picked up after a 2 hour wait leaving the car there for the night. The next day with a second hand sump and some new oil I managed to get back up there and repair it, then drove home.
So after 800Km, 19Km of walking, a $38 sump and some new oil we activated two new summits and got 18 more points.
The things we do for SOTA
Ben
VK5TX
