Saturday 13 June 2026 was a miserable sort of day. Although the weather looked fine at home, my planned scramble up VK3/VT-040, Spion Kopje, was abandoned due to strong gusty winds at the trailhead.
As an alternative I headed southeast about 80 km to VK3/VT-046 Mt Tassie. I have activated Mt Tassie on four previous occasions and, as a drive-up summit, it offers little challenge.
Setting up about 1145 local time, with rain clouds on the horizon, I sat with my FT817 and battery on a tarpaulin and my hourglass antenna and mast strapped to a post. My chosen location was in the middle of the summit with a TV broadcast tower on each side of me. My first 2m SSB QSO was logged a couple of minutes after my SOTAwatch spot, with a further three QSOs in the next 15 minutes. The rain clouds had got closer and started to drizzle water upon my set up so a second tarpaulin was put in to service to keep the gear dry.
After logging my fifth QSO on 2m SSB, 25 minutes after the first QSO, I decided I was done with 2m and swapped the hourglass for my Inverted L antenna. After having this antenna drop twice, and the rain increasing I left the summit and relocated to a vehicle-based activation at a WWFF reference nearby.
The SOTA activation got me 5 QSOs on 2m ranging from 15 to 147 km, while the WWFF activation on 40m got me 70 QSO on 40m, from six VK call areas.
The forecast for this Saturday is a high chance of showers, most likely in the morning. I am hoping to be out again to experience some more 2m hourglass action.
