I received a text message from Glenn @VK3YY on Saturday morning suggesting that 2m conditions were good with ‘very good troppo til Sunday’.
I had been thinking about where to go looking for more 2m SSB QSOs but I had limited available time. An early Sunday morning visit to Spion Kopje VK3/VT-040 was probably the best option. I had attempted this summit earlier in the year but strong winds and the risk of being boxed in by fallen trees saw me decide to go to Mt Tassie VK3/VT-046 instead.
Leaving home at 6 am, stopping to take photos of the sunrise toward VK3/VT-028 Mt Horsfall, I arrived at the trailhead at 7:30am.
It was about 6° C with no wind when I set off along the trail.
My eight previous activations of this summit have always been met with an overgrown ‘track’, patches of sword grass to push through, damp mossy boulders to clamber over, faded red painted arrows and marker tapes on trees to show the way up.
I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with a recently cleared track from the trailhead to about 3/4 of the way up the hill.
Nearing the top of the hill is a large mossy rock with a pile of smaller rocks in the middle. This is not the highest point in the AZ but is a clear area for setting wire antennas. I operated from here in 2023.
The highest point is about 30m further on and is marked with a concrete trig point and the remains of the foundations of a fire spotter’s lookout. The lookout room was built over the trig point. Information about the lookout can be found here.
I strapped my mast, with hourglass antenna, to one of the concrete stumps and assembled my station on the rocks nearby. The summit is not heavily treed, unlike many of my recent summits, and a neighbouring rock offers a view to the southwest.
Working only 2m SSB, due to limited time, I logged 19 QSOs ranging from 53 to 717 km. Attempts to work aircraft scatter to @VK1AD were unsuccessful with me only just able to hear small bits of Andrew’s audio occasionally.
