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Wiljani Conservation Park 5CP-274 and VKFF-1159

Posted: 17 Mar 2017 07:48 PM PDT
https://vk5pas.org/2017/03/18/wiljan...d-vkff-1159-2/


Yesterday afternoon/evening (Friday 17th March 2017) I activated the
Wiljani Conservation Park 5CP-274 and VKFF-1159 for the regular Friday
get-together for the VK5 National & Conservation Parks Award. Â*The park is
located about 55 km north east of Adelaide and just a few km north of the
little town of Mount Pleasant, on the southern edge of the world famous
wine growing region of the Barossa Valley.

I have activated the park previously, back in April, 2016, and qualified it
on that occasion for both the VK5 Parks Award and World Wide Flora Fauna
(WWFF).


Above:- Map showing the location of the Wiljani Conservation Park, north
east of Adelaide. Â*Map courtesy of Location SA Map Viewer.

Wiljani Conservation Park was gazetted on the 25th February 2016, so it is
a relatively new park. Â*Wiljani was a family group of the Peramangk
aboriginal people whose traditional lands are primarily located in the
Adelaide Hills. Â*The lands of the Tarrawatta and Yira-Ruka (Wiljani)
extended to the east down as far as Mount Torrens and Mannum.

When I was last at the park there was a beautiful pine forest, part of
Mount Crawford Forest, on the western side of the park. Â*On this visit
however, the forest was no more. Â*It had been cleared and what was a
beautiful forest was now a barren landscape. Â*There were logging trucks and
other machinery busily loading pine logs.

Also on my first visit to Wiljani, there was no Conservation Park sign in
existence. Â*This was still the case during this visit, with the old
Boundary Road Conservation Reserve sign at the south western corner of the
park.
Click to view slideshow.

The only way into this park is via Elliotts Boundary Road which runs along
the southern section of the park. Â* The gates near the south western corner
of the park, leading into the now cleared forest, are normally locked. Â*On
this occasion they were open due to the logging activities. Â*There is a
small wire fence which runs along the western boundary of the forest and
the park, so you could access the park from the western boundary by
climbing the fence.

The old wire fence near the southern corner of the park has been brought
down in parts. Â*This is alongside a metal gate with an old track on the
other side of the fence. Â*The track appears to have been an old access
track through the park, but is now grown over. Â*I carried my gear about 20
metres along the track and found a nice shady spot and set up my station:
Yaeu FT-857d and the 20/40/80 m linked dipole, supported by the 7m
telescopic squid pole. Â*I ran 40 watts output for this activation. Â* It was
quite a warm afternoon, with the temperature being a beautiful 26 deg C.


Above:- Aerial shot showing my operating spot in the southern part of the
Wiljani Conservation Park. Â*Image courtesy of Location SA Map Viewer.

After setting up I switched on the radio, which was already on 7.144, my
nominated operating frequency. Â*The band was dead quiet, with no man made
noise and virtually no static. Â*Absolutely beautiful conditions. Â*I asked
if the frequency was in use, and Peter VK3PF responded to let me know that
there was an OE station from Austria on the frequency. Â*Very soon after I
heard OE11SO/p calling CQ for the Special Olympics. Â*He was a good 5/7
signal.

Peter and I QSYd down to 7.135 and logged each other. Â*This was followed by
a number of the normal park hunter stalwarts, Les VK5KLV, then Gerard
VK2IO, and then Mick VK3GGG/VK3PMG. Â*Contact number eight in the log was
Rob VK4AAC/p who was activating the Eumundi Conservation Park
VKFF-1538. Â*This was a first time activation of the park, and I was very
happy to log Rob, Park to Park.

Despite the band conditions being very good, there were very few
callers. Â*So I took the opportunity of heading back up to 7.144 where I
tried to get through to OE11SO/p. Â*He had quite a large pile up from
Europe, many of which I could not hear. Â*But to my pleasant surprise, he
asked for stations outside of Europe. Â*I called a few times, but sadly my
little signal was not able to be heard in Europe.

I returned back to 7.144 and called CQ and this was answered by David VK5PL
who was operating portable in the Sandy Creek Conservation Park 5CP-204 and
VKFF-0933. Â*David was very low down, but I was able to hear him well due to
there being no man made noise on the band from Wiljani. Â*Callers continued
to be very slow, with just a 2 further stations logged.

I decided to try my luck on the 80m band, as I had received an SMS from
Ivan VK5HS in the Riverland region of South Australia, asking me to try
that band as he was unable to hear me on 40m. Â*I called CQ on 3.610 and
this was answered by Ivan who was a good 5/8 signal. Â*Unfortunately he was
not hearing me as well, with my signal being 3/3 to Renmark. Â*Only one
other contact was logged on 80m and that was with Michael VK5FMLO from the
southern suburbs of Adelaide (5/8 both ways).






It was now just after 0630 UTC (5.00 p.m. local time) and I moved back to
the 40m band. Â*The band was very busy with quite a few signals coming in
from Europe. Â*I called CQ on 7.140 and this was answered by Greg VK5GJ at
Meadows in the Adelaide Hills. Â*Greg was very low down, but as we both had
very low noise floors, we were able to hear each other perfectly (5/1 both
ways). Â*I was also called by Peter VK3TKK who was portable in the Organ
Pipes National Park VKFF-0627, running just 2.5 watts. Â*Peter was a genuine
5/9 signal. Â*Fantastic signal Peter with QRP.

Unfortunately a ZL station came up on 7.138 and was very strong and was
bleeding over, so I QSYd to 7.144. Â*I there worked a further 8 stations
from VK2, VK3, VK4 and New Zealand. Â*It was nice to log Oliver ZL1XS
(formerly ZL1AAW), who often features in my portable log. It didnt take
long and I started to experience QRM from above on 7.146, and I then had
Jeff GW3UZS start calling CQ on my frequency. Â*I tried getting back to
Jeff, but sadly he was unable to hear me. Â*I took this as my opportunity of
leaving 40m and QSYing to the 20m band hoping to get some DX in the log.

I had a great start on 20m with my first caller being Stepan RA4SAT in
Russia, with a good 5/9 signal. Â*This was followed by Rob VK4AAC who was
now back home after his park activation. Â*I then logged Mark VK4HDY and
Phil VK6ADF, and I then had a run of European callers on the long
path. Â*Countries worked were Slovak Republic, Ukraine, Belgium, Czech
Republic, Finland, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Germany.Â* Signals were not
great, but it was still very pleasing to be able to add some DX to the log.

It was now 0829 UTC (6.59 p.m. local time) and I decided to give 80m a go
again. Â*Roald VK1MTS was the first station logged this time with a nice 5/8
signal from the Australian Capital Territory. Â*This was followed by Mike
VK5FMWW/VK5FVSV, and then Hans VK5YX in the southern suburbs of Adelaide
with a huge signal. Â*I logged a total of 16 stations on 80m from VK2, VK3,
VK4, and VK5. Â*Conditions were very good on 80m.

One of the stations spoken to on 80m was Chris VK2SR, who suggested when I
finished on 80 I should come up to 40m and join him with a regular sked he
has with a group of USA stations. Â*Which is exactly what I did, logging
Stan W4KR in South Carolina, and Joe W5JI Florida. Â*I have very fond
memories when I was a teenager and was involved in Short Wave Listening, of
listening to Joe when he was K5THB back in the early 1980s. Â*Joe was often
heard chatting to other USA stations and VKs, including W4MIP and W2GO. Â*I
still have my original SWL logs and the QSL cards from back in those
days. Â*So it was a real pleasure to be able to speak with Joe.

The sun was now starting to disappear behind the hills, and I sat back in
the deck chair for a while to enjoy the spectacular sunset.





I booked in to the 7130 DX Net where I logged 5 stations. Â*This included
Bill W1OW in Massachusetts in the USA, Ed NT2X in Brooklyn New York in the
USA, Brian ZL2ASH in Wellington New Zealand, John VK6VZZ mobile, Peter
VK7PRN, Ron VK3MRH, Andy VK4TH, William FO5JV in French Polynesia, and
finally Chuck K9RM in Indianna USA.

Time was marching on, and now that it was completely dark, the temperature
had dropped to a chilly 11 deg C. Â*I was also feeling very hungry. Â*So I
QSYd up the band where I logged my lovely wife Marija VK5FMAZ. Â*A little
bit of a challenge, but we made it. I put out some last CQ calls on 7.135
and logged just 3 further stations.

I decided to have a quick tune around the band before going QRT and Im
pleased I did. Â*I found T2AQ Â*from Tuvalu calling CQ on 7.190, working
split. Â*To my surprise, he had no callers, and I was very pleased when he
came back to my first call. Â*This was anew DXCC entity for me whilst
operating portable.





This was a very enjoyable activation, with a total of 99 stations
worked. Â*It was pleasing to be able to log some European DX on the 20m
band, and also to work some DX on 40m, including a new country, Tuvalu.

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

VK3PF
VK5KLV
VK2IO
VK3GGG
VK3PMG
VK5PET
VK7FRJG
VK4AAC/p (Eumundi Conservation Park VKFF-1538)
Vk7DW
VK2SVN
VK3TKK/m
VK7BC
VK6XL/p
VK5PL/p (Sandy Creek Conservation Park 5CP-204 and VKFF-0933)
VK2HL/p
VK3MLU
VK5GJ
VK7VZ
VK7ZGK
VK2BXE
VK3VIN
VK3FCMC
VK1DI
VK3TKK/p (Organ Pipes National Park VKFF-0627)
VK2LX
VK7JON
VK6JAH
VK2HPN/m
VK2HHA
VK3PAT/p
VK4HNS
VK3RW
VK2VKB
VK3FOTO
VK4QQ
VK2SR
VK2MOR
VK3AJA
ZL1XS
W4KR
W5JI
VK3CKL
W1OW
NT2X
ZL2ASH
VK6VZZ/m
VK7PRN
VK5FMAZ
VK3MRH
VK4TH
FO5JV
K9RM
VK3ELH
VK2YES/p
VK3HSB
VK2IAN
T2AQ


I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

RA4SAT
VK4AAC/p
VK4HDY
VK6ADF
OM7OM
UT9MZ
ON4VT
VK6XN
OK2TS
OH6IU
VK2XXM
IK2ZJN
IK1GPG
IK8FIQ
IZ5CML
VK4ABH
IK2BBU
EA4DTV
IZ8DFO
IW2BNA
OE3PTC
DL2SBF
IZ1ERW
ON5SWA


I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

VK5HS
VK5FMLO
VK1MTS
VK5FMWW
VK5FVSV
VK5YX
VK3GGG
VK3PMG
VK5GJ
VK3SQ
VK4HNS
VK3DQL
VK5FANA
VK2PDW
VK5HYZ
VK2SR
VK2HPN/m
VK3EY