Boyne Trig and Durras Mountain – 15 March 2014

Boyne Trig and Durras Mountain, NSW South Coast

Boyne Trig VK2/SC-050 370 metres ASL, North Brooman State Forest

This post is the continuation of the 3 summit activation on Saturday 15 March.  Having achieved a fabulous result at Mogood Trig it was time to move on to Boyne Trig.

Depart Mogood Trig continue north-east along Clyde Ridge Road, cross the Clyde River and turn right into Carrisbrook Road.  Carrisbrook Road merges with Brooman Road continue west along Brooman Road to Monkey Mountain Road.  Turn right into Monkey Mountain Road.  Drive 750 meters along Monkey Mountain Road to Old Coach Road, turn right into Old Coach Road.  Reset the trip meter, drive 2.4 km along Old Coach Road (narrow in places) to a 4WD track on your right.  The track is rough, parked the car and walked the summit ascent 67 meters over 1.5 km.

Route from Mogood Trig to Boyne Trig

Boyne Trig route profile from Mogood Trig

view north-east Pigeon House Mountain VK2/SC-033

Clyde River crossing

Boyne summit walking track

Geodetic Station Boyne Trig

‘Boyne’ Trig name plate

After setting up the SOTA station I found the John Moyle Field Day (JMFD) competition was underway.  40m was packed with portable and home stations operating at 100 watts and higher, found a clear 3KHz slot at 7.123 MHz.

Competing for SOTA chasers in the middle of JMFD is difficult.  Secured 8 chasers on 40m then moved to 20m for John VK6NU and Paul VK5PAS.  Checked SOTAWatch for other activators and found Glenn VK3YY and Kevin VK3KAB on VK3/VE-091 an unnamed 8 point summit.  Quickly lowered the squid pole, inserted the 40m links for the S2S contact.

The contact with Ian VK1DI makes this summit a completed summit for Ian and myself.

The site has two commercial compounds, see Ian VK1DIs blog for pictures.  QRM was present on 20m at S5.

Extract of SOTA activators log:

SOTA log Boyne Trig

next summit Durras Mountain

Durras Mountain VK2/SC-051 285 metres ASL, Murramarang National Park VKFF-371

Durras Mountain is the 3rd and last summit for the day.  The route from Boyne Trig is Monkey Mountain Road, Princess Highway, Fire Hut Road, Dam Road and Mountain Road to the car park.

Route from SC-050 to SC-051

car park to summit – 43 metre ascent over 1.6 km

SC-050 to SC-051 route profile

Mountain Road turn

Durras Mountain information station north-east of the summit

start of the Durras Mountain walk 1.6 km taking a north-east approach

Geodetic Station ‘Durras’ Trig

‘Durras’ Trig name plate

VK1NAM SOTA shack on Durras Mountain

The walk from the car park to the summit picnic table will take 15 to 20 minutes.  Set up the FT857D, 7 metre squid pole supporting a 10/20/40 m link dipole.

On air at 13:30 local (03:30 UTC) and again competing with John Moyle Field Day (JMFD) competition operators for a clear frequency, I found a clear 3KHz slot at 7.123 MHz.  Posted a self spot with RRT and waited a few minutes while Optus and RRT routed my message to SOTAWatch.  3 or so minutes later Peter VK3PF operating low power (QRP) responded to my CQ SOTA call. One down three to go for a summit qualification.

Ian VK1DI called next for a completed summit followed by Tony VK3CAT in Melbourne, Matt VK2DAG on the Central NSW coast then Peter VK3FPSR near Cobram also operating at QRP levels.

Summit to Summit (S2S) contacts were not easy to achieve.  Looking at SOTAWatch I chased Brett VK2BNN on VK2/CT-004 7.180 MHz, Rod VK2TWR VK2/SC-001 7.070 MHz, Gerard VK2IO on VK2/CT007 7.123 MHz then Andrew VK1DA/P on VK1/AC-008 Mt Ginini 7.125 MHz.

Had lunch while calling on 40 m for a further 10 minutes, unfortunately I didn’t make 10 contacts to qualify for the VKFF National Parks activator points.  Competing for contacts on 40m with high power JMFD operators is no fun at all.  Changed to 20m 14.310 MHz posted a self spot for VK5 and VK6 chasers, called CQ for a further 10 minutes with no takers.  Bugger, satisfied I left the summit having qualified for SOTA, while disappointing I didn’t make the minimum 10 contacts for VKFF.   I will revisit this summit when I activate Pigeon House Mountain, VK2/SC-033.

Extract of the SOTA activators log:

SOTA log Durras Mountain

summit area and picnic table

Thanks Ian VK1DI for two completed summits Mogood and Boyne Trigs.  Check out Ian’s blog for his activation of Durras Mountain in February 2014.  Ian walked the south-west trail to the summit.