SOTA – VK1AD 2017 QRP Update #4 – Booroomba Rocks

Saturday 15 April 2017 – QRP activation of Booroomba Rocks 1382 metres (4534 ft) ASL, Namadgi National Park, Australian Capital Territory.

Purpose of today’s Summits on the Air (SOTA) activation is to:

• experiment with 5 watts on the 17m band (18 MHz) SSB
• experiment with low power output at 500 mW on the 30 and 40m bands (10 & 7 MHz) SSB
• where possible qualify Booroomba Rocks at 500 mW output, that’s 4 unique QSOs at 0.5 watts
• complete S2S QSOs with Andrew VK3JBL/1 at Mt Stromlo VK1/AC-043 and Gerard VK2IO/P at Mt Tomah VK2/CT-043 Mt in the Blue Mountains NSW, pre and post UTC day change.

Equipment: Radio Yaesu FT-817ND powered by a 4S 4.2 Ah LiFePO4, antenna 15/17/20/30/40m Inverted V linked dipole supported by a 7m telescopic pole. Essentials for self preservation; 2 litres of water, food, first aid kit, emergency shelter and the right clothing for this region.  Telstra 4G mobile phone reception is good at the summit.  No problems using android SOTA apps and SMS spots.

Left home at 6:30 am for a 40 minute drive to Booroomba Rocks car park (1160 metres ASL) off Apollo Road.  The first part of the ascent is a 205 vertical metre climb to 1350 metres ASL, taking 30 minutes to cover 1.2 km.  From a position known as the ‘middle knoll’ you get the first amazing view of Booroomba Rocks summit at 1382 metres ASL.  From where I’m standing in the picture below (S35.55931, E148.99077) the summit is 700 metres south-east.  I still have a further 20 minutes of scrub bashing through thick wattle regrowth, eucalypt trees and up, over and around a variety of small, medium and giant granite boulders known in these parts as granite Tors.  Photos below.

view of Booroomba Rocks summit marked by a small eucalypt tree. In the summer of 2003 the vegitation around Boorooma Rocks was all but destroyed in the well-known Canberra fire storm.

GPS track log overlay on Google Earth

Booroomba Rocks viewed from the east – courtesy of Google Earth

For directions to the summit review the following posts:

• 70 cm UHF activation – 7 Jan 16
• Sporadic E -13 Dec 15
• Two rocky summits – 30 Aug 13

Arrived at the summit cairn for 2220 UTC (8:20 am local) 1 hour and 50 minutes after leaving home.  The view is spectacular having an uninterrupted 360 degree view of the surrounding national park and beyond. Standing here on the summit, one has a sense of being on top of the world!   For a well-earned break, I took my merry old-time to set up.  😉

At 1380 metres ASL I’m above the cloud base the air is completely still not a breath of wind anywhere.  The sun, now in the north-east is shining brightly, looking to the north I can’t see Canberra due to the low cloud base.

Canberra is within visual line-of-sight therefore VHF and UHF ops are relatively easy.  What’s not easy around these parts is encouraging VK1 radio amateurs to turn their radios on.  I don’t undestand why so many folk spend serious money on expensive radio gear and a radio amateur licence, only to have the radio sitting silent!  Or perhaps the radio is on and most are ignoring me, ha ha 😉

2017 is turning out to be a surprise for QRP SOTA operations, despite the sun’s predicted very low (almost zero) sun spot activity, QRP QSOs continue to be a realistic option at least for those who dare to experiment.   If you are looking for a new challenge and are bored with running 100+ watts at the home QTH, try a lower power setting known as QRP 5 watts or less.  Try calling a SOTA activator with your rig set to 5 watts output!   Summary of my QRP low power QSOs from Booroomba Rocks:

• 500 mW – 6 QSOs, summit qualified at 500 milliwatts  🙂
• 1 watt – 5
• 5 watts – 36

Best long distant chasers:

• at 500 mW on 30m SSB: Steve VK7CW 715 km (444 miles)
• at 500 mW on 40m SSB: Paul VK4CPS 1100 km (683 miles)
• at 5 watts on 18 MHz SSB:  At 22:48 UTC working Tom NQ7R in Arizona North America for a 5-6 signal report.  Short path 12,794 km (7950 miles), Long path 27,208 km (16,906 miles).

Summit to Summit (S2S) QSOs includ: Gerard VK2IO/P at Mt Tomah VK2/CT-043, Compton VK2HRX at Rocky Knob VK2/NW-019 and Andrew VK3JBL/1 at Mt Stromlo VK1/AC-043.  I didn’t recall seeing advance notice of Compton’s activation of VK2/NW-019 which turned out to be a bonus for an extra 6 S2S points ❗

Extract of VK1AD SOTA Activator Log:  15 April 2017 Booroomba Rocks QRP QSOs, duration 2 hours

Time	Call	Band	Mode	Notes
22:40z	ZL1BYZ	18MHz	SSB	John S59 R59 18.145 5 watts
22:43z	ZL1WA	18MHz	SSB	Jacky S59 R59 18.145 5 watts
22:48z	NQ7R	18MHz	SSB	Tom S56 R43 18.147 5 watts
22:50z	ZL2AJ	18MHz	SSB	Warren S59 R59 18.147 5 watts
22:50z	VK1RZ	18MHz	SSB	Roald S59 R59 18.147 5 watts
23:00z	ZL3JD	14MHz	SSB	Phil 14.310 5 watts
23:13z	VK2IO/P	18MHz	SSB	Gerard S2S VK2/CT-043 S51 R41 18.147 5 watts
23:21z	VK1MA	144MHz	FM	Matt S59 R59 146.5
23:27z	VK1MA	10MHz	SSB	Matt S59 R55 10.130 5 watts
23:31z	VK7CW	10MHz	SSB	Steve S53 R52 both QRP at 0.5 watt
23:32z	VK5WG	10MHz	SSB	Nev S58 R55 me 1 watt
23:43z	VK3JBL/1	144MHz	FM	Andrew S2S VK1/AC-043 S59 R56 HT 5 watts
23:45z	VK3PF	7MHz	SSB	Peter S59 R55 me 1 watt 7.095
23:46z	VK4TJ	7MHz	SSB	John S59 R53 me 1 watt
23:48z	VK2RP	7MHz	SSB	Dave S59 R57 me 0.5 watt
23:49z	VK4CPS	7MHz	SSB	S58 R31 me 0.5 watt
23:51z	VK3GGG	7MHz	SSB	Mick S59 R42 me 1 watt
23:54z	VK1ATP/M	144MHz	FM	Paul S59 R59  HT 5 watts
23:55z	VK1FWBD/P	144MHz	FM	Wade S58 R54  HT 5 watts
23:58z	VK2EWC/P	7MHz	SSB	Tom S59 R58 1 watt
00:01z	VK3GGG	7MHz	SSB	Mick S59 R55 7.095 5 watts
00:01z	VK2HAX/P	7MHz	SSB	Ben S58 R59 QRP 5 watts
00:03z	VK7CW	7MHz	SSB	Steve S59 R59 5 watts
00:03z	VK3PF	7MHz	SSB	Peter S58 R53 5 watts
00:04z	VK5WG	7MHz	SSB	Nev QRP both 5 watts S54 R54
00:05z	VK3FSTU	7MHz	SSB	Stuart S58 R59 QRP 5 watts
00:07z	VK2IO/P	7MHz	SSB	Gerard S2S VK2/CT-043 S58 R59 both 5 watts
00:08z	VK2HRX/P	7MHz	SSB	Compton S2S VK2/NW-019 S59 R59 5 watts
00:08z	VK5PAS	7MHz	SSB	Paul S59 R55 5 watts
00:09z	VK3MRG/P	7MHz	SSB	Marshall S58 R57 5 watts
00:11z	VK2VW	7MHz	SSB	Brett S59 R59 me 0.5 watt
00:12z	VK2KYO	7MHz	SSB	Ken S59 R55 me 0.5 watt
00:13z	VK3FCMC	7MHz	SSB	Michael S59 R58 QRP 5 watts
00:14z	ZL1BYZ	7MHz	SSB	John S52 R31 me 5 watts to ZL
00:15z	VK2NP	7MHz	SSB	Cliff S59 R52 me 0.5 watt
00:16z	VK1MA	144MHz	FM	Matt S59 R59  HT 5 watts
00:17z	VK1FWBD/P	144MHz	FM	Wade S56 R54 en route
00:20z	VK1MA	7MHz	SSB	Matt S59 R58  5 watts
00:21z	VK3CAT	7MHz	SSB	Tony S59 R59 5 watts
00:21z	VK3LED	7MHz	SSB	Col S59 R58 5 watts
00:22z	VK5FANA	7MHz	SSB	Adrian S55 R53 5 watts
00:23z	VK3JBL/1	144MHz	FM	Andrew S2S VK1/AC-043 S58 R55  HT 5 watts
00:25z	VK7DW	7MHz	SSB	Andrew S59 R58 5 watts
00:26z	VK3SL/P	7MHz	SSB	Steve Raymond Island S59 R59 5 watts
00:30z	VK7JOH	7MHz	SSB	John S59 R56 5 watts
00:31z	VK7FOLK	7MHz	SSB	Helen S56 R56 5 watts
00:32z	VK3SFG	7MHz	SSB	Sergio S58 R47 5watts

Photos: © Copyright 2017 Andrew VK1AD

Rock pool plateau, looks like the foot print of a giant dinosaur, could it?  I guess the pools have formed over millions of years from a former lava flow combined with wind, water and ice errosion.  Any geo experts out there?

granite rock pools at 1350 metres ASL. In winter these ancient fresh water pools freeze over with a thin layer of ice

Granite rock pools containing microscopic life

Almost at the summit, looking back for a view of the rock pool plateau

Temperature on the summit is 13 degrees C (54 F), the air is completely still, not a single breeze

Booroomba Rocks summit marked by a stone cairn and a precious young eucalypt tree.  Nice to see the cairn reassembled.  🙂

Yaesu FT-817ND powered by a 4S 4.2 Ah LiFePO4 battery

VK1AD SOTA shack at Booroomba Rocks summit

Inverted V linked dipole supported by a 7 metre telescopic pole

View west from Booroomba Rocks looking over Namadgi National Park.  On the horizon Bimberi Peak VK1/AC-001 (left) and Mt Gingera VK1/AC-002 (right).  Zoom in on the picture to see a full moon setting in the west