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As heard on the WIA broadcast – the WIA Board Ballot results are out.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the recent WIA Board elections, and especially to those who placed their trust in me with their vote. I am genuinely humbled by the support and grateful for the opportunity to once again represent Australian amateurs at the national level.

As I outlined during the election period, my primary focus will be two fold: strengthening the relationship between the Wireless Institute of Australia and the Australian Communications and Media Authority, and developing a coordinated national education and training strategy for amateur radio across Australia.

These areas are critical to the long-term health of the hobby and to ensuring we continue to grow, modernise, and support the next generation of operators.

Thank you again to everyone who voted. I look forward to returning to the WIA Board following the WIA Annual General Meeting in Albury in May 2026.

73, Justin, VK7TW

Saturday & Sunday November 1st and 2nd 2025 was the running of the inaurgural QTech Conference run by the Brisbane VHF Group. A huge thank you to Kevin VK4UH, Scott VK4CZ, Peter VK4EA and the conference team for the great weekend.

https://qtechbrisbanevhfgroup.wordpress.com/

Held at the Kendron-Wavell RSL in Chermside a historic suburb of Brisbane, the theme of the conference was “Attention/Retention – The future of amateur radio is in your hands”.

The program was an interesting one with a broad range of topics and interest areas.

Starting with Youth On The Air (YOTA) and a couple of University of Queensland engineering students talking about their projects and how that was their bridge into amateur radio. Next was an update by WIA President Scott Williams VK3KJ. A panel / open forum discussion was then held with the following questions posed to the audience: What bought you to amateur radio and is it still relevant?

Marty VK4KC gave us an update on POTA, Grant VK5GR did a remote presentation on the Changes to the Band Plans and Rex VK7MO presented on Optical Communications. David VK5KK presented an update on the 241GHz radar chip based transceiver.

Trevor VK4AFL did a presentation on Deep Space reception using amateur radio and our last presentation for Saturday was remotely by Bo OZ2M on the future of VHF and microwave beacons, PI4 Project and the European 6m project.

Saturday night after dinner was an ARISS contact with Kedron-Wavell High School students.

Sunday’s first presentation was by Andrew VK3FS and was an introduction to microwaves then Rex VK7MO was back with a presentation on Lightning Scatter propagation. Graeme VK2QJ gave a presentation on the expansion of the IC-905 and the final presentation was by Richard VK7ZBX on his 10GHz EME adventure. VK7 punching way above it weight!

Thanks to the organisers for a great conference.

A huge thank you also to Dave VK5DG and XYL Catriona who suggested a SOTA activation in the mountains behind Brisbane. Dave found a drive up activation – VK4/SE-117, Tennison Woods Mtn – at 770m and a 6 pointer. We both made 8 contacts and I added another association to my list and thanks to all who contacted us.

We drove back to Brisbane via Samford and had a wonderful dinner at the Samford pub – a great end to the weekend. Thanks to Dave and Catriona for a great afternoon and I got to see some of the landscape around Brisbane.

73, Justin, VK7TW

An opportunity presented to activate both a SOTA summit and and IOTA island thanks to Murray VK7ZMS over the Australia Day Long Weekend. Son Reuben VK7FREU and myself activated.

Although only one point summit (~400m elevation) for SOTA the opportunity to activate for the Islands On The Air (IOTA) program (OC-233) had some appeal. I have never activated an Island for IOTA before and so I contacted Grant Willis VK5GR who knows the IOTA program well having activated quite a few Islands through DXPeditions.

Timing:

To give some idea of how long things took the following timings were recorded:

0500 – At the boat ramp / wharf at Triabunna.

0650 – Dropped at Crocketts Bay beach on Schouten Island.

0710 – Found the start of the Mt Story track.

1000 – Reached the summit of Mount Story operated over the UTC day changeover.

1230 – Left summit of Mount Story for walk back to Cocketts Bay beach.

1500 – Picked up from Crocketts Bay beach for trip back to Triabunna.

1640 – Dropped at Triabunna boat ramp / wharf

SPECIFIC TRACK NOTES:

Crocketts Bay to Mount Story:

After being dropped on Crocketts Bay beach we spent 20m looking for the start of the track!

All the notes about this track we found online said it was a taped track that started on the headland between Crocketts Bay and Morey’s Beach and we eventually found the start of the track next to the new composting toilet block. Walk past the front of the toilet block and the track start can be found weaving its way through the Sheoaks.

The track is no longer taped but there are remnants of tape you find along the way. The track is well worn where it traces through the lightly wooded forest and is easy to follow.

Before the final climb up Mount Story there is a plateau and from there the track is marked with rock cairns where the track goes across the larger granite boulders. Keep your eye on the next cairn. On the plateau we watched a Wedge Tailed Eagle circling on the thermals.

Near the summit the track runs behind (South) of the summit and as you summit you see the pine post that has been embedded into a stone cairn. The post is intriguing and I think it is an endemic Oyster Bay Pine tree trunk with regularly spaced holes bored it.

Allow 3 hours for the walk up to Mount Story and about 2.5 hours to walk back down. We originally estimated a 2 hour walk in and out but underestimated the walk in. This meant compressed operating time on summit. Fortunately our boat ride (Murray VK7ZMS) was watching the weather reports and extended the pickup time to 3pm which gave us more time on summit.

Operating Notes:

Given this was a IOTA activation and there was some international interest in making contacts we decided to take my Yaesu FT-897 (4kg) and an 18Ah LiFePo battery (3kg) with us to provide a little more power for DX contacts. This was a good move!

I took my normal SOTA antenna – 9m Squid Pole and 8 band linked dipole and I also took my ICOM T-90A triband hand held for local 2m contacts and liaison with Murray VK7ZMS on the boat.

We setup on summit and we knew propagation was going to be a challenge as the sun had recently been creating some unfavourable conditions!

We started with 2m for a couple of local contacts then moved to 40m and made 21 contacts with VK1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 7 including a local CW contact. We then moved to 15m and made 12 contacts with VK1 & 2 and ZL3. On 20m I made contact with 15 contacts with VK1, 2 & 3 and ZL1, 2, 3 & 4. Whilst on 20m someone commented that 10m sporadic-e propagation was happening and so we finished on 10m and made 10 contacts with BX8, N1, K4, NW7, JF2 and VK5.

We estimated that had about a 2.5hours walk back out so we packed up and left the summit at 1230 to be on Cocketts Bay beach around 3pm. The walkout was uneventful apart from seeing a well fed Blue Tongue lizard and a White-lipped Snake.

A huge thank you to Murray VK7ZMS and Mark for the boat ride to/from Schouten Island. Thanks also to all who made contact with us and we ended up with a total of 60 contacts between Reuben and myself.

Logs are being uploaded to ClubLog and QSL cards for the IOTA activation have been created and will be distributed.

73, Justin, VK7TW

SOTA double points day 2024/25. The UTC year changeover offers VK an advantage where our UTC year changeover happens at 11am on New Years Day offering an opportunity to activate the summit prior to 11am and then again after 11am for double points!

I have done these two summits previously but not in 2024 so these were chosen. Both mountains are part of the Wellington Range and were accessed via the Myrtle Forest Track, Collins Cap and East-West Fire trails.

Timing:

To give some idea of how long things took the following timings were recorded:

0540 – Start from Myrtle Forest carpark accessed via Collinsvale.

0641 – Reached Collins Cap Fire Trail.

0700 – Reached the E-W Fire Trail junction.

0734 – Reached the Ringwood Trail junction.

0739 – Reached start of Mt Marian Track (Mountain name misspelt on sign – Mt Marion).

0830 – Reached top of Mt Marian and operated before and after UTC year changeover.

1135 – Left top of Mt Marian.

1226 – Reached start of Trestle Mountain track.

1305 – Reached top of Trestle Mountain.

1430 – Left top of Trestle Mountain.

1450 – Reached bottom of Trestle Mountain and junction with East-West Track.

1509 – Reached Collins Cap and East-West Fire Trail Junction.

1529 – Start of Collins Bonnet to Myrtle Forest Track.

1606 – Myrtle Forest track junction.

1636 – Back at Myrtle Forest carpark.

SPECIFIC TRACK NOTES:

Myrtle Forest to Mt Marian:

The Myrtle Forest track starts at the carpark and follows a road up to the picnic area and toilets taking about 10m. The Forest track starts at the foot bridge and is a well marked and well used track that follows the Myrtle Forest creek and crosses the creek twice and after about 35 minutes of continuously rising you reach the junction with the Collins Bonnet track. At this point the track rises more steeply up until you reach the Collins Cap Fire Trail.

Turn Left down the Collins Cap Fire Trail for about 20m until you reach the junction with the East-West Fire trail and turn right down the E-W Trail. This is about a 40m walk to the start of the Mt Marian track and you get glimpses of Mt Marian in the distance.

The Mt Marian track is well marked with a sign that is misspelt (Mt Marion) and this track has medium steepness with some pushing through the scrub so long sleeves, pants and gators are recommended. The track steepens up closer to the summit and the mountain is flat topped with many areas to operate from. I nearly stepped on a small White-Lipped snake on the track that was about 300mm long!

Propagation over the New Year period was not good with significant activity from the sun depressing HF propagation. It was a struggle to get the 15 contacts before 11am and 9 contacts after 11am mostly on 40m.

Mt Marian to Trestle Mountain:

The walk out from Mt Marian was uneventful until I got to junction with the E-W Fire Trail. I put my pack down to take off my rain coat and placed it onto a convenient rock. I was about to unzip my pack and realised there was a Tiger Snake coiled up behind the rock! Suffice it to say I gingerly picked up my pack and moved further down the track to take off my coat!

About half way down the track between Mt Marian and Trestle Mountain I watched a Wedge Tailed Eagle being harassed by three Currawongs. It settle in a tree near the track and I was able to take some great photos and video.

The track up to Trestle Mountain is a steep rocky track and you are rock hopping on various parts of the track. You reach the top of Trestle Mountain after about a 30m slog! Trestle Mountain gets it’s name from the Trestle.

There are many areas you can operate from on summit and there are great views into the Derwent Valley on one side and the Huon Valley on the other side.

Trestle Mountain forms part of Sleeping Beauty along with Collins Bonnet.

Trestle Mountain to Myrtle Forest:

You need to be very careful coming down the track from Trestle Mountain as it is steep and rocky in parts and if you have a heavy pack on your back then you need to watch your equilibrium as you come down. It takes about 20m to reach the E-W Fire Trail.

If you head back toward Mt Marian along the E-W Fire Trail there is a short-cut track off to your right about 3-4 minutes up the track that cuts off some walking time – it was muddy and quite wet even on New Years day.

You reach the junction of the E-W and Collins Fire Trails in about 20m and this is where the slog starts up the E-W Fire Trail toward Collins Bonnet. This is a long slow slog until you reach the level at the base of Collins Bonnet. At this point I was contemplating whether I would activate Collins Bonnet but the weather closed in and it started to rain quite hard just as I reached the junction of the E-W Fire Trail and the track down to Myrtle Forest via the Collins Bonnet Trail. This is a recently cleared and well formed track unlike when Reuben and I did this track back in 2014 and had to push through scrub.

The track takes just over an hour to get back to the car park via the Myrtle Forest track.

Thanks to all who made contact with me and I ended up with 32 contacts across the two summits and 24 activator points even though propagation was challenging.

73, Justin, VK7TW

I found myself again in the NW of VK7 accompanying my XYL who was attending a Harp gathering that was being held in the historic town of Sheffield.

Whilst Helen was at her Harp day I planned to activate Mt Claude (VK7/NC-005) and Mt VanDyke (VK7/NC-028). I had missed Mt Claude in previous trips and this one I was not going to miss this time. These mountains make up what is called the Fossey Mountains.

I started my journey by doing a Google Map elevation plan which showed me that it would be a steep start at the Round Mountain lookout end however you are already just below 700m ASL and therefore it would be a steep start but quick ascent to the Mt Claude Plateau. You then take the Mt Claude Traverse track, drop down about 300m elevation into the Junction Track gully and steeply back up onto the Mt Vandyke plateau for about 350m elevation . From there it is a long relatively flat walk to Mt VanDyke then down to Reggies Creek junction with the Mt Roland track and 1.5 hour gradual 700m elevation descent and walk out to the O’Neills Creek Road Carpark. Sounds simple Huh!

I used for the first time the APRS.fi IOS application on my phone to beacon out my position regularly and it worked a treat. Unfortunately, I only switched it on around Mt Claude but from then on it provided some SOTA watchers some entertainment! Note for app users you need to remember to allow access to location services all the time so the app beacons regularly. If you don’t it will only beacon when you open app.

Even though the elevation plot say 16 kms total this does not take into account the twists and turns of the track and the actual length walked was just over 24km according to my Garmin watch.

Timing –

I took note of the time at each milestone to assist planning for anyone future planning this activation:

0800 – Left Round Mountain Lookout carpark

1000 – At Mt Claude and 10m setup and 20m of activation time and 10m pack-up

1215 – At Junction Track – lunch & rest – 15m

1400 – At Mt Vandyke and 10m setup and 30m of activation time and 10m pack-up

1530 – At Reggies Creek Track Junction with Mt Roland Track

1620 – At Junction track intersection with O’Neill’s Creek track

1635 – At O’Neill’s Creek track carpark.

SPECIFIC TRACK NOTES:

Mt Claude Track –

You start at the quarry opposite the Round Mountain Lookout which is accessed along Claude Rd (C136) then turn onto Olivers Rd (C138) and wind your way up for about 5 minutes until the Round Mountain Lookout.

The walking track follows the telecommunications facility vehicle access track. There are seven sections of concrete poured on this track indicating how steep this track is – definitely a 4WD low ratio slog! You climb about 300m in 2.5km of track.

The track levels out from the Telecommunications facility and is a gentle rise to a junction indicating a lookout (120m) where there is also a single antenna mast. This is not Mt Claude however it is within the activation zone of 25 vertical meters and this is where the author operated from. Operation was in thick cloud. Mt Claude is slightly further on and can be accessed through a cave and climbing rope. The author chose not to try and do this and continued on the Mt Claude Traverse Track.

The track condition was good although quite wet following heavy rain over the last few days. As you descend to the Junction Track intersection the scrub increases in height to about head height and in some places you are pushing through scrub. Long sleeves and long pants are essential! There is a gentle slope dropping about 200m over about 1500m down to the Junction Track intersection. At this point you can walk out the Junction Track which joins to the O’Neill’s Creek Track or continue up via the Mt Vandyke track.

Mt Vandyke Track –

From the Junction Track intersection there is a steep rising track of about 300m elevation over less than 1000m and many sections are climbing over boulders of conglomerate. Once you are on the plateau there are a few sections where you drop down then climb back out but these are not steep. You follow the plateau to the pile of boulders that is labelled Mt Vandyke.

I operated from the middle of these boulders after finding a relatively flat boulder. From Mt Vandyke it is a gentle descent to the Reggie Creek track intersection with the Mt Roland Track and then down the track following Reggie Creek to the fire trail. The fire trail is a gentle decent all the way to the O’Neill’s Creek track car park.

Thanks to all who made contact with me and I ended up with 11 contacts (40 & 20m) on Mt Claude and 15 contacts (40m) on Mt Vandyke.

73, Justin, VK7TW

Hayden VK7HH asked me if I would like to accompany him for his first SOTA activation to Collins Cap and I jumped at the chance. The weather was forecast to be 30 degrees C so, we started early!

It was great to see the further regrowth of the blue gums, fagus and other vegetation in the burnt out areas that were quite obvious on the last activations in 2014 & 2015.

We walked up the Myrtle Forest track and across the fire trail and then up to Collins Cap.

Hayden started on 2m handheld with local amateurs and the author started on 40m and quickly got seven contacts.

Hayden then moved to HF and after a slow start made many HF contacts including a Summit to Summit with VK2VRO.

This was the first outing for the author’s IC-705 in it’s new 3D printed case and it performed well and was comfortable with it being put into the backpack and not worrying about damage to the knobs and touch screen.

Hayden VK7HH runs a very successful YouTube Channel – Ham Radio DX and his video of the activation can be found at: Ham Radio DX First SOTA Activation

Thanks to all who contacted Hayden and myself for a successful maiden SOTA activation for Hayden.

I found myself accompanying my XYL Helen to another Harp Gathering – this time in Launceston at the replica Swiss village Grindelwald over the long weekend celebrating 8 Hour Day. I contacted the repeater team through Tony VK7YBG from the Northern Tasmania Amateur Radio Club (NTARC) of which I am a member and they were planning a trip up to the repeater site at Mt Arthur. I offered to help them carry equipment, etc up to mountain in return for a SOTA activation!

Tony VK7YBG and the author set off with car packed and picked up Andre VK7ZAB along the way and visited David VK7JD to pickup some heliax and equipment needed. Off along the Lilydale road until the turnoff to the Mountain Road and we picked up Colin VK7ZCF and Peter VK7ZPE who met us at the turnoff.

Heading up Mountain Road and given the 4WD we were in we could drive to the end of the track to a small corrugated tin hut that has information about Mt Arthur.

We headed up each with a roll of heliax around us, a new wind generator, test equipment and antenna pole. You head through fagus forest, there are a few areas where you need to clamber up rock shelves as you ascend about 600m from the carpark.

Mt Arthur is host to many many repeater and radio station sites all over the plateau. The first you get to is the NTARC site, you then continue to the old fire spotting tower and on to the cairn at the highest point going past many other repeater sites and radio station sites.

The weather was spectacular with blue skies and no wind! In fact we couldn’t test the new wind generator as there was no wind! According to the NTARC crew it is usually blowing a gale on Mt Arthur!

Whilst the NTARC crew did their maintenance the author setup his SOTA station and made 13 QSOs. Thanks to all who contacted me.

With the maintenance completed we made our way back down with much less equipment and coax!

A huge thank you to the NTARC crew for chaperoning me up Mt Arthur and for all the amateurs who contacted me.

Whilst in the Launceston area I made a trip out to the Tamar Island reserve and came across stump jump plough embedded in an old Oak tree on the highest point of Tamar Island. The tree has grown around the plough and therefore has obviously been there for many years. I find this fascinating and if anyone has any information or a story about the plough the author would be very interested.

I found myself in the NW of VK7 accompanying my XYL who was attending a Harp gathering that was being held at the Claude Road Memorial Hall at the base of Mt Roland. Claude Road is C136.

Whilst Helen was at her Harp day I planned to activate Mt Roland, Mt VanDyke and Mt Claude – more on that ambitious plan later! These mountains make up what is called the Fossey Mountains.

I decided to start at the Kings Road track up to Mt Roland then across to Mt VanDyke past the O’Neills Creek Road tracks and end up at Olivers Road after activating Mt Claude. Best laid plans!! It was a cloudy day with a high of about 19 degrees and there was cloud visible across the top of the Fossey Mountains.

I signed the book at the start of the track at 8:30am and proceeded to walk up the hill. It is a steep track starting at 400m and rising another 700m (to 1100m) along about a 2.5km track to a plateau. There are very steep segments, boulder hopping and boulder clambering along the way. From the plateau you slowly rise up to 1234m over about another 2km with some boulder hopping in the middle before seeing the rocky outcrop with the Mt Roland trig point on it. It took me just under 3 hours to get to Mt Roland via the Kings Road track.

I setup and operated just below the rocky summit outcrop and well within the 25m activation zone – this got me vaguely out of the wind. I quickly made six contacts on 40m and then packed up and moved on. The track leads on down the plateau past some block fields – track can be challenging as there are muddy patches and lots of rock hopping over the conglomerate that makes up the Fossey Mountains.

A kilometre or so before the O’Neills Creek track there are duckboards and a lookout looking South Westish. The O’Neills track junction is very well marked with platform and signs 1.5 hours to Mt Roland and one hour to Mt VanDyke. I kept going on to Mt VanDyke and the track is a much easier walk mainly on dirt with few conglomerate boulders to navigate.

The Track gently rises to Mt VanDyke which is a rocky outcrop you see for most of the walk. For some of this walk you are pushing though low alpine shrubbery which when there is low cloud it is also wet!

It was very windy and I managed to setup on the leeward side of Mt VanDyke in the gap between to outcrops and quickly made seven contacts on 40m. The low cloud very quickly wets any surface so, I was not sticking around. I packed up and headed back to the O’Neills Creek track junction. It was 3pm when I started back to the track junction.

Considering there was another 3km from Mt VanDyke to Mt Claude and then another 1.5km from Mt Claude to the the Olivers Road pickup point I decided to abort that stage and plan it for another day. I did not know the condition of the track and if it was like the Mt Roland track then it would be 3km of rock hopping which my legs were starting to let me know they were not enjoying!

Around 4pm I let my XYL Helen know I would not be meeting her at Olivers Road but at O’Neills Creek Road as there was good mobile coverage across the top of the Fossey Mountain Range. The longer O’Neill’s Creek road track is well maintained – only steep in some parts and most of it from the carpark is a gently rising firetrail that follows the contours! Luxury after the Kings Road track!

I got the carpark just after 5pm for pickup.

My Fitbit told me I had walked just under 20km and my legs were telling me that was pretty accurate!

Thanks to all who made contact with me and apologies I could not stay longer at each contact site.

I am planning Mt Claude which has a telecommunications facility on it with an access track to it so, this should not be anything like Mt Roland or Mt VanDyke!

73, Justin, VK7TW

I found myself in North East VK7 with WICEN Tas (Sth) helping with radio communications for a Equine Endurance ride from 9-10 October and planned to stay another night to activate Mt Saddleback on the way back to Hobart.

Mt Saddleback is accessed off the Mathinna Plains Road (C423) 4.5km south from the intersection with Mount Albert Road or 16.6km North from Mathinna. It is well sign posted. Head up about 200m to the marked track. If you have a 4WD then you can drive up the track about 1.8km to a small carpark where the track starts.

The track is well marked with tape and cairns all the way to the top. The path is steep for the first two thirds of the track as you rise up through some impressive dolerite pillars. It takes about 1.5 hours up and about an hour down.

Once you rise past the pillars there is a series of plateaux that rise in a Southern direction until you see the stone cairn at the highest point.

It was a brilliant day with sun and little wind on summit. I setup the squid pole, linked dipole and IC-705 and started calling CQ on 40m. I had sketchy mobile coverage with Telstra on summit and therefore I could not spot using the Parks and Peaks App. Thanks to those who spotted me when I contacted them.

Looking NE I could see the mountain summits on Cape Barren and Flinders Island in the misty distance.

At 1256m you have fantastic views – this panorama from left (west) to right (east) shows Ben Lomond, Ben Nevis, Mt Barrow, Mt Arthur, Mt Cameron, Mt Victoria and Mt Albert.

Thanks to all who contacted me during the activation.

Well on Monday 31st August I received my ICOM IC-705. I think the first to arrive in VK7!

Given the delays in its arrival in VK the author had time to read up the manuals and watch the plethora of YouTube videos and come to grips with the rig before its arrival.

This resulted in a presentation to the local club – Radio and Electronics Association of Southern Tasmania Inc. on Wednesday 2nd September 2020 and the YouTube videos of the presentation can be seen here:

Whilst the weather was reasonable the author did a quick trip up to Mt Wellington (VK7/SC-001) to tests the ICOM IC-705 on Saturday 5 September 2020 in a SOTA situation.

When the rig was first switched on there was absolutely no noise and I thought I had a broken wire in the antenna! Then it was realised that all the Noise Reduction, Noise Blanking and narrow Notch Filter settings were on. Switch these off and things came to life. Trap for young (and not so young) players in a very low noise environment!

I operated mainly on 40m and all my SOTA contacts where made on this band I also listened and heard DX stations on 20 and 15m but didn’t make contact with them.

It was great to make a couple of IC-705 to IC-705 contacts with Perrin VK3PT/ and Peter VK3GV. It was also good to make some Summit to Summit contacts and also good to get some great comments about the voice quality from the Bluetooth VS-3 headset.

The 10 watts is certainly an advantage over my usual SOTA rig the FT-817 and the ease of operation and Bluetooth headset does make things easier when juggling a log, etc.

A YouTube of the activation can be found on the Author’s YouTube Channel at:

The IC-705 is certainly a nice rig for SOTA operations and will be my rig of choice for future SOTA activations. Thanks to all who made contact with me during the activation.

73, Justin, VK7TW