20170414 - SOTA news

Glenn VK3YY operating in Japan reports that the squid pole stopper mountain recycling phenomenon is alive and well in Japan and suggests visiting a hardware store to replace the missing item with a chair leg stopper instead.

David VK3IL has been busily documenting his efforts and has written a blog post about experimentation with a 160m kite antenna and a 160m/80m vertical. [http://vk3il.net/projects/experiments-with-160m-antennas/] If that's not enough, he also added an article about the 160m AM expedition last week. See the links on vk6.net. [http://vk3il.net/sota/]

Lewis VK6LDX activated Mount Randall VK6/SW-039 on Sunday and while he was there he created an amazing video with his Quad Copter. As John VK6NU puts it, crank up the volume, watch it on a full screen and enjoy the summit like you've not seen it before. You'll find the link on the vk6.net website and on the NewsWest YouTube Channel. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oceEOEj1ryM]

The VKFF awards fairy has visited and bestowed awards on Gerard VK2IO, Peter VK3PF, Marija VK5FMAZ, Ozran 9A7W, Bill VK4FW, Neil VK4HNS, Jim VK1AT, Mark K1RO, Les VK5KLV, Mark VK4SMA and Adrian VK5FANA. Congratulations to all.

Wade VK1FWBD is planning to activate VK1/AC-031, Mt Rob Roy on Monday, weather permitting. Check the SOTA website for confirmation. Andrew VK3JBL is also planning to be in VK1 during Easter, so keep an ear out for him when he activates one or two of the local summits, family permitting.

Brett VK2BNN has also caught the SOTA bug again and activated VK2/CW-017 Beloygery Split Rock. He managed a contact with Peter VK3PF, despite having several issues. Congratulations.

Paul VK5PAS attended Antennapalooza, hosted by the Gippsland Gate Radio & Electronics Club. The theme this year was "operating portable". Paul delivered 3 short presentations on operating portable from parks. Other presenters included Peter VK3PF, Tony VK3XV, Joe VK3YSP, and Ian VK3BUF. You can read more about Paul's adventures on his web-site where he also covers the two activations he did along the way. [https://vk5pas.org/] Check vk6.net for the link.

Speaking of Paul, he has also let us know that Victorian State Government has officially changed the name of Mt Eccles National Park to Budj Bim National Park, restoring the Aboriginal name and recognising the area’s Aboriginal history and significance. The WWFF Australia website and Logsearch database have been updated to reflect this change and it should appear in the next release of the WWFF Directory. [http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/new-aboriginal-name-for-mt-eccles-national-park/] For details, click the link on vk6.net.

Changing the name acknowledges the cultural importance of the Budj Bim area, which has been identified by scholars as the world’s first engineering project, dating back at least 6600 years and preceding Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Egypt.

While we're on the subject of changes to names, Greg VK5GJ has let us know that South Australia now has a new Conservation Park. It is the Lawari Conservation Park and was gazetted on 21st March 2017 and it's located on Hindmarsh Island near the mouth of the Murray River. It is an important breeding ground for Magpie Geese. It's been added to the WWFF directory and is waiting for approval to be referred to as VKFF-1767.

That's it for SOTA and WWFF news this week. If you wanted more VK6 news, then you should have climbed up a mountain, or activated a national park and bragged about it. Better yet, record a segment and email it to newswest@vk6.net.