Mt Donna Buang (VK3/VC-002) and Mt Ritchie (VK3/VC-003)

A clear winter’s day was forecast on August 5th 2016 and with arrangements made I headed out early to Mt Donna Buang VK3/VC-002 with plans for Mt Ritchie VK3/VC-003 afterwards.  I left Melbourne’s eastern suburbs by 0710 and arrived at Donna Buang around 0845 to a frosty, clear, cold and calm summit, distrubing no fewer than 5 lyre birds on the final few kilometers before the car park.  A bonus for getting up there early was spectacular morning sunrays cutting through the mountain mist.

The summit was frosty and cold in the sunlight.  Not another car on the road, no wind, about 3 or 4 degrees C, perfect morning activation conditions.  The only potential problem was whether 40 meters would behave.

Last time I was here it was late afternoon in April on a Sunday, the car park was full, people and kids everywhere, so I walked into the forest, and operated out of sight and earshot from the crowd.  No crowd this time.  I eyed off the lookout tower.  No nearby megawatt comms dishes.  No wind.  I had the vertical with me.  So why not try activating from up there?

The corner of the tower deck allowed for easy strapping. With centre-loaded vertical up I dropped one radial over the edge, which hung vertically against the side of the tower. So the antenna must have looked like a half-wave dipole mounted vertically. Not sure what the proximity of the steel tower would have done but when the reports started coming back from VK2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 it certainly did no harm. Forty was in fine form. This was like an activation of a year ago, no noise, strong signals, good reports, lots of chasers. Here’s the table:

Date:04/Aug/2016 Summit:VK3/VC-002 (Mt Donna Buang) Call Used:VK3HN/P Points: 8 Bonus: 3

Time	Call	Band	Mode	Notes
23:23z	VK5WG	7MHz	SSB	s59, r57, Nev
23:30z	VK2IO	7MHz	SSB	s59, r54, Gerard
23:35z	VK5PL	7MHz	SSB	s57, r57, David, Barossa
23:40z	VK3CAT/M	7MHz	SSB	s57, r56, Tony, mobile
23:45z	VK3AFW	7MHz	SSB	s59, r57, Ron
23:46z	VK5IS/P	7MHz	SSB	s56, r54, Ian, Barossa
23:47z	VK3PF	7MHz	SSB	s57, r53, Peter
23:48z	VK7CW	7MHz	SSB	s53, r41, Steve
23:49z	VK2SK	7MHz	SSB	s59, r57, Markus
23:50z	VK7ALH	7MHz	SSB	s56, r56, Ross
23:51z	VK4RF	7MHz	SSB	s58, r59, Rick, Brisbane
23:52z	VK4HA	7MHz	SSB	s59, r59
23:54z	VK7LH	7MHz	SSB	s56, r56, Ross
23:57z	VK2XXM	7MHz	SSB	s55, r52, Robert
23:58z	VK2NP	7MHz	SSB	s59, r55, Cliff

Date:05/Aug/2016 Summit:VK3/VC-002 (Mt Donna Buang) Call Used:VK3HN/P Points: 0 Bonus: 0

Time	Call	Band	Mode	Notes
00:01z	VK2NP	7MHz	SSB	s59, r55
00:02z	VK4RF	7MHz	SSB	s59, r59
00:03z	VK4HA	7MHz	SSB	s59, r59
00:04z	VK5HS	7MHz	SSB	s59, r59, Ian, Renmark
00:05z	VK7CW	7MHz	SSB	s57, r53
00:06z	VK2IO	7MHz	SSB	s57, r55
00:07z	VK3PF	7MHz	SSB	s55, r53
00:08z	VK5WG	7MHz	SSB	s55, r55, on his MST txcvr
00:09z	VK2XXM	7MHz	SSB	s54, r51

Mt Donna Buang makes for an excellent SOTA 10-point summit, combining an RF-free lookout tower, direct line of sight back to Melbourne, great views, and easy access. It is well worth getting here early, preferably on a weekday to have it to yourself.

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Next, off to Mt Ritchie, 8 points so another winter bonus summit, only about 15 minutes drive away along the dirt portion of Acheron Way.  This summit is different, in that it requires a moderately demanding 15 kilometer walk, 7.5km each way.  I left the car parked at Road 15 and Acheron Way at 11:01am.  The walk is about 3.5km up Road 15 to the junction of Road 10, which runs up again, then along a ridge, then a final ascent to the top.  Both roads are good 4WD tracks and easy walking, but the length of the walk should not be understimated.

The SOTA Finder app on my smartphone came in handy.  It shows straight line distances to the nearest SOTA summits.  When your path to the summit is relatively straight, SOTA Finder tells you how far you have to go.  When I snapped the screen below I was 4.1 km south of Mt Ritchie.  Smith’s Hill loomed behind me, but it’s in the water catchment area and off limits.

Up on the ridge, at about 900 meters, some of the eucalypts are enormous.  Many of these monsters are hollowed out at their enormous base, and look to have been damaged near the tops, from wind and lighting.  Without knowing anything about these trees, I would guess that they are several centuries or more old.  The Ada Tree (north-west of Noojee, nearest to McCarthy’s Spur VK3/VT-039) with a base of 15 meters is 300 years old.  The Mt Ritchie saddle trees are probably 8 to 10 meters around the base.

I kept moving in a steady plod, and arrived at the summit as 12:57pm, making the walk up 1 hour 56 minutes after taking only a few short breaks.   At the summit, a large tree had fallen across Road 10.  I used it as an operating table, strung the dipole, and got on air at 13:17pm. Again, good conditions on 40, 11 contacts with VK’s 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7.  Reports from the two VK3’s were well down (4×3, 4×1) so NVIS refraction was almost non-existent.  Nearest station worked was Rob VK4AAC/3 portable at Erinundra National Park (East Gippsland), VKFF-0158.

Date:05/Aug/2016 Summit:VK3/VC-003 (Mt Ritchie) Call Used:VK3HN/P Points: 8 Bonus: 3

Time	Call	Band	Mode	Notes
03:17z	VK7CW	7MHz	SSB	s59, r57, Steve
03:19z	VK5WG	7MHz	SSB	s59, r57, Nev
03:20z	VK4RF	7MHz	SSB	s57, r55, Rick
03:21z	VK2NP	7MHz	SSB	s59, r57, Cliff
03:22z	VK4HA	7MHz	SSB	s57, r55, Rick
03:24z	VK2IO	7MHz	SSB	s59, r58, Gerard
03:25z	VK2XXM	7MHz	SSB	s55, r56, Robert
03:26z	VK1MBE/2	7MHz	SSB	s55, r58, Andrew on VK2/SM-052 Bald Mountain
03:28z	VK4AAC/3	7MHz	SSB	s57, r43, Rob at Erinundra N.P. VKFF0158
03:31z	VK4CPS	7MHz	SSB	s57, r42, Paul
03:33z	VK3LED	7MHz	SSB	s55, r41, Col

The return walk was faster, done in about 90 minutes. With 15 kilometers behind me and 24 points secured it was time to drive home for the evening’s activities.  Mt Ritchie is recommended if you are looking for a steady, long-ish bushwalk in a beautiful part of the Yarra Ranges.