Return to Mt Gordon VK3/VN-027 and Mt Strickland VK3/VN-030

Sunday 10th July 2016 turned out to be my first SOTA outing for several months.  Weather was windy, overcast with intermittent showers forecast, not the worst of winter, so I headed up to the northern end of the Yarra Ranges. First up was Mt Gordon VK3/VN-027 on the way to Marysville, turning off opposite the trout farm, my second visit here (the first one was on June 8th 2015).  The summit was windy and cold. I set up the dipole which performs better than the vertical. Self-spotting and going on air at 1430, conditions were average at best, the spot bought out two stations who I could not complete QSOs with, Matt VK1MA and Geoff VK3SQ Both were weak signals and faded right out on second overs. Five QSOs followed quickly, VKs 3GGG, 5IS, 2IO, 5EE and 2PX with my signals varying between 3×5 and 5×7.

Looking north from the Mt Gordon operating spot.

 

Mt Dom Dom (VK3/VN-017) and Mt Gordon (VK3/VN-027)

On this particular Sunday in early June 2015 I allowed myself to be sidetracked on the way to Mt Gordon and Mt Strickland at Dom Dom Saddle.  Driving through the Black Spur and arriving at the Saddle,  just seeing the sign was too much of a temptation.  I pulled over and did a quick search on the tablet for access to Mt Dom Dom.  It looked straightforward so in I went.  At the end of the Dom Dom Saddle picnic ground car park there are two tracks.  The one on the right is gated and leads to walking tracks to Mt Boobyalla and Mt Donna Buang.  The one on the left is Dom Dom Rd.