John Moyle Memorial Field Day 2008 - VK3ER

On Friday 14th March, four vehicles containing six members of the EMDRC radio club headed off to Mount Cowley located in the Otway Ranges near the coastal town of Lorne.

All four of the vehicles left Melbourne at different times and met up at Benwerrin on the Deans Marsh to Lorne Road where you turn off the bitumen onto the gravel. When the fourth vehicle arrived, the four vehicles moved in convoy along the dusty Mt Sabine road for the 30 minute trip to the base of the telecommunications tower located on the summit of Mount Cowley.

Friday was a very hot day at around 40deg C. During the week leading up to our departure, the weather had been very dry and hot. Friday was declared a Total Fire Ban for the whole State and this meant we would not be able to cook using an open flame. Also there would be an issue running the generators however we later found out that generators can be used during total fire bans but strict regulations must be followed, making it difficult to operate them safely. Not knowing if a fire ban would be declared for Saturday and Sunday we decided to carry a DC power source, just in case. Our total battery capacity was around 800 AH, so we would be able to operate for some time before our supply ran out.

Our station setup is very settled now and setting up 6m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm has become very routine. We commenced the assembly about 08:00 and by 11:15 were ready for the 12:00 noon start to the contest. Craig VK3FCLS visited us while we were setting up the site.

HF operations from VK3ER/P have not occurred for some time, but with two keen additional operators, a station was set up that included an Yaesu FT100D transceiver, Metron MA1000B Solid State amplifier and MFJ 986 roller inductor tuner feeding a droopy dipole at about 12.0m . This is the same setup that has netted over 12,000 qsos from four IOTA Expeditions, that some members of the group have previously been involved in.

Fortunately, no Total Fire Ban was declared for Saturday and Sunday, so we were able to operate the petrol generators. Having two Honda EU20i and two EU10i generators meant that we were able to operate full power on all bands for the duration of the contest. In fact, whilst most of the State had hot and humid conditions, we enjoyed ideal temperatures on the mountain top with even the wind dropping to just a gentle breeze for most of the time.

Our operating positions for the weekend were mainly 6m Mike VK3AVV, 2m Jack VK3WWW, 70cm Max VK3WT, 23cm Peter VK3QI and HF Dave VK3DLR and Jim VK3AMN.

Activity was good and we managed quite a few qsos on all bands. On 23cm it was interesting to get 59+ reports from VK5SR/P located at Mount Gambier with enhanced band conditions. Working a 23cm station at this distance was a great result.

Early on Sunday morning we were joined by Damien VK3SOX, Jonas VK3VF, David VK3RU and John VK3PZ, who assisted in the final few hours of operating and packing up. At 12:00 local time VK3ER/P finished the contest and in just over two hours we had the contest site packed up and were ready for the three hour journey back to Melbourne.

Our final score was:
80m = 312 points
40m = 352 points
20m = 16 points
6m = 2220 points
2m = 4360 points
70cm 2870 points
23cm = 1280 points
Total Score = 837 contacts for 11,410 points.

This would be our highest score for some time and I think it reflects the work that has gone into the station over the past 2 years, work that has long been planned but never accomplished.

Results for the JMMFD 2008 have been published on the WIA site. VK3ER - 1st in the Multi Operator, all band, phone mode, section of the contest. Congratulaion to all those involved.

Link WIA - JMMFD 2008

Jack VK3WWW	Peter VK3QI
Jim VK3AMN & Dave VK3DLR	Max VK3WT & Mike VK3AVV
Jonas VK3VF	John VK3PZ
Mike VK3AVV	Dave VK3RU & Max VK3WT
Dave VK3DLR	Mike VK3AVV & Damien VK3SOX, outside Mess Tent
VHF / UHF Tent	HF Caravan
23cm Antennas	2m Antennas

Thanks to all those who came up and gave out numbers to stations in the contest and I must also thank those who took the time to come away for the weekend and operate VK3ER/P

Photos provided by VK3FCLS, VK3WWW and VK3PZ.

Cheers, Jack VK3WWW for the VK3ER/P team.