ZL1/WL-101 Hawkins Hill

Hawkins Hill was the first summit to be activated when ZL1 came online. Andrew VK3ARR managed this one however only made one contact. Blog here https://vk3arr.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/zl1wl-101-hawkins-hill/. A year and a half later it is my turn. This one is only a 15 minute (if that) walk from the carpark. Follow the signs up to the Brooklyn wind turbine then just keep going. There is a lot of foot traffic on this road so take car as the road is quite narrow in places.

The view from the top was magnificent. A small reminder of why I enjoy SOTA so much. I had a chat with some public about what I was doing – who I can talk to – where, and the big one – why. One said he had an amateur friend and we got talking about SOTA and the rules for prominence (ie why Crawford was a summit and mount vic wasn’t). Always a good opportunity to wave the amateur radio flag.

It was difficult to get much height from the dipole and I had opted not to bring the fibreglass pole or even the walking stick (which sometimes can add a little height). To overcome this I put so much tension on the antenna that I broke it. Fortunately it was a simple repair and I was able to get up on the air quickly. A summit to summit into ZL1/WK-153 where Esther GI0AZA and Ian GI0AZB were waiting on 40. I worked a few more ZLs and VKs. I could hear Gerard VK2IO but he couldn’t hear me to complete the contact.