We had a bit of choosing to do before we selected this summit to activate. Other contenders were ZL1/WK-200 which we discovered was on private land, ZL1/WK-141, which we found was a 5 hour walk without permission, and ZL1/WK-054 which was probably a bit to big for us to manage today. So with a bit of advice from John ZL1BYZ we selected this summit ZL1/AK-018. …
Category: SOTA
It turns out we had a bit of spare time after installing the APRS digi and reactivating ZL1/HB-130 Threeve. So with Dave ZL2DW on board (who has access to commercial sites) we thought we would give Mt Erin a quick activation. This one is a drive up but requires permission from an authorised technician. As you can see from the photos it was a warm …
For our next summit we decided a trip up to Coromandel was in order. The plan was to knock out a couple of 2 pointers with a swim in between but as you will see that didnt eventuate. The drive up to Coromandel takes a bit – being roughly 3 hours from home. A good chance for the kids to get a nap. Kaipawa trig …
While in Christchurch doing a block course for my engineering diploma, I decided to catch a summit. Mount Alford had not been activated yet so I decided it was a good one to put in the log. During the drive out I drove through several shower bands and was struggling to convince myself this was still a good idea. I rechecked the metservice …
On the southern end of the Kaweka Ranges is a summit called Don Juan. We decided this would be a good summit to activate during our weekend in Hawkes Bay. The drive out to this one takes a little while but the walk is fairly moderate with a 250 m ascent. A good bit of huff and puff for a Saturday afternoon with some radio …
A quick activation here as I was running out of light. The road to this summit is extremely long and windy. If you take passengers they may get motion sickness. I think I may have even given myself a headache with driving the road between Pirauau and this summit. On the grey line is great for DX but in mid winter it is also very …
The first summit to be activated in Gisborne was also my fourth “153” Summit. I have previously activated ZL1/WK-153 near Cambridge, a very popular summit. ZL1/WL-153 Mount Crawford a drive up in Mirimar Wellington, and ZL1/HB-153 Cape Kidnappers in Hawkes Bay recently. ZL1/GI-153 is near Te Karaka and hosts a cell site, rural internet and the local amateur 950 repeater. My companion was ZL2CC who …
This summit is situated east of Hastings and is part of what used to be Clifton Station. Parts have been sold to American tycoon Julian Robertson who has developed the land into a resort style international golf course. http://www.capekidnappers.com/luxury-golf-course/course. We were lucky enough to be granted access to the trig site to do SOTA. Sadly sometime between our last activation and setting of for this …
On an unsuspecting Sunday we arranged to go up Hikurangi to catch some sights and play a little radio. This hill also houses the local amateur repeater 715. We made arrangements with the friendly land owners and set out….early because we had word there were prospects of a few summit to summit points up for grabs and who wants to miss those right!?! The morning …
Its not often we will re-blog a summit for Warren’s SOTA blog, though sometimes there is reason to make a little extra effort, like when April fools day rolls around and we decide that walking up 1349 Steps seems like a good idea!! When SOTA kicked off in ZL, Warren was not able to be out on a summit due to other commitments so back …