Richard VK2SKY’s HF “go box”, feeding an HF link dipole wedged between to previously vacant T-ball diamonds, in a park that had been deserted an hour previously…

Several members of the club (Carmel VK2CAR, Colin VK2JCC, and Richard VK2SKY) were active portable at Rofe Park in Hornsby Heights today, 17 March.

The aim this time was to call in to the Westlakes Amateur Radio Club net (Mon/Wed/Fri at 9.30am on 7115kHz), just for the fun of it. The Westlakes folks were happy for the visit, particularly as we boosted the net numbers to a (recent) record of 18 participants.

One challenge was that, while the park was almost deserted at 8.30am, by the time the Westlakes net came up, hundreds of schoolkids had descended on the park for their regular sports activities. One teacher joked, “you picked the busiest time of the week to do that – hope we’re not too noisy for you!” Lesson learned for next time: don’t set up an HF link dipole right between two T-ball diamonds!

As is usual for these portable events, curious members of the public asked what we were doing, and in return received some friendly conversation and a club business card, thanks mainly to Colin!

Which park will the group activate next?