VK2MB/P on the air for the Winter Field Day

A team of hardy souls took the club station VK2MB portable to participate in the Winter VHF/UHF Field Day 20-Jun-2026 at the JJ Melbourne Hills Memorial Reserve, just north of the Forest Hills Pony Club at Terrey Hills.

The goal of the Field Days is to contact contest operators on 6m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm. In previous years there have been many contacts in New Zealand and up and down the coast.

The weather on the day was warm for winter with a clear blue sky and gentle breeze.

The radio operators on the day were Nick VK2FS, Andy VK2EAH, and Greg VK2XE, with Tommy VK2AHA manning the coffee machine and keeping the supply of pikelets up and Glenn helping where needed.

Tommy VK2AHA provided pikelets to sustain the team, with Geoff VK2TGO “supervising” HI

The team erected two antenna masts without too much difficulty: an 8m mast with a four element 6m Yagi, and the other sporting a 2m/70cm – dual Yagi and a 23cm Yagi.

Tommy also does a pretty decent coffee, as Geoff and Glenn can attest.

As for the rigs, the club’s trusty ICOM IC-7300 portable took care of six metres, and two ICOM IC-9700s took care of two metres, 70cm and 23cm.

Andy VK2EAH, Greg VK2XE, and Nick VK2FS hard at work trying to scrape up contacts

Unfortunately, while the weather was warm and sunny, band conditions on the day were not difficult and not many stations could be heard on the air. At the end of the day, the QSO tally was modest:

VK2MB/p had a 6m contact with Carmel VK2NO, who was operating as VK2VMP on board HMAS Vampire at the Australian National Maritime Museum
Tommy took a break from the stove to operate the radio too. We won’t comment on the IC-9700 being relegated to a buffet table…

Final roll call on the day were:

  • – Nick VK2FS
  • – Greg VK2XE
  • – Andy VK2EAH
  • – Geoff VK2TGO
  • – Tommy VK2AHA
  • – Glenn VK2SOON
  • and Sean VK2THT arrived at the end to help pack up the gear.

We also spoke to some interested cyclists about what we were doing. (Did anyone give them a club business card???)

Thanks Nick VK2FS and Glenn for the story details!