MWRS POTA at Karuah Park 14-Aug-2026

Greetings Operators,

The rumours are true. The myth.  The legend. The man who refuses to operate from the comfort of a padded seat in his shack.

Professor Portable will strike again. This Friday, the Professor loaded up the mobile command centre (The Rav4) and head into the wild. The mission? Conquer the 40-metre band in Karuah Park Turramurra. Corner of Eastern Road and Karuah!

Yet another park we had never operated.

• The Antenna: A wire thrown over a gum tree. It is 60% copper, 40% prayer, and 100% held together by electrical tape.
• The SWR: High enough to cook an egg on the coax. The Professor will tune it by shifting his lawn chair three inches to the left.
• The Pileup: Perhaps absolute chaos.? Will signals be fading, will QRM  be as bad as last week, but the Professor will brave the static like a true hero.
• The Counterpoise: Tripped over by a curious kangaroo at 14:00 UTC.

Despite the local wildlife attempting to sabotage the radial field, several contacts were successfully logged. If you received a signal report that sounded like a blender full of marbles, congratulations! You made contact with history. The Professor later retreated to the base camp (Coffee Shop) to pick burrs out of his socks and recharge the LiFePO4 batteries.

Watch the skies, and watch the bands and listen out. Another fun day was had by those from HADARC and MWRS, joining the HADARC Morning Tea Net hosted by Rod VK2DAY. Band conditions were great despite some minor fading.

Those attending:

• Graham VK2GTC
• Brian VK2AXC
• Colin Vk2JCC
• Richard VK2ARH
• Chris VK2YMW
• Carmel VK2NO 

It was a QRP day for most of the crew; Colin with his 5W Yaesu FT817, Chris with his Lab599, Richard with his USDX on 2.5 watts and Carmel with her old homebrew on 4W. Graham operated from Turramurra Memorial park nearby.

Keith VK2AGX joined the net from Mt.Colah, then joined the rest of us afterwards for a coffee nearby.