After NZART conference and before I had a meeting with the ELectricity Networks Association in Wellington, I took the option of getting a couple of summits activated. Lowry was a new one so I was looking forward to it. Earlier in the day the weather had not been looking good but as it rolled into mid afternoon it looked more promising. The walk up was … Continue reading Mount Lowry
A trip to Hawkes Bay training, left me with an extra day for a new summit. I had been eyeing this one up for sometime and figured it was a good time to give it a crack. I reached the first sign and it said 4 wheel drive vehicles were allowed to proceed – so I figured I was in a four wheel drive and … Continue reading Wakarara ZL1-HB/052
Time to get back out and scout some new summits. This one looked like a good candidate and hadn’t yet been activated. In fact I was somewhat surprised no one had beaten me too this one. The walk is a good one and the track is well formed. The main part of the track is shared with cyclists and I did meet a few on … Continue reading Whakapoungakau ZL1/BP-152
Hukaroa is a summit just South of Raetahi. I have been scoping it out to site radio equipment for work and to also get to try SOTA out. On Sunday we got the land owners permission and drove up to get a feel for the site to help me build a business case for work, and naturally to get a little bit of SOTA in. … Continue reading ZL1/MW-097 : Hukaroa
We had a weekend in Hawkes Bay planned so I scoped out a new summit to add to the log. This one is called Te Ahioteatua. Its about half way between Wairoa and Lake Waikaremoana. I had the contact details for the land owner from car rally days of siting STSP repeaters up this hill. SILLY WARREN FORGOT HIS RADIO – DOUP! The previous week … Continue reading Te Ahioteatua : ZL1/HB-110
This is a hilltop that I am fortunate enough to have access to via work. We have a land mobile repeater at this site to provide voice coverage for our staff in the field. This area is generally closed to visitors and trampers due to a rare frog living in the area. You may be able to convince DoC that you will take the necessary … Continue reading Maungamangero : ZL1/WK-050
Much to Myah’s amusement we discovered a summit named ‘Riley’s Mountain’ – Back home in NZ her best friend at school is named ‘Riely’ so we decided to humor her and go and activate this summit, which of course suited Warren just fine. We headed back out from our home base for the week in Darling Harbor to the Blue Mountains early afternoon arriving around … Continue reading Riley’s Mountain
Not too far back down the main road we traveled to Mount Banks, is Mount Tomah – a nice easy drive to, though no views to admire any which way you look. Since we were in the area however Warren decided it wasn’t to be left un-activated and so we ticked this one off for the day’s second summit. There’s really not much to say … Continue reading Mount Tomah – Sydney’s Blue Mountains
The end of June marked a very full on last few months for us and we had already decided a family holiday with the kids outside of our own backyard was in order this year so Sydney it was for us all for a week. Of course for Warren, no holiday is complete until SOTA has been included, and well, who were we were stop … Continue reading Mount Banks – Sydney’s Blue Mountains
This little unnamed summit is quite a walk in but it isnt as bad as it appears on the map. The first climb to the trig at 899 m is the steepest part – the rest is a healthy but not painful gradient. The track is in good shape with plenty of views along the way. This summit is located on the southern end of … Continue reading South Kaweka
ZL-SOTA. Warren (ZL2AJ) and Emma 