1 January 2024
New Year’s Day in VK (Australia) gives the opportunity to activate a summit not only on two days, but also two years. It also usually results in many possible Summit to Summit (S2S) contacts, with other activators also out in the field. I usually attempt to activate a SOTA summit located in a Park. I considered my options, checking which summits I had not activated in 2023. I decided to head out to Mount Granya.
The drive from Wodonga was uneventful. I headed east to Bullioh and then north towards Granya, then west up the access road to the summit.
Mount Granya VK3/VE-165 863 m 4 points
Mount Granya State Park VKFF-0767
I parked in one of the parking bays and set up the radio on the picnic table. I lashed a Spiderbeam 12 m pole to the bench and seat to acts as the antenna support.
As soon as I was set up, I started hunting/chasing those already spotted. I soon had three S2S in the log, on 40 m SSB. I moved to a clear frequency and spotted. Another three S2S contacts followed immediately. I continued calling on the frequency, working a string of stations. I occasionally moved to another 40 m frequency to hunt another activator. I ended up with another 17 S2S or P2P contacts by the end of the UTC Day, with a total of 55 contacts.
After the rollover to the new day, I continued, working another 45 contacts on 40 m SSB, including 19 S2S and/or P2P contacts. Twenty minutes on 10 m SSB produced only six contacts, three being S2S and P2P. I next tried 40 m CW, immediately working two S2S contacts, followed by another nine contacts. I next jumped around a little, hunting other activators on other bands, before I returned to 40 m SSB. I closed at around 0245 Z, with 140 contacts in the log. I then packed up and headed back to Wodonga.
It had been a fun morning playing radio in the field. Thanks to all who called, with special thanks to all the other activators out on summits and/or in Parks.
vk3pf 
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