Charles Darwin National Park (VKFF-0095)

A quick activation Friday morning at Darwin before heading to the airport to take a flight back home to Brisbane. From the entry gates driving to the main car park I passed many munition depots that we’re used in the 2nd world war.  One of them is open as a WW2 display but due to lack of time that will need to wait till my next visit to Darwin.  At the entry there was a sign warning the public to cover up due to small biting insects. I didn’t think much of this at the time but it certainly was a problem when I was setting up.

From the car park there is a large grassed area with picnic tables and permanent gazebo shelters.  I noticed a lookout platform where I took a couple of photos, one showing Darwin in the distance. To the north of the lookout there was a gazebo with a large tree right next to it which is were I hoisted the inverted V dipole with strong fishing line.

From the time I got out of the car to the time I began setting up I was being bitten by very small sand flies. I was not prepared for this. While I was setting up a lady approached me asking what I was doing. I explained to her briefly about ham radio and the WWFF program. She was there as an educator waiting for a school group to turn up. She gave me a A4 map of the park which she gives the students. She also offer for me to use her insect repellent which I gladly accepted. She mentioned that there is a large section of the park that is closed to the public due to legacy asbestos. Much of the asbestos debris is due to the bombing of Darwin during the 2nd world war or cyclone Tracey  

I continued setting up and was ready to operate at 9am. I gave my mate Val KN7D in Kaysville Utah a call on the phone to carry out a test on 20 metres and there was my first contact even though we were just readable to each other. I operated for about 50 minutes before I had to pack up and head to the airport.  

The photos below show various areas of the park including a munitions depot, the lookout and my operating position.















Contacts 20 Metres (total 16)

KN7D Val, Kaysville Utah

VK4TJ John

VK4/AC8WN John

VK4/VE6XT John

VK4SSN John

VK3ARH Allen

VK3HRA Allen

VK4SMA Mark

New Day UTC

VK4TJ John

VK4/AC8WN John

VK4/VE6XT John

VK4SSN John

ZL1TM Andrei

VK4PAS Paul

VK2IO Gerard

VK3SQ Geoff


Location: Charles Darwin National Park, Tiger Brennan Dr, Charles Darwin NT 0820, Australia

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