A hump, a park and a lake walk into a bar...

You may recall the HEMA activation that we did earlier in the year?
This time we are at Black Hill which is a "hump" in the Nelson Lakes National Park - close to Lake Rotoiti. It's just a short walk from the Rotoiti Lodge carpark.
It's another beautiful day in the Tasman region and our mission today is to activate this previously unactivated hill. There are a number of other operators out and about today as well so our chances are looking pretty good.
This HEMA (ZL3/HTM-112) is also part of a internationally recognised park (NZ-0036), a regional park (ZLP/TM-0001)and a World Flora & Fauna park (ZLFF-0008) so a successful activation will also count towards those as well.
Today I'm using the 7m SOTABeams mast and 17m of wire for our usual EFRW configuration.
Join me to see if we can put this hump on the map!
I purchased my G90 from Techoman: techoman.co.nz
I purchased my IC-705 from RWB: rwb.co.nz/prod...
#hamradio
#amateurradio
#parksontheair
#summitsontheair
#lakesontheair
#pota
#sota
#hema
#lota
#iota
#g90
#newzealand
#ic705
#antenna
#marlborough
#xiegu
#icom
#randomwire
#antenna
#nationalpark

[@k6kwi]

Nice video Nick! Thanks again for sharing

[@zl2neb]

Thanks - the Lake Rotoiti area is a very popular hiking area and well worth visiting if you are ever near there.

[@Aussat]

Nick, I must be living under a rock, Hump on the air, that's new too me! Great video as always, looks a great spot for sure.... Thanks for the video.

[@zl2neb]

Thanks - yes there seems to be a never ending list of activation categories. I only learnt about “Humps” last year. I see that volcanoes have also been added but haven’t attempted one of those yet (living in the South Island they are not quite so easy to find unless you are down towards Canterbury). I’ll have to make an effort to try and do one of those sometime.

[@ZL2SEA]

Great video Nick, great to hear the bird song in the background. Looks like fun visiting all these interesting places, looks like your antenna is working well. Look forward to your next activation. 73 Nigel

[@zl2neb]

Thanks Nigel. Yes it’s a great area. Sometimes you get fan tails coming down and sitting beside you while you operate which is nice. Lake Rotoiti is a very popular location - especially with hikers but is a very large area so you can often walk and not meet anyone at all. Sandflies are a killer though! 😂

[@glyn1]

Just PURE MAGIC the radio WIZARD at work again

[@zl2neb]

Thanks - it’s a very nice location although hardly the most picturesque operating location. Thankfully I was able to not become a trip hazard to anyone else - actually I didn’t see anyone at all on this activation. 73’s

[@davidgrey943]

Hi, Nick I noticed you are running a 9:1 balun what is your counterpoint length out of curiosity the 9:1 I have the recommended 16.2 mtrs for main element and at least 10meters for the counterpoint just like your thoughts on that according to the chart I found it should give me from 160meters to 6meters. I still haven't done any hunting or activations yet. 73's and good luck.

[@zl2neb]

Good question - the counterpoise that I use is 10m long, so the same length as the one that you are using. My main resonator I think is 17.67m long so again around the same lengths that you are using. I got the resonator lengths from the packetenna documentation on their website but as you know, there are some really good charts on what lengths are suitable. I usually carry about 3 resonators lengths (especially if I have no idea what the location is going to be like) - 10m, 17m & 25m. For each I just use the same counterpoise. I have looked at the 17m/10m combination with the VNA and on 40m there is very little work for the tuner to do which is great. I really should compare the other combinations but the tuner on the G90 or the one for the IC-705 is pretty good at handling most things. What configuration do you usually deploy your antenna in? 73’s

[@davidgrey943]

Hi, Nick the reason I asked the question is I am trying to work out which method is going to work with rigs both with and without in built tuners. I think I am just going to make one up with the Dementions supplied from the table and see how it goes. Will let you know the results . I have 3 portable rigs a Xiegu G90 and a FT 817 with a newly purchased TRu SDX which I am leaning toward so that it can fit into a pack. 73's from fellow ZL.