Whenever Glen (ZS2GV) asks if I want to go on a “field trip” I know I am in for something special.
I know the Queenstown repeater has been a problem for some time (Eskom redid the site and we needed to send a ham in to rewire a few things). PEARS maintain the network of repeaters with a shoestring budget and the kindness of volunteers. The network is quite extensive and you can find more information on the PEARS repeater page or on this site about another section of the network.
Queenstown you say? What is near Queenstown? Hangklip AKA ZS/EC003 to SOTA peeps around the world.
Game On! Call Hennie, he is keen and will drive through from East London and meet us there. A three day round trip is planned. GV had some work to do in Lady Grey (North of Queenstown) so things started to line up. GV & I would drive through from Port Elizabeth to Queenstown. He would check in on his salt mine repeater on Mount Shepstone on Monday. Tuesday GV would go to Lady Grey while Hennie (ZS2HC) and I did the Hangklip activation. Wednesday would see GV and I attending to the Queenstown (ham) repeater and then returning to Port Elizabeth.
I contacted Andrew (ZS2G) to ask if I could borrow his portable 20m antenna with the hope of working some DX in the evenings. No problem – he even delivered it to my door!
Monday (9th May, 2016): The drive to Queenstown was uneventful – which is something for a GV trip 🙂 We arrived in Queenstown just after noon and went straight up Mt Shepstone to the repeater site.
Hangklip as seen from Mount Shepstone.
A few minutes at it and GV was all done and up to date. It was then that we had some Sentech technicians pop around.
After some professional chat (jargon way over my head!) they offered us a trip of their “repeater shack” in the same enclosure. “Rooms with air conditioners!” was the first impression, but then Oh My Word!
TV and Radio transmitters with coax the size of my QRP radio! They have transmitters putting out more Mega Watts than my rig puts out Watts! Heat sinks bigger than I’ve ever seen! It was something to see! I simply (and politely) pointed out that it must be compensating for something.
That evening we met up with Hennie in the camp ground 10km outside of Queenstown. Eager little rock spider had the braai fire going and after a few minutes it was like we had never been apart!
Our plans for DX were thwarted with power problems. It all seemed fine until a little rain fell and suddenly we had no lights, and no radio either. Tough in Africa!
Tuesday morning Glen picked us up from the camp site and dropped us off near the foot of Hangklip. About an hours walk and we were at the foot of Hangklip and rearing to go.
Hennie with Hangklip in the background
The climb was from the Eastern side and I think a better way up than the one we used previously. We basically followed the fence all the way up to the rock outcrop just below the summit.
We activated with contacts into ZS1, ZS2, ZS4, and ZS6 on 40m and into town and to GV on 2m 🙂
The threatening rain (which had been around since our attempted DX the night before) encouraged us to get off the mountain as soon as we could. Glen was to pick us up at the bottom of the mountain when he returned from Lady Grey. If I had to wait in the rain, I’d still rather do it at the bottom of the mountain than at the top!
A better view of Hangklip 🙂
We made it off the mountain and started back towards the collection point – this time with the benefit of a route planned with the advantage of a high ground perspective. Put another way, from the summit we planned the easiest route back to the collection point.
As we got closer to the collection point, the sun setting in our eyes, we could not find Glen.
A few calls on what was left of the battery in my trusty little 3W Baofeng and we had him travelling towards us and soon he came over the rise on the same jeep track we were on. Hitching a ride seemed over the top, but we did and he obliged.
Now, I’m not the smallest guy on the planet, but then neither is Hennie nor Glen, so the three of us in the cab over 4×4 terrain was interesting.
In hindsight, I think the easiest way is from the Eastern side, but going as far South as possible and climbing up from the South East (we sort of hit it from the East, fairly far North,if that makes any sense)
Back at the camp site it was braai time again, this time without charcoal! I picked the proverbial short straw and was sent (in the dark) to collect firewood from some nearby trees. Armed with a head torch and a burning (sorry) desire to braai, I headed out into the darkness.
I approached the trees and started looking around for some small branches when I noticed something that looked a bit like a small wood pile a few meters over to my left. I turned and took a few steps closer. As the light of my headlamp came into focus I realised it was not firewood. It was,in fact, (drum roll please) a Puffy!
Not nearly so keen to scratch in the undergrowth, I decided on plan B. We would braai with the neighbours!
Some other campers (signage guys on a work trip in Queenstown) had used an entire bag of charcoal on their fire and intended to braai two small steaks. It was our duty (in terms of global warming for starters) to make maximum use of their fire.
The electricity was still avoiding us, so the DX expedition was not a major success at all.
Wednesday morning saw Hennie off early back to East London, leaving me to help GV fix the club repeater at Mt Shepstone. Glen was fortunate enough to have a second breakfast and then like the seven dwarfs, “’twas off to work we go”
Up at the repeater site again, we called in for a code and then opened the gate. The work we needed to do was to connect three antenna lines into the shack and connect up the power. Our repeater uses a positive ground which was, well, different. GV climbed the tower so we could trace which leads went to the various antennas. We found one cable connected directly to a sky hook! What started out as a little job soon grew into moving antennas on the mast, a bit more involved than we had anticipated.
GV knows what he is doing – which made one of us. I managed to make some coffee, pack a bag of tools and hoist it for him and very little else.
Once inside the shack, we needed to make some fly-leads to connect up the cables from the outside to the equipment on the inside – via the lightning arrestors. One thing that struck me was the neatness – almost OCD in nature. Everything not just on it’s place, but exactly on it’s place.
We connected everything up (GV connected everything up while I supervised) and then after some tests with Terrance, ZS2VDL it was clear something else was not optimal. We tried for a while, but we needed to move off – already a few hours later than anticipated.
The trip home was full of good ideas, quality discussion, and a lot of random mumblings usually directed at fellow road users.
Thank you GV and Hennie for another great trip. I’m not sure how GV can even call this work!
Connect three wires and the power – how hard can that be!
A look up the Scotsman’s Kilt
Catering department.