On Sunday I went to The Promised Land. Few can say that! Well, it’s an area of land at Glennifer, ten minutes drive from where I live (Bellingen NSW 2454). It’s at the foot of the World Heritage Listed Dorrigo National Park.
I went there to do a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation of Tuckers Nob State Forest (AU-7738). It was a hot day in the holiday weekend. I was all set up under the tree canopy by the Never Never River with two end fed long wires with one for phone and the other for FT8/rx. My dog also came along. It didn’t go well….
After getting all set up, I had several realisations:
1. The band conditions were terrible due to solar storms and I was pretty much wasting my time.
2. Even if the bands were good, I couldn’t post where I was because I had no 4G coverage with Telstra or Optus.
Lessons: check band conditions before going out and post where you’ll be and operational at a certain time while in range. I overlooked both basics in my rush to get out and operational.
So as I sat down for lunch, I put the radio on FT8 with ten watts and got seven QSO from USA, Japan, NZ and Australia. I finished lunch and was ready to cold call on 40 and 15 metres when a camper advised “your dogs is bleeding”.
My dog had a one inch long deep cut in his leg which required immediate bandaging. Luckily I had a first aid kit. He’s since been sedated and stitched up and he’s recovering well. But at the time, I had to get him calm, bandaged and secured (with the assistance of another camper) and pack up the installation quickly as to get him to hospital. I just threw everything in the car without any organisation. I had to pull down the two antennas and throw all wiring in a tub. The picture below shows the messy nest this created and which took a few hours to untangle the next day. I just cut a few ropes rather than winding them. I didn’t have a good serrated knife which would have been handy. So lesson there is, carry a good knife.
All in all, it wasn’t a great day but I did get out in nature and learn a few things. I’m now listed on POTA.app as someone who attempted an activation. It’s not quite attempting Mount Everest, but hey. I’ll be back!
28 January 2026