Sunday 17th November 2024 was a planned mammoth VOTA activation day with myself, Rob ZL1ACK and Soren ZL1SKL all joining in the fun. It was a cloudy day, but warm enough and no rain, so it made for perfect volcano climbing weather.
AKV-04 Mt Hobson
I started off at 1pm on AKV-04 Mt Hobson while Soren ZL1SKL was on AKV-08 Mt St John and Rob ZL1ACK was on AKV-09 Mt Roskill.
The proximity of Mt Hobson to Mt St John is such that Soren and I could see each other on our respective mounts. That's the key to activating multiple volcanoes in one day; pick ones that are close to each other. Luckily there are plenty like that to choose from.
Mt Hobson is one of my favourite volcanoes (so far) in Auckland so it was great to head back up there to get in on the VOTA action.
Contacts on Mt Hobson were as follows (all on 2m simplex):
ZL1ACK Rob - V2V
ZL1DL Dave over at Musick Point (visible from Mt Hobson)
ZL1SKL Soren - V2V (also visible)
ZL4AX Paul way down in Rangipokia south of Pukekohe
ZL1DRV David also at Musick Point
ZL1TJL Ken
ZL1TGS Jimmy
After a successful activation, Soren and I swapped volcanoes and Rob headed to AKV-07 Three Kings.
View of Rangitoto Island from Mt Hobson
AKV-08 Mt St John
Having not been to Mt St John before, I was excited to head up there for the first time. It's definitely on my list to go back up sometime, when I've got more time to walk around and relax instead of chasing contacts!
Contacts on Mt St John were as follows (all on 2m simplex):
ZL1ACK Rob - V2V
ZL1TJL Ken
ZL1SKL Soren - V2V
ZL1TGS Jimmy
ZL1DL Dave
ZL1DRV David
Soren, Rob, and I also tried some DMR simplex which worked well.
I started heading back down to the car and managed to nab two more contacts before leaving the activation zone:
ZL4AX Paul
ZL1NZ Neil in Onehunga
Looking down into the crater of Mt St John
Looking back towards Mt Hobson on top of Mt St John
Looking towards One Tree Hill from Mt St John
AKV-03 One Tree Hill
For our third and final round, I headed to AKV-03 One Tree Hill, while Rob headed for Mt St John, and Soren to AKV-02 Mt Eden. By then I was getting slightly tired, so I only went half way up but managed to get plenty of contacts for a successful activation.
Contacts on One Tree Hill were as follows (all on 2m simplex):
ZL1ACK Rob - V2V
ZL1SKL Soren - V2V
ZL1DL Dave
ZL1DRV David
ZL1NZ Neil
ZL1TGS Jimmy
Looking up to the summit and spire on One Tree Hill
Thanks to all the chasers on the day, without chasers there wouldn't be any activations!
From the day's efforts I was able to get three new awards from the VOTA programme:
VEI-0 award in recognition of activating three volcanoes in the same UTC day
Maungarei / Mt Wellington award in recognition of chasing five unique volcanoes.
Owairaka / Mt Albert award in recognition of chasing ten unique volcanoes
A lot of fun was had by all, and it makes you appreciate living in Auckland with such easily accessible volcanic cones that give you such beautiful views right across our city.
Comments