While holidaying in the Port Stephens area I decided to attempt my first SOTA (Summits on the Air) activation. The summit chosen is on the Yacaaba Headland which is the northern head of the entrance to Port Stephens. This summit has the SOTA designation of VK2/HU-094. At 184m it’s designated as an “easy” summit and is worth 1 point for the activation. I thought this would be a good one to start with.
The walk to the summit starts at the end of Beach Road at Hawk’s Nest with a pleasant walk along the beach to the headland.
At the end of the beach is the start of the trail up the headland (follow the sign). National Parks rate this track as difficult. The first part of the track is steep but not too bad. The final 0.5km is an unformed track and a steep climb that requires some agility.
Doing this climb made me realise I need to lighten my backpack for future expeditions!
The reward for completing this climb is some spectacular views to the north and the south.
After setting up the antenna and station I set about making the required 4 contacts to earn that 1 point for activating this summit. It took just under an hour to make those contacts on 40m. 3 of the contacts were Summit to Summit (talking to other summit activators). The band wasn’t in good shape so with no one else coming back to my CQ I packed up for the walk back down the track.