Unknown radio mast on land I have bought, any ideas?

[VK4CDI]

Thanks all for the helpful info!

The nearest power line is about 10 km away so there's definitely no mains power at the site.  It's possible the solar panels and batteries are still working, however it seems unlikely, especially as nobody has been back to remove the lantana off the panels, so I'm pretty confident it's no longer in use.  Whether it was actually switched off, or whether it just failed one day and was then abandoned, I don't know.

There was no mention of a site lease in any of the legal documents in the purchase process, and the solicitor was very thorough, although I don't think they would've done any ACMA searches.  You're required to list any encumbrances on the purchase contract, so if there was an active lease and the sellers didn't list it, I imagine any legal liability would be with the sellers for failing to disclose (since they've effectively sold me something that wasn't theirs to sell, which is fraud).  However if the site was still active I would've expected it to show up in a current ACMA RRL search, which it does not.  They have a map search where you can look at a specific area and see a list of sites, and it shows up sites in all directions around my site, but nothing shows up within a few kilometres of this location.

I can't see how to search the RRL via AMG coordinates.  There is an archive from 1996 you can apparently search, however that appears to be down due to a server error at the moment.  I had a bit of trouble finding an online converter from lat/long to AMG as well so not sure how accurate that would be.

Interesting idea about asking the council, I might try that if no other avenues reveal anything useful.

Thanks for pointing out the rusted cable on the winch.  I hadn't actually noticed that - I think the brown colour made it invisible to me thinking it was just another stick as I haven't looked closely at everything yet but you're right, it is quite badly rusted.  It would be far too expensive to get a rigger out there so it will probably be a case of doing some research and seeing how far I can get myself.  There are no clear paths up to the site, you have to climb over loose rocks and machete the lantana for about an hour, carrying everything on your back you want to take with you.  I have no idea how they got the mast up there in the first place, unless they dropped it off from a helicopter.

I'll make a note to measure the mast leg dimensions next time I'm out there, although I will probably take something on that visit to cut the lock off the cabinet so I might get a few more answers then.

Thanks again for your insights!

You could give Comtel a call in Toowoomba........