Activating summits on national borders; CEPT prefix needed?

I was on the Dreimarkenstein today (HA/ND-001). I used the call OE6FEG/P without adding an HA/ prefix. The reason for this is because the Dreimarkenstein is right on the border with Austria, so whilst it has been allocated to the Hungarian association, it can be activated from Austrian soil. I thus assumed it was ok to operate as a straight OE6; have I made an ass out of u and me? If so, let me know and I’ll delete (any excuse for more SOTA).
73 de OE6FEG / M0FEU
Matt

I have spent some time considering this matter relating to the EI/GI border. As the summit EI/IN-006 is right on the border the AZ extends well into GI land and we intend activating it using the MI callsigns we use in the rest of our activations in GI.
As you have an M0 callsign I think you might consider which CEPT prefix you would have used with that; if OE seemed appropriate your OE call would be correct without a CEPT prefix. If you would have used the HA prefix with the M0 call then I think you ought to have used HA with the OE one also. It all depends on which country you base your station in - if you can tell.

(We have a related problem with the regional secondary locator as to whether to activate GW/SW-041 with the M0 or MW0 call; in this case confusion results if the M0 is used when activating a GW summit!)
73,
Rod

My main (and only station) is OE. I keep the M0 call just for when I am over visiting relatives. In fact, my main station as registered on my M0 call is also in Austria.
de OE6FEG / M0FEU
Matt

From page 10 of the general rules:

" 5. Where a summit lies upon the boundary of more than one Association, it can be included
in the summit list of only one Association. The Association with the largest area of Activation
Zone within its boundary will be the Association that the summit will be allocated to;
although Activation may take place from anywhere within the Activation Zone. The callsign
used will reflect the DXCC entity in which the Activation takes place".

My bold italics! So you were correct to use the OE call if you were on OE soil. Or even rock…

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Thanks for the clarification. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time, but sometimes you feel it’s better to throw things out for everyone to comment on, rather than to trust to luck.
de OE6FEG / M0FEU
Matt

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Of course this is not really a question for the SOTA rules. The Austrian / Hungarian authorities will have their own view on where you are and which call sign applies - hopefully they will agree. The line from the GR is simply re-stating this.

However, you should use one call for the activation; so don’t keep swapping between OE and HA. Even if you must sit right on the border pick a side and stick with it.

Precisely - this is no different from operating GW/SW-041 from the English side of the border and using an English prefix or G/SB-004 from the Scottish side and using a Scottish prefix.

Just wondering whether there are any border summits between CEPT and non-CEPT countries. Hmm, that could be interesting…

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Hi Matt,

I have done this type of cross-border activation several times on OE/DL border summits. For example here:

It is perfectly fine for SOTA, but nevertheless confusing for some chasers. You might get frequent requests for your reference number.

73 Heinz

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In my opinion Adrian is right. Callsign rules are determined by the authorities in respective countries while SOTA reference is mere location information for those who participate in the programme and has no meaning in legal sense.

I activated two border summits last year, one in 9A and one in OE association. Because I was inside AZ, but clearly remained on S5 side of the border line (operator, antenna and all), I used only my S5 call without prefix.

Regarding Hungary border summits: when I was preparing to activate a couple of HA summits, i read their reference manual. In section 2.2 it states: “Activation of a Summit located on a border with a neighbouring country is valid only if the activation has been made on Hungarian land.” In my opinion this requirement is in contradiction to General rules that Adrian cited and should be disregarded.

Yes Valdi you are right, that rule will predate the removal of duplicate summits. HA is due for a full re-appraisal as it is now quite an old association. It will have to wait until the summits team have a time as they are busy on mainly adding new associations in Asia and South America.

Erk… Have Ofcom realised that? Your mailing address can be anywhere but your Main Station address should be within the UK or Crown Dependencies :-s

I’m not saying your wrong Paul but I’m sure I’ve seen stations listed in the callbook with non-UK, non-dependency address. I know for the US licence you need to provide a US mailing address but that’s more to do with the FCC being able to mail you for the same cost as every other US licence holder.

Hi Andy

Can’t speak for what happens in the Callbooks but my information is taken from Ofcom’s latest Guidance for licensees:

1.21 While the postal address need not be in the UK or Crown Dependencies, the main station address must be. This is because the main station address is the principal location at which we authorise the station to operate. We do not have jurisdiction to authorise operation in another country. Operating in other countries under international agreement is covered below, in the guidance to Clause 2(1)(b).

Does seem to make sense!

73 de Paul G4MD

Ah, yes the “new” thing they published, I should read it a few times more to make it stick!

It makes sense what they are saying. I’m sure I’ve seen stations in Cyprus listed in the UK callbook but the more I think about it, the more it may have said “Joe. Q. Ham, 56 Archbishop Makarios Street, Nicosia, Cyprus. Station located in Reading”.

That’s the one… Dated 15th October 2018. To be fair Ofcom seem to have got their act together, all seems eminently sensible and a valuable resource. Not least for pedantic old codgers such as myself :wink:

Oh well, that is pretty clear: license surrendered. It’s just OE6FEG from now on.
73 de OE6FEG
Matt

You could have said it was at my QTH.

That’s very kind of you Andy, but it’s no big deal. I was only keeping it for sentimental value; I hardly ever used it. I can always get a nice G5 call if I’m ever back in England long term.
Matt