Date/time approximate

Hello, on the alerts I can understand the approximate for time but wonder if it is worthwhile putting an alert when the day is also not known. Would it not be better to avoid “Date/time approximate” alerts and just spot yourself when you turn up?

Night night
Mike

Weather :wink:

No.

EDIT: Ah now I see why you are posting this Mike. You should tell the bloke pulling your strings he should move on with his life.

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Well basically Mike, we are there for six days, and within that we will activate the remaining (to us) nine GW/SW summits. That’s the intended flavour of the alerts. The comments within them are designed to gently remind chasers to verify the actual summit reference by listening.

We’ll edit the alerts through the week as and when we can to reflect more precisely the latest plans.

Apologies for any irritation this has caused you or your friends.

Morning Tom, not sure what Andy is going on about. Thanks for the explanation. I suppose it allows for slippage in terms of time on a summit and as already mentioned weather. I was not irritated just curious.
Good luck on the trip.
Mike

Morning Mike,

appart from weather, sometimes we don‘t have internet on summits and we can‘t spot ourselves, and therefore we set up the approximate time in the alert just in case.

Hope to hear you soon, 73 de Ignacio

Best way to get your head around it Mike is to do some activations. Then you may find that seemingly peculiar behaviours make perfect sense!

Currently finishing breakfast at Hilton Park services M6.

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I really can’t see why chasers complain about activators. When I’m in the shack chasing, there’s really nothing to do but sit on my butt and listen around. Check the spots and listen some more. Sometimes activators are going through a lot to get to a summit for a crummy few points. Planning, lugging all the equipment, bush-whacking, climbing, setting up, portable power considerations, etc, etc… So give ‘em a break! You can chase and earn 30-40 (or more) points in a day from the shack with ease, so what are ya whinin’ about?

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Fair comment Brian, (W3ATT) that’s a good measure of what goes into many activations that take place for SOTA.

When I started SOTA Chasing in 2005 I felt that I should be putting something back into it so I tried activating. I found I enjoyed it as much, if not more than chasing, which is very convenient and easy, activating IS NOT and as a result the two sides cannot be directly compared

I got hooked. The activator is KING, something I strongly believe is true, but Chasers are needed of course!

As Tom touched upon in his comment - you need to try it yourself and see what you come up against along the way to appreciate what goes into some of the SOTA activations we complete…

For instance yesterday when Jack W4TJE was operating on a SOTA in close proximity to a mother bear with cub, and having to keep a constant watch around him in case they came close. Scary stuff this SOTA can be… Jack was a superb signal too in EU on 15m CW from W4V/WV-017.

73 Phil