I expect this has been discussed before, but prompted by HG4UK’s recent spot.
DL6UNF/P is currently activating some summits in the General Mountain Award - http://www.cqgma.eu/ which has many summits which don’t qualify for SOTA. I have worked him on a couple this week. He identifies this by CQ GMA - but also of course activates many SOTA ones.
It can get a bit confusing at times, not to mention the WFF ones that keep popping up…
73 Dave G3YMC
Not to mention IOTA, WAB, IOSA, SCOTIA, WAZ, WAS, WASL et al.
Surely it is that oft forgotten art of listening first that must be employed. I am lucky in that I was an active short wave listener for 14 years prior to becoming licensed (maybe some of you ops have my SWL card in your collection G-20843), so it comes more ‘naturally’ to me. But even so, I am aware that sometimes I can find myself assuming that I know what I’m hearing - when I don’t!
Listen first - good practice for operating, and good advice for those considering taking up amateur radio.
Listen first - it avoids all the confusion mentioned above - and it is one of the operating procedures questions in the Foundation exam!
Tom M1EYP / G-20843
In reply to M1EYP:
Perhaps the confusion comes from the fact this summit was spotted with the wrong summit reference to get around the fact you can’t spot a deleted summit.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to M1EYP:
Surely it is that oft forgotten art of listening first that must be employed.
Hmmm yes Tom, a much debated subject and an issue still that is very much in evidence. However, on this occasion it looks like the post may have been put on simply to help Frank make a few contacts. It’s a rare occurence and I don’t see that it has caused any lasting problems, so let’s just carry on as we were. 
73, Gerald G4OIG (ex A6124)
But perhaps the best way to help Frank make a few contacts would have been a spot on GMAwatch, a dedicated system for such activations. WOTA runs its own spotting facility as well, and as such successfully avoids any confusion.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
But perhaps the best way to help Frank make a few contacts would have
been a spot on GMAwatch, a dedicated system for such activations.
Unfortunately a dedicated spotting facility with few watchers, so much so that Mario DC7CCC has set up a new “unofficial GMA” site, but this seems similarly short of activity.
WOTA is a regional scheme with a relatively small number of summits. Activity centres around local 2m FM contacts and for many people outside of the area it is difficult to make any headway in the scheme. However, the local aspect of the scheme does have one advantage and that is the WOTA website is easily seen as “the” place to log alerts and spots under the scheme. I think it has been difficult for GMA to establish itself in the same way as it has a greater number of summits and a considerably greater geographical spread.
Now who is going to be cheeky and spot a SOTA summit on the IOTA website? 
73, Gerald G4OIG
In reply to G4OIG:
I think part of the confusion is that GMA summit references are of the same format as SOTA, for the very reason that they were just that until they were deleted. Unless you hear and notice a GMA in the CQ you may be forgiven in thinking it was SOTA and it is not until you try and spot it that you realise it is invalid. Or just work him and find out later it has no SOTA points, which happened to me earlier in the week. The casual operator, or one who has not been active in SOTA for a while like me, will never have heard of GMA or WOTA as they have virtually zero coverage in the general amateur press.
73 Dave G3YMC
In reply to G3YMC:
Yes Dave, in a way it is unfortunate that the GMA scheme has just retained the former SOTA references for the summits and has not given them a distinct identity. However, regardless of the referencing system, I feel that it is very much worthwhile contacting activators that are genuinely on summits (as distinct from just being portable sitting in their car) regardless of the scheme they are operating under. I hope you were not too disappointed to find that you had scored “nul points” for your efforts.
73, Gerald G4OIG