Man made structures (viewing decks) need to be considered for AZ?

Dear all,

I am newbie SOTA activator. I tried to activate JA/TK-005 but failed due to technical problems that we fixed/resolved after I arrived back home.

JA/TK-005 (Mitou-san) has a viewing deck. It is near the summit, has a shelter, no AC outlets, etc. During my failed activation, I decided to use the viewing deck as my Operating Position. Since this is a viewing deck it is literaly “on top of stilts”. Technically, I am not standing on the mountain anymore but standing on a man made structure that is built on the side of the mountain. The height is less than 20meters, best guesstimate.

Is using this operating postion for an activation valid (e.g. does not violate AZ requirements)?

72,
Mela,JI1KBF

Hi Mela!

Not at all! There are various structures on top of mountains/hills around the world which are considered to be part of the summit. However using an AC outlet to power your kit would violate the activation.

Good to see JA starting to ‘take-off’ (to them there hills!)

73 es good SOTAing

Jack(;>j
GM4COX

Hi Mela,

I don’t see why you can’t use the man made structure as long as it is within the 25m AZ.
Many activators on the European summits post pictures of them sitting in shelters etc while activating. Us GM activators don’t have that luxury but would be nice on a cold, wet and windy day.

Hope you have better luck next time. Enjoy.

73 Neil 2M0NCM

Hi Mela,
Zugspitze (the highest mountain in Germany) has a similar situation where we operate from the viewing platform as you are not allowed to stay at the actual summit as it is small and lots of people what to go to it.

Good luck with all your SOTA efforts in JA.

73 Ed DD5LP

Thanks for the information. And thanks for the well wishes, I’ll keep at trying until I get a successful activation under my belt.

72,
Mela,JI1KBF

Greetings and welcome

 Nice to see more activators from various parts of world. Don't worry about making mistakes it happens but with these people on here there helpful and you will find your own way of being an activator.

 Now just to verify that we use batteries only. NO mains supply. No supply via fossil fuel motors either that includes the motor car or Motorcycle. But you can run off solar panels as people do. recently i have made myself a PPSU from a Lifepo4 battery 8400mah which saves lugging about a bloody great battery. Small compact and only about 1kg in weight but will run me TS120V for couple hrs long enough to do an summit.

Whole idea is to be truly portable operate with the gear you carried there. My first activation was total failure and 2nd one almost same but managed to sort out me antenna to get on air. And my sota kit is coming along slowly but getting better lighter and easier to set up and carry to and from the summits.

But most of all be safe out there, have fun and may be we might get a contact in or better still S2S be wonderful

Karl M3FEH

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