A few of my chaser entries in the Database apparently don’t match with the data entered by the activator (i.e do not have a * shown next to the points).
In at least one case I can see from the information available that the activator has entered a log, but for some reason didn’t enter it with /P on the activating call, where /P is entered in my log for there call.
I presume this is because the the Database requires an exact match on the call entered ?
I know the licence now allows us not to bother using /P, but should all SOTA activators use /P (in order to claim activator points) ? if so can the database remind them that it should be /P when they enter the information ?
In reply to G0LGS:
A difficult one this
I try to remember to put the /P on my activator entries but a few times, when I have been using just a handie, I have used /m.
As you. correctly, say there is no need to use anything now.
I think there is too much emphasis placed on the asterisk ‘*’ against entries in our chaser logs. It is NOT required as evidence of a correct contact - perhaps we just need it as a ‘comforter’?
What about if the activator is wandering around the activation zone using a handheld and signs /M…
Sorry I’m in a silly mood tonight!
On a more serious note, I’d have thought the chaser’s logged call should match the call the activator actually used as entered in his activator log, as he has the option to use or not the suffix?
(Personally I’d like to see a SOTA rule that said activators MUST use a suffix - as far as I know there isn’t a summit with a valid postal address - what do people think?)
It doesnt matter on the database - you should still get your * if the activator has logged without the /p. As an example (not picking on anyone) 2E0KPO activated Wendover Woods on 20/9 & entered log without /p. A look on 2 of his chasers logs (G0NES 2E0NBR) who logged him as portable have their precious * I think sometimes you may miss out on your * because you have a zero in your call. you may be logged as GOLGS instead of G0LGS - I hold my hand up, its a mistake I`ve made often enough.
Unless you have a blonde moment when you fill in your activator log…
I like to call /P as it often grabs attention, when the radio is on in our house if me or 2E0NBR hear /P everything stops untill we either confirm its a SOTA or not… Sad I know… but getting a voice contact is getting rare with all the CW…
Having said that, I can’t imagine any sensible activator would
actually want to omit the /P…
I have activated /m on a few occasions, usually under one of these scenarios:
A) I’m out on a big walk with non-radio mates, time is of the essence so I operate with a handy while walking through the activation zone.
B) I have been operating /p but it’s now time to scoot and there are still chasers calling in, so I switch to the handy and sign /m as I pack up and leave the activation zone.
In both these situations audio logging makes life a lot easier, as does programming waypoints for the edges of the activation zone into the gps in advance.
As for *'s…I am guilty of not updating my SOTA log over the last year. I never thought that this would be an issue for anyone other than myself…I’d best get a round tuit.
I have often considered reverting to /M after I’ve packed up but still walking within the AZ. I haven’t for one reason - that the Database can only accept one callsign per activation. So occasionally, I have been /P when I have more correctly been /M, but I don’t see that as a major crime!
On another point, I have been lectured over-the-air by a well-known amateur on a couple of occasions when I have used /P with a handheld. He has claimed that I have to be tethered by feeder to an antenna to be /P - if I can stand up and walk, then I have to be /M. I countered that I wasn’t going anywhere even if I could - so /P it was.
My overall view is you use whatever you personally wish - what describes your situation best. The use of /M, /P etc is advised by BR68, not by SOTA rules. There can be no doubt though, that signing /P is massively advantageous to your activation on all bands and modes. And I think really that is why we all do it!
'My overall view is you use whatever you personally wish - what describes your situation best. The use of /M, /P etc is advised by BR68, not by SOTA rules. There can be no doubt though, that signing /P is massively advantageous to your activation on all bands and modes. And I think really that is why we all do it! ’
Hi Tom
I have to totally agree with your comments made on this issue… As I understand it with regards to placing entries in the SOTA database after an activation, whether as an Activator or Chaser, so long as the entries match their is no problem… so whats the issue here? As you rightly say the criteria advised within the BR68… advised being the key word, is not mandatory for a SOTA activation.
When I’m monitoring the bands in the shack and I hear /M, I don’t automatically think SOTA, however, when I hear /P, I think SOTA straight away, advantageous to the Activator, especially while perhaps struggling for that fourth contact!
This problem usually occurs when someone is within the activation area but en route to or from the summit. A quickly grabbed contact on the hand held to get a S2S on the way up or give a point to a late comer on the decent is often signed /M rather than /P to differentiate it from the activation proper. Which leads to the problem that we only make one log and there is no facility for both suffixes to be entered.
I notice most of my none starred entries are stations who forgot the W or got me as AVV.
GW7AAV Steve
Mmmm! Posted this 7 hours ago but it never appeared - strange
Way way back (1960/70s), one had to have a separate licence (a mobile licence, costing two quid, no less) in order to legally operate /M. In those days, /M specifically meant operating from a car or a bike that was being driven/ridden at the time. You could operate from a car that was parked up and sign /P, thus not needing a separate /M licence. Some of us operated /P from lots of different places during the course of a QSO on some occasions. £2 was a lot of money in those days!
/P back then meant operating from a location that did not have a postal address. /A was used for operations from a different location to that printed on your licence WITH a postal address. To operate /A you had to give prior notification to the authorities. It was a simple suffix system, entirely understandable and quite logical.
Then they did away with /A, because of the hassle (to the authorities) of all that notification business, and the confusion began to set in. And radios became small enough that you could walk around with them so yet further confusion arose regarding the correct suffix to use.
/P has NEVER, in the 40+ years that I have been licensed, meant operating pedestrian portable. It may have been deemed to INCLUDE that mode of operation (because of the separate /M licence requirement) but it was not exclusive to it. For example, all field day operations are and always have been /P.
Nowadays the licensing authorities have washed their hands of the whole suffix business and we are left to do our own thing. That I think is a great shame. My opinion, which is worth exactly what you paid for it, is that /P is the most appropriate suffix for all SOTA operations, including when you are talking and hiking at the same time. Definitely /P for when you’re operating from the summit. This strategy is most in keeping with historical precedent and is, in my opinion, also the most logical.
I think the answer is to think /Pedestrian wether at trig or commuting to/from it.
If we all use the same thing, /P, and standardise it, problem solved.
‘I think sometimes you may miss out on your * because you have a zero in your call. you may be logged as GOLGS instead of G0LGS - I hold my hand up, its a mistake Ive made often enough.’
Yes it appears that I (and two other G0’s) have been logged in the activators log as Golf-Oscar. I’ve sent them an email so they may correct it now.
Perhaps the database entry system could check that all entered callsigns are correctly formatted.
Nowadays the licensing authorities have washed their hands
of the whole suffix business and we are left to do our own thing.
Not entirely. Read note d of the new licence carefully. It specifies that in certain circumstances you “may” use a specific suffix. For example, if mobile (which is defined earlier) you “may” use /M.
So whilst it is permissible to drop the suffix entirely, it is not permissible to use the “wrong” suffix for the location. Nor is there any permission to invent a suffix (/QRP fans note).
A lot of work I suspect but an easy edit facility would ensure a lot
more people make corrections to their activator logs.
It may not be much work, I did some checking of callsigns (without any /P /M etc as it was for Packet radio) in some Perl code I wrote in 2002, it is just 2 Perl regular expressions combined in one IF statement. I’d be happy to pass on that section of the code if it might be of use.
