If you meet the grade you can claim some awards. The existing summit to summit page already shows distance, it knows that because it knows where the summits are. There is a microwave only S2S page but it had some unexpected issues so it’s turned off right now. But you can use the existing S2S page to see if your S2S QSOs qualify. In your case you haven’t loaded any microwave S2S contacts yet.
For the other awards, we have no way of knowing distance so you have to put the magic formula in the comments. The 2 pages for My Microwave Activations & My Microwave Chases will mine your log for microwave contacts and display them. You can see the distance from the page.
If you meet the awards limits you can claim prizes because unlike normal where points make prizes here kilometres make prizes! When your award claim is checked, we’ll use the same page to see if you are correct.
As of yet there is no honour roll, there are some good reasons for this right now including it’s a bit hard with how things currently work and I’m a part-time amateur DBA! I have got 2 things to do on the uWave jobs list, 1 is to highlight scores which qualify for an award and the other is to stop the exceptions in the uWave only S2S page.
Meanwhile I have to finish the award certificate - a little lacking in motivation/ideas to be honest.
I have scrapped three possible designs already but will get it done as I have a personal deadline of 1 November (Scottish Microwave Round Table)
I actually have used a photo which is close to that. My hang-up at the moment is the wording that encompasses all variants of the award (band, distance etc.)
You might find yourself with a draft for comment - in fact that might be sensible!
I see what you mean, Barry. Lots of sets and permutations. Maybe a more difficult wavelength would require a shorter distance to earn, lets say, a bronze award. Then you are left with only the task of noting which band was used. When I get the draft, I’ll consult with one or two of the mathematicians who set-up the big W6 association. They’re never without an opinion and, occasionally, a solution.
Having uploaded a chaser log entry for a S2S on 10GHz (on 31/08) the upload screen showed it as a S2S, but it does not appear in My Microwave Chaser Results.
As a 99.9% HF operator, I’m not at all familiar with VHF/UHF/Microwave award programs or their rules, but am looking for something more technically challenging to do in the SOTA arena (vs. making a bunch of contacts on HF, which in the words of a popular insurance company who advertises on American TV “is so easy that a caveman could do it”) .
A few newbie questions:
To claim the first level 50 km award as an activator, do I need at least one contact that spans a distance of 50 km or more, or can I make 50 contacts that each span 1 km?
Since this award is only based on distance and not summit points, what is the intent/purpose of rule #5: “For the purposes of this award the Activator may activate the hill as frequently as wished over a year but may only claim it once per calendar day”?
For example, if I were to activate one of my many nearby ski resort summits in the morning, pack up my equipment and ski 20 runs, then setup my equipment again in the afternoon of the same UTC calendar day on the same summit… does it mean I can’t count my afternoon activation’s contacts towards my distance total? If not, then how many minutes must elapse between the last contact of period #1 and the first contact of period #2 for them to be considered two different activations on the same day?
73,
Eric KU6J
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Free SOTA Spot Monitor Software + RBNGate FAQ: http://www.ku6j.com
The qualifying contact must be 50km at least (not cumulative) and the award will be issued in steps of 50km (50km, 100km, 150km etc) again not cumulative. So a contact of 80km will qualify for the 50km award and one of 102km for the 100km award etc. but the two togther will not qualify for the 150km award.
I had hoped this was clear enough but this means you may only claim one award step per day. If you make two contacts one of 55km and one of 105km on the same day you may chose whether to claim the 50km award or the 100km award, not both (nor the 150km one). But the rule means that you may go back to the same hill every day of the year and, in theory, claim 365 variants of the award! This is, of course, a total variation on the normal SOTA activation awards where the SUMMIT may only be claimed once per calendar year for points purposes.
In your ski run example, provided the summit was a SOTA summit then you may activate the summit as often as you wish in one calendar day but may only claim one award - the choice of which being left to the activator. The total distance being irrelevant (see above about distances being non cumulative).
For the sake of clarity this also applies to bands, so if your activation was on 23cm and 13cm you may only claim one band-distance award per calendar day not (for example) a 50km-23cm and a 100km-13cm award.
K6EL is in the process of helping the MT formulate the Rules for this award into language that is, hopefully, unambiguous and I hope to publish this version shortly.
I have a sneaking suspicion that my answer above is as clear as mud
Thanks Barry, your answer is as clear as the rain water that falls on a summit, rather than the mud it forms at an activator’s feet.
The possibility of claiming more than one award in a single day hadn’t occurred to me, but now I see that the “it” in #5 is meant to refer back to “this award” rather than “the hill”. I have a somewhat unconventional approach in mind for trying to make these microwave contacts, but I’ll wait to review the Elliott-ized version of the rules before bothering anyone with further questions.
73,
Eric KU6J
===========================================
Free SOTA Spot Monitor Software + RBNGate FAQ: http://www.ku6j.com
I activated G/CE-001 on 3cm on several dates since July with distances from a few Km to my best of 301Km (achieved on 3 different days).
Does this mean I can only claim a Certificate for one distance on a given day and not for all the various multiples of 50Km that I achieved on that day from working several different stations ?
Do I have to claim the 50Km intervals in order: 50Km, 150Km, 200Km, 250Km, 300Km etc or can I go straight for example a 150Km S2S one without claiming the shorter ones first (I only have one S2S contact to date).
Can I use contacts of say 160 Km (with one station) as the claim for both 100Km award on one day and the 150Km on a different day or use the three different occurrences of 301Km contact for the 200Km, 250Km and 300Km awards ?
Yes, the assumption being you (the activator) would wish to claim ODX. If you wish to claim Chaser awards for multiple summit to summit then we can discuss this.
No
Yes
Why would you, the award is not cumulative? The intention of the award is to encourage microwave operating from the summits. If you wish to wallpaper the shack then I am perfectly happy to keep providing certificates for you but the work load for checking the claim is such that a daily limitation was introduced. I have made the assumption that claims from a particular summit on any one day are unlikely to be on a number of bands due to the quantity of gear to be hauled up a hill. Again this might change if an Activator can manage the load on their back.
This award has been particularly difficult to formulate rules for as we have to work with another group and their requirements. In addition we have moved away from Summit point scoring and the One summit - One activation per annum rule so, as in the rest of life, this is a compromise.
For anyone that wants to try 23cm, I have 10W (I also have a 150W PA but not yet fully operational) and a Yagi antenna on top of a rotator.
If I know in advance when people will be active I’ll try and be on, but work and family commitments often get in the way as I’m sure they do with most other people…
I think I have the reply to my own question in this rule…
"4) An Activator may claim this award based on ACTIVATING the hill.
Normal QUALIFYING criteria will apply for claiming this hill for other
SOTA awards. "
So, that forces a non-SOTA claimant to abide by the SOTA activation rules, correct?
If so, either that non-SOTA (UKuG) activator has to make 4 qualifying contacts on microwaves, or else one qualifying contact on microwaves and 3 others on other band(s), not necessarily microwaves…
Given the problems of getting contacts on some of the higher microwave bands, that will force UKuG operators to use bands they would not normally want to use just to qualify one contact on a microwave band…
I’ve asked UKuG if that’s what they intended to be the case.
Also Dave, there is no obligation to log the contacts on the SOTA Database if you are determined that you are not participating in the SOTA scheme. Obviously, for this award, you would need to be on a SOTA summit, within the activation zone, and compliant with SOTA rules (ie not operating from a car etc). Other than that it’s up to you. Make just one QSO if that suits. Don’t spot yourself or log on the SOTA Database if that suits.
Obviously, we would like you to spot yourself so as to give SOTA chasers the opportunity to work you. You would need to log your contacts as the award requires logs to be uploaded to the Database.
If you yourself are not specifically participating in the SOTA scheme, then remember that because you have to be in accordance with SOTA activating rules for this award, that anyone who works you will be able to claim the SOTA chaser contact. Ultimately, if you are taking part in this award, you ARE doing SOTA - even if you choose not to log it or claim the points / awards.
I’m not intending to log my activity on the SOTA database now, I would be on a Summit, of course, not in a car etc., X metres from the summit, not a P100, etc., etc. Not going to spot myself to the Summits Sotawatch (I was warned off that before) so I am on a summit, and maybe on 24GHz or 47GHz, making just one contact and it takes, say, 3 hours to do it.
Maybe the other person that I work isn’t SOTA either, but we fancy a bit of wallpaper (the OId Microwave Groups had an incentive programme where you got something for increasing distances on various bands. The RSGB one, for 10GHz, started at 150km. Other bands, different distances.) so we apply. We made one contact each, OK, maybe another on a talkback frequency or 2M or 70cm.
