SOTA News January 2017

SOTA NEWS JANUARY 2017 - Part 1 of 2

Editorial - by Mark G0VOF
Welcome to the January 2017 edition of SOTA News.

My thanks go to the following contributors:- Barry GM4TOE, Skip K6DGW, Roy G4SSH, Kevin G0NUP, Rob and Audrey G4RQJ, Allen VK3ARH, Warren ZL2AJ, Toru JH0CJH, Geert PA7ZEE, Tonnie PA9CW, Peter ON4UP, Marco HB9ZCW.

May I take this opportunity to wish all activators, chasers & SWL’s a Happy & Healthy 2017.

73, Mark G0VOF

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SOTA AWARDS December 2016 from Barry GM4TOE - SOTA Awards Manager.

Each year we recognise somebody who has made an outstanding contribution to the SOTA programme with the “Sherpa” award which is sponsored by SOTAbeams www.sotabeams.co.uk This year we had a number of candidates for the award but felt that Andrew VK1AD was the most outstanding; congratulations to him.

Notable award claimants this month include SQ6PLD for 1000 Activator points, NE4TN for 40k Chaser points, LZ3SM & K9OSC with 2500 Chaser points, W0MNA has now chased 4000 summits and DD5LP with the Silver summit to summit award. Congratulations to them and everyone else who achieved milestone awards.

This listing includes all claims made from 19 November when I went on vacation.

Sherpa Award 2016
VK1AD Andrew Moseley

Trophies Issued

Mountain Goat
NJ7V Charlie D Brown

Certificates Issued

Activator
SQ6PLD Tomasz Dominas 1000 points
G7HEM Mike Hartley 250 points
EA2EHX Joxe Bidal Ibarra Iriarte 100 points
KR7RK Keith Schlottman 100 points
WC9G Ron Burns 100 points

Chaser
NE4TN Walter Beaton 40000 points
LZ3SM Svetozar Gerashev 2500 points
K9OSC Robert Brock 2500 points
M0CQE Paul Hazell 1000 points
DK3DUA Thomas Rudolph 1000 points
K3JZD Jody Nelis 1000 points
WD7Y Ed Dybowski 1000 points
NZ7M Sidney Frissell 1000 points
HB9EIV Michael Rass 500 points
KC2FNE Robert L Krenzer 100 points
W5EEX John Leediker 100 points
KF4BY Stan Nafziger 100 points
N1FTP Harold Woering 100 points

Chaser Unique
W0MNA Gary Auchard 4000 summits
G4CFS Glyn Dodwell 1000 summits
M0CQE Paul Hazell 100 summits

Summit to Summit
DD5LP Ed Durrant Silver
HB9EIV Michael Rass Bronze

SOTA Complete
EA2WX Marcial Vecilla 100 summits

Mountain Explorer
HB9EIV Michael Rass Bronze

Mountain Hunter
AC0A Bill Freeland Platinum
HB9EIV Michael Rass Bronze
PE1PIC KeesJan Colmer Bronze
KC2FNE Robert L Krenzer Bronze
M0CQE Paul Hazell Bronze
EC1DD Bernardo Dominguez Barros Bronze

I have to thank everybody who has made a donation towards the costs of running SOTA during 2016. This is a very generous and much appreciated source of funds and certainly helps to keep the programme active and free of cost to every user. Thank you all.

Elsewhere in the monthly report you will find the annual analysis of activity so I have included a list of award claims during 2016:

Trophies
Mountain Goat 20
Shack Sloth 22
SWL 1

Certificates

Activator points
10k 1
2500 2
1500 1
1000 19
500 12
250 18
100 19

Chaser points
125k 1
100k 1
50k 4
40k 2
30k 3
25k 3
20k 3
15k 3
10000 6
5000 11
2500 5
1500 4
1000 38
500 21
250 17
100 42

Activator Unique (summits)
250 4
100 4

Chaser Unique (summits)
5000 3
4000 4
3000 1
2500 2
1500 1
1000 3
500 3
250 4
100 12

SOTA Complete
500 2
100 6

SWL (points)
1000 1
500 2
250 1
100 1

Summit to Summit
Amethyst 2
Platinum 3
Gold 2
Silver 10
Bronze 6
Red 6

Mountain Hunter
Platinum 8
Gold 11
Silver 1
Bronze 18

Mountain Explorer
Platinum 2
Gold 4
Silver 1
Bronze 10

Microwave Award 3

10m-6m Challenge
Activator 8
Chaser 5

There are a wealth of opportunities to fine tune your activating and/or chasing to gain awards as is demonstrated by the significant claims made for some awards. This does mean that I may have to introduce higher categories for some awards but this will be open for discussion during the coming year.

Finally a quick update on some merchandise items which will cease to be available once stocks are finished. I do have a number of the insulated mugs available but polo shirt stocks are rapidly becoming depleted; there are no Medium size left, I have limited stock of Large (but all colours available), I have two XL Burgundy and two XL Natural and finally two XXL Ash Grey, two XXL Royal Blue and one XXL Natural left. These are all knitted polyester with the SOTA logo embroidered on the left breast.

Finally may I wish the whole SOTA community a happy and prosperous 2017

Stay safe on the hills

73

Barry GM4TOE
SOTA Awards Manager

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SOTA End of Year totals 2016

As is customary at the end of the year the database has been interrogated to produce the following tables. My thanks go to Tom M1EYP for producing these tables & Andy MM0FMF for providing the data. Well done all activators & chasers!

Summits Activated – All Time

Summits Activated – 2016

Activator QSO’s – All Time

Activator QSO’s – 2016

Chaser QSO’s – All Time

Chaser QSO’s 2016

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NORTH AMERICAN REPORT from Skip K6DGW

I received almost no news from the New World Summiteers, the processor on my desktop failed so I’m doing this on my laptop, and we’ve been, to quote our President-elect, “HUGELY” busy with family and the holidays. I believe [but do not know and can’t get to the evidence to check] that the statistics below are correct as of 2000 UTC on 30 Dec. Your mileage may vary, getting the script to run on the laptop was a real drag.

Perhaps a fitting end to 2016 which has been filled with more drama than I’m used to.

STATISTICS [2000 UTC 30 Dec 2016]
NORTH AMERICA TOTALS

Total Activations: 358 [588]
Nr Unique Activators: 130 [167]
Total Chaser QSOs: 3824 [6165]
Nr Unique Chasers: 230 [263]
Unique Summits: 435 [588]

2m: 47 (1%) [127]
6m: 1 (0%) [0]
10m: 1 (0%) [0]
12m: 2 (0%) [1]
15m: 80 (2%) [64]
17m: 224 (5%) [194]
20m: 2106 (55%) [3731]
30m: 285 (7%) [581]
40m: 1075 (28%) [1458]
60m: 2 (0%) [1]
80m: 0 (0%) [0]
160m: 0 (0%) [0]
Unk: 1

CW: 2225 (58%) [4378]
SSB: 1549 (40%) [1653]
FM: 47 (1%) [133]
AM: 0 (0%) [0]
Data: 1 (0%) [1]
Other: 0 (0%) [0]
Unk: 1

It’s been bitterly cold over much of Canada and the US which probably accounts for the decrease in activity. It is interesting that 40 meter activity was up a notch, probably given the absence of sunspots for most of the month.

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS:

Charlie, NJ7V, reports that he became Arizona Shack Sloth #19 on 26 Dec. Congratulations Charlie!

Ryan, KK4OSG reported that he made “1/2 Mountain Goat” this last month. Keep at it Ryan, possibly the weather will cooperate.

Incidentally, Elliott, K6EL, mentioned that there are now 40 Mountain Goats in the US and one, VA2VL, in Canada.

NEWS:

Etienne, K7ATN, provided the latest Pacific Northwest Newsletter link:

www.pnwsota.org/sites/pnwsota.org/files/downloads/K7ATN/PNW%20SOTA%20Newsletter%20Jan-Feb%202017_0.pdf

Back issues are at: Pacific Northwest SOTA Newsletters | pnwsota.org http://www.pnwsota.org/content/pacific-northwest-sota-newsletters.

Phillip, K5SSR, offered a link to the Yule Goat who goes door-to-door in Norway handing out gifts. This seems appropriate for SOTA, no? The Goat did not arrive here, but then we live in a gated community and he didn’t have the gate code.

mylittlenorway.com - mylittlenorway Resources and Information. http://mylittlenorway.com/norwegian-christmas/julebukk/

Now that 2016 is over, the US National Parks On-the Air [NPOTA] has also ended. There has been some discussion on the NA SOTA Yahoo group about recruiting some of the folks who participated in the NPOTA program into SOTA. We’ll see how that develops.

REPORT OF THE MONTH:

Also known as the "Only Report of the Month, it appears that Ryan, K7ODX, [the “other” Ryan] is looking for a good head examiner:

“I think I need my head examined. Last weekend, when I left the house to activate W7U/JU-045 with K0ESX, it was -5 F. By the time we arrived at the trail head (what trail?), it had warmed up to about 7 F. So what do we do? We go anyway! There was a few inches of fresh snow on the ground, making the hike a little slippery in places, but the real killer was the wind that hit us once we got on the ridge to the summit. Only .75 miles ±, but 1000 feet of elevation gain. The wind chill on top had to be well below zero. My beard was frozen to my face! Still, we had a great activation.”

“Today, once again, it was about -3 F. as I left my house to pick up Damon to go hit SM-051. As we parked to start hiking, the truck thermometer read 11 F. Nice and warm! And once again, the wind was our adversary. Even worse than last weekend. And to make matters worse, the snow was 24” - 28" deep (according to my trekking poles). We d idn’t have snowshoes, so we just kept plowing our way up. It was exhausting work, made tougher by the wind and cold temps. Tough hike, but once again, we got to the top and completed the activation. More frozen facial hair…"

“So, this is what we do for fun? Go out in single digit temps, hike steep mountains in winter, and plop down in the snow with several hundred dollars of radio gear? Do these sound like the actions of a sane person? On the way back down, I pondered the sanity of the whole situation, while slogging through thigh-deep snow and trying not to fall. But here’s the real crazy part: Am I miserable? Unhappy? No, I couldn’t be happier! I’m really enjoying myself. Not only do I do this stuff on purpose, I actually like it! Something is definitely not right here.”

“Anyway, I guess I’ll continue doing this until I come to my senses. I love the mountains in winter, love ham radio, and SOTA is the best of both! Thanks to all the chasers who are there for us. It’s great to work the usual suspects every summit, and also everyone else who stops by for some points or a casual contact.”

“The highlight of today’s trip was an awesome 7118 mile contact with ZL1BYZ (KX1 at abt 3 watts) on 20 meters!!! FB DX!!! The lowlight was the fact that my truck’s heater didn’t work on the ride home! That was cold. But, already planning the next one…”

EPILOGUE:

A good friend had an extra Intel i3-2100 processor which I will install in the desktop now that the holiday bruhaha has settled down. We’ll do better in 2017. Happy New Year to all,

73,

Skip K6DGW
North American SOTA Reporter Dude
Sparks, NV

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ON SOTA Association 10th Anniversary award - Peter ON4UP

On the 1st of July 2007 the ON SOTA association was started by Johan ON5EX. In 2017, 10 years later, the ON association will be celebrating its anniversary with 3 special awards.

10 years ON association celebration chaser award
for those who have chased at least 10 different ON SOTA summits in 2017

10 years ON association celebration activator award
for those who have activated at least 10 different ON SOTA summits in 2017

10 years ON association celebration complete award
for those who have activated AND chased at least 10 different pairs of ON SOTA summits in 2017.

The award will be available in electronic format only (PDF-file) and will be completely free of charge.

To request one of more of these awards, simply send an e-mail to the ON association manager Peter Preud’homme ON4UP via on4up@skynet.be including the list of chased and/or activated dates of your ON summits.

The latest date a reward can be requested is the 31st of March 2018.

Please distribute this information as much as possible to make 2017 a big ON SOTA celebration year!

73, Peter – ON4UP

ON Association manager

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Las Islas Afortunadas - Geert PA7ZEE

Already many years we escape from the cold and dark winter in the Netherlands.
Also this winter we stay for a longer time on the island of Gran Canaria, one of the islands of the Everlasting Spring. Winter temperatures in the day time range between 20 C and 25 C and around 12 C in the night. However there can be a blizzard in the mountains while at the same time it is 23 C on the beach in the south of the island.
On EA8/GC there are not less than 27 summits to activate; a SOTA Paradise.

EA8/GC-008 Roque Ventaiga with on the back ground El Teide on Tenerife

One summit has a restriction; EA8/GC-027 is in a military zone. However I will try to get permission for an activation of a few hours. Another ‘no go’ summit for me is EA8/GC-002 El Nublo. This is a 60 m high monolith only accessible for mountaineers with climbing skills and proper equipment.
My plan is to activate at least ones a week summits where I have been last year but also some virgin summits. I will put Alerts the day before the activation on SOTAwatch.
My rig is the KX1 with 3 W output into a W3EDP antenna. Last year I worked with this equipment the whole of Europe and several US stations. I hope that my SOTA Friends will listen out for me and when worked, that they will put a Spot on SOTAwatch. Thanks in advance!

Besides of activating summits, I will chase from the bungalow park where we stay. Equipment there is a 2 x 20 m inverted vee on a 15 m mast and my FT-857 with 100 W output. All QSO’s will be confirmed with a QSL card.

HNY es 73 de Geert PA7ZEE

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Six Belgian Summits in one day – Tonnie PA9CW

On 4 december, PA9CW Tonnie, activated 6 summits in Belgium in one day. At 07:00z He drove from home to the first summit in the south of Belgium. After about 300 km he arrived at 10:00z and activated, ON/ON-016, Les Aisances. It was very cold, so CW was not at its best. After that he activated ON/ON-010, ON/ON-004, ON/ON-011, ON/ON-013.

At last he activated ON/ON-001, Signal de Botrange. At that moment it was almost dark & with no contacts on 30 meters, he tried 40 meter and made some QSO’s. After these 6 summits he went home and arrived at about 20:00z after a very nice day. It was about 4 degrees and sunny with some wind. All contacts were made with KX3, 5 W and a 30 mtr HyEndFed.

My video report is here SOTA winter Tour Belgium 2016 - YouTube

Thanks all chasers, for the contacts.

73, PA9CW Tonnie

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SOTA NEWS FROM JAPAN by Toru JH0CJH

Hi Mark and all

Please find the following SOTA News from Japan.

A Happy new year and wish all of SOTA lover’s prosperous new year 2017.

In December, the biggest news in the Japan association is the approval and release of an additional 1200+ summits in all JA regions. Thanks again for all of your work who made a lot of effort and swift approval in SOTA HQ. By this new summits release SOTA activities are very high in December.

SOTA activities in December 2016 in Japan as of 30 Dec 2016.

Activation

Total 159 Activations with 1839 QSO have been made and reported.

JA: 157 expeditions with 1822 QSO from Summits
JA5: 0
JA6: 2 expedition with 17 QSO from Summits
JA8: 0

Chasing

Total 264 Chasing QSO have been made and reported.

JA: 235 chasing QSO
JA5: 2 chasing QSO
JA6: 27 chasing QSO
JA8: 0

S2S

Total 161 S2S QSO have been made and reported.

JA: 157 S2S QSO
JA5: 0
JA6: 2 S2S QSO
JA8: 0

Just after the release of the new summits in JA region, Yama to Musen (Mountain and Radio) Group had an annual gathering in Chichibu area in Saitama prefecture. Total 15 members have enjoyed the radio expedition and drinking in the night.

Yama to Musen radio group gathering

Also above is my favourite photo this month - the veiw of Mt Fujiyama from Ashigara.

Toru Kawauchi
toru@kawauchi.homeip.mydns.jp
http://www.kawauchi.homeip.mydns.jp/jh0cjh/blog/

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THE VIEW FROM THE NORTH - 108 By Rob and Audrey G4RQJ

So here we are, end of the year again and a quiet month for us with poor weather on the hills dominating our activities. On the 11th the cloud was low but we wanted a run out but we are beset with road closures in the south of the county. At times near Ulverston it has been taking an hour and a half to travel three miles and near Lindal the same road has been totally closed for several nights. These are both on the A590, the main road in and out of the south of the county and are continuing into the new year, also the A592 and the A593 have their own problems, see recent Pre Planning post for details. We managed to drive up to the foot of the Slate Road, the track that leads up onto the moor, which is quite steep in parts and more or less surfaced. Many folk drive up to the top of the surfaced track, we usually walk, cars cost more than boots! Today the cloud is right down to our start point and gets thicker as we climb and we cross the moor to the little mound that is the summit via the service track past three of the windmills that infest the area. As is normal nowadays the 2m activation is slow due to the shortage of chasers but we decide on no HF today due to the mist and failing light, We have quite a long chat with M6TUE, a new starter from our recent club exam course. He is interested in SOTA but he is a keen fell runner and wonders what sort of kit could be fitted into a bum bag and used from several summits in quick succession. This is a bit outside of our experience being heavy rucksack plodders so wonder if we have any runners who could come up a few tips for him. A small light h/held looks possible but an antenna that fits in a bum bag with no pole to support it looks quite a problem. We also have a quick QSO with G4TJC/P on Kinder Scout, Simon is very cold but held on to catch us, thanks OM.

Been a lot of chat lately about data modes but just can’t come to like them. We tried PSK from summits on the Isle of Wight about ten years ago, what a disaster, the weather was unseasonably warm and in the sunshine the laptop screen was un-viewable. We managed a few contacts with a fleece over the head as cover which was unbearably hot and not a lot of fun. Things have moved on some and we have the capability in the shack but just can’t come to grips with the impersonal nature of it all. On cw I don’t like auto calling etc Just send it by hand and it goes out warts and all. I make mistakes that I try to correct but it’s me and personal. Same is true of the receive side but it’s live. Enough preaching.

What may turn out to be our last summit of the year was a quick trip up Arnside Knott on the 18th of the month. A nice activation with quite a few interested visitors, mostly older couples out for a walk. Once again the response on 2fm was poor with just six contacts in over half an hour but for once lately 5Mhz and 7Mhz played quite nicely.

Today 28th we had the pleasure of working another of our recent trainees Mark M6VMS out on his first SOTA summit Red Screes. He is very keen on SOTA and was using a home brewed ground plane. We heard him work quite a few of the regulars, sure it will not be long before his next outing, it’s addictive.

So that brings us to the end of this years efforts, a strange year weather and conditions wise. Let’s hope for better in the New Year. Thanks to everyone for their support during 2016 we will try to get more activations done during 2017.

So take care out there and A HAPPY NEW YEAR from us both.

Rob and Audrey

G4RQJ

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*********** SOTA NEWS PART 2 FOLLOWS BELOW ********

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SOTA NEWS JANUARY 2017 - Part 2

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SOTA NEW ZEALAND REPORT from Warren ZL2AJ

SOTA Activity Report for November / December 2016

List Summits activated

The last two months, with the onset of summer has seen an increase in SOTA activity. Andrew ZL3CC has been the first to activate a West Coast (ZL3/WC) summit along with activating a summit near Dansey’s Pass and Castle Hill. All 3 summits in different regions. Castle Hill is the highest summit to be activated in New Zealand to date with a height of 1998 mASL. Andrew was also kind enough to take me to Cooper’s Knob ZL3/CB-806 while I was in Christchurch presenting a project report. Thanks Andrew.

Kyle has completed a tour of summits in Auckland and Waikato in late December collecting a total of 11 points. John ZL1BYZ has toured Northland summits collecting 4 activator points during the trip to add to his other activations during the month totaling 15. Wynne ZL2ATH has added 8 activator points to his log but sadly had activation where he failed to make the 4 contacts required to claim the point for ZL1/ WL-103. Reasons for this can vary but include equipment trouble, poor weather or propagation, time constraints or lack of internet connectivity. To help prevent this occurring it is wise to have a ground watch (maybe via a local repeater) to rally contacts, and if the summit has been activated before check with them to be prepared. It can be sole destroying to leave a summit with out 4 contacts in the log.

A particular interesting activation this period came from ZL2MNB Matt who announced he would be activating the Pinnacles ZL1/WK-060 with a VHF handheld radio only. Obtaining 4 contacts with a VHF handheld can be tricky. Especially with a remote summit in the Coromandel ranges. A few of us decided to get up summits ourselves to assist Matt in making his 4 contacts. Myself at ZL1/BP154 near Rotorua, John ZL1BYZ and Jacky ZL1TZW at Puketutu ZL1/WK-158 and John ZL1po at Pukemako (Sanatorium) ZL1/WK-153 managed to give Matt his 4 contacts (all summit to summit). But in the setting up of this, we managed to entice a few others (ZL2KGF, VK3ARR, VK1MA) up summits to collect a few Summit to summit contacts. This was an enjoyable session and we were pleased to be able to help Matt out with his first activation as well as collect a few extra summit to summit points for our own logs.

New year’s activations included John ZL1BYZ at Karioi ZL1/WK-063, Wynne ZL2ATH at Moraonui ZL1/WK-036 and myself at Taraponui ZL1/HB-020. It wasn’t the nicest day for weather or RF so many of my contacts were made with VHF however this was enough to activate the summit twice (once for each UTC year). New year’s day has a special place in SOTA, especially in New Zealand where UTC rollover occurs at 1pm on New year’s day. What this means is if you can collect 4 contacts or more before and after 1pm you can claim twice the points for a single ascent, as each activation is in a different UTC year. As such with many activators out attempting to collect double points, many summit to summit contacts are up for grabs during this period. Spare a thought for the British where UTC rollover occurs at midnight! Likewise, for other parts of the world. Here in New Zealand we are lucky with our timing.

Chasing activity has been heavy in November December with a total of 447 chased contacts. ZL1BYZ’s callsign seems to be appearing in many logs and blog postings around the world. Well done John. You are well on your way to becoming a super shack sloth (10 000 chaser points) having obtained 4381 chaser points to date.

I have been invited onto the SOTA Management Team to assist with SOTA at an international level. I look forward to putting my skills and time into assisting SOTA internationally. In particular, I hope to assist new associations enter the SOTA award scheme.

Unfortunately, the activation list above is not complete for some reason as it appears some activations entered in the last few days of December or early January have not been listed. This includes several activations by Kyle ZL2KGF and all the new year’s day activations. I have raised this with SOTA incase it is a bug they are not aware of, but rest assured your activations are recorded in the database correctly.

Total Summits Activated for Period – 29+
Total number of ZL summits - 5174
Total number of ZL summits activated – 87
Percentage of ZL summits activated – 1.68%
Total ZL Chaser contacts logged for period 447

Warren ZL2AJ

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Winter (without Snow) QSO’s around Europe – Marco HB9ZCW

On 14th December I activated HB/BE-154 with an antenna weighing only 85 grams.

See the link below for a short movie & report. I hope you enjoy….

http://sys-tec.ch/marco/wordpress/amateurfunk/amateurfunk-portable/sota/hbbe/sota-hbbe-154-napf/

Best 73 de Marco, HB9ZCW

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SOTA ON TOP BAND - Mark G0VOF

Hello everyone & welcome to this month’s edition of SOTA on Top Band.

I have a little more activity to report this month, & as this is the last edition of the year some statistics as well.

At the time of writing there were 4 activations during December, with a 5th pending as I write this. The First activation took place on 1st December when John G4YSS (using GX0OOO/P) activated G/NP-003 Burnhope Seat as part of a two summit day out. As John was on this summit shortly after sunrise he started on 160m CW to make the most of conditions. He was rewarded with 2 QSO’s on CW & 2 on SSB with 4 unique stations, thereby qualifying the summit on Top Band.

The second activation came in the afternoon of the 1st when John G4YSS activated his second summit of the day G/NP-007 Wild Boar Fell. Top band was left to the end on this one to take advantage of improved conditions after sunset & John was this time rewarded with 3 QSO’s on CW & 5 QSO’s on SSB again qualifying the summit on 160m. Unfortunatly for me I was involved with our annual stocktake at work so missed both of these activations.

John has provided an excellent report on these activations here:
G4YSS: G/NP-003, G/NP-007 on 01-12-16

The third activation this month, was also carried out by John G4YSS (using GX0OOO/P) although this one was not originally planned. On 18th December John’s original plan had been to activate 3 summits G/NP-013, G/NP-019 & G/NP-018 using only VHF FM, however an equipment failure on G/NP-013 meant that his last summit would only be QRP VHF only activation. Due to the remoteness of the summit John didn’t want to risk an activation using such limited equipment so decided to pack his HF QRO equipment instead. This of course meant a session on Top Band could be included at the end of the activation. Part way through John’s session on 80m SSB I received an email from Roy G4SSH alerting me that John was planning Top Band at the end of the activation so I got permission to leave work & raced home on my motorbike. I was home in 15 minutes & found John just finishing on 1832KHz CW, before he then QSY’s to 1843 KHz SSB. John was easy copy on both modes, despite some QRM on his SSB frequency. John made 4 QSO’s on CW & 7 QSO’s on SSB as by now the sun had well & truly set.

John’s descent from this summit was very eventful & his activation report is well worth reading!
G4YSS: NP13, NP19, NP18 on 15-12-16

The fourth activation this month took place on 17th December when Axel DM2AXL/P tried out a long wire antenna from DM/BM-174 Platte. His fist QSO was with SA4BLM on 1985KHz before he moved up the spectrum to work some DX.

The 5th activation took place on 31st December when John G4YSS did an overnight activation of G/NP-010 Pen-y-ghent. Currently I don’t have any data for this activation although I know John qualified the summit on 160m both sides of midnight thereby earning two sets of activator points & winter bonus points.

Congratulations & well done John & Axel!

At the time of writing, those were the only Top band activation during December that I am aware of, if I have missed any others please let me know.

On 1 December, John GX0OOO/P (G4YSS) Activated G/NP-003 Burnhope Seat & made 4 QSO’s (2 CW / 2 SSB)
On 1 December, John GX0OOO/P (G4YSS) Activated G/NP-007 Wild Boar Fell & made 8 QSO’s (3 CW / 5 SSB)
On 15 December, John GX0OOO/P (G4YSS) Activated G/NP-018 Nine Standards Rigg & made 11 QSO’s (4 CW / 7 SSB)
On 17 December, Axel DM2AXL/P Activated DM/BM-174 Platte & made 1 QSO’s (0 CW / 1 SSB)
On 31 December, John GX0OOO/P (G4YSS) Activated G/NP-010 Pen-y-ghent & made ? QSO’s (? CW / ? SSB)

As promised earlier here are some statistics for 2016. The QSO’s figures do not include those made by John G4YSS on New Year’s eve from G/NP-010 Pen-y-ghent.

Top Band was tried from a total of 26 different summits by 8 activators. The table below shows all successful activations at the time of writing:

The band was also tried by Heinz HB9BCB & Jan OK2PDT but without success, but as activating on Top Band is a challenge in itself, well done both for trying.

As always, If you do have any suggestions on things that you think should be included, or if you wish to contribute tips, ideas or anything else that you think may help others on the band please email them to me at mark@brownhill.demon.co.uk

I wish all of you a Happy & Healthy 2017!

Best 73,

Mark G0VOF

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CW REPORT FOR DECEMBER 2016 - Roy G4SSH

The first weekend of Winter Bonus saw many activations on the air as stations took advantage of the extra bonus points on offer. Geert was on the air from Belgium as ON/PA7ZEE and also from France as F/PA7ZEE and John GX0OOO activated some G/NP summits on the lower bands.

CW Activity for the remainder of the month dropped to a very low level, probably as a result of strong winds/rain, poor propagation conditions, short hours of daylight and the fact that December was a peak month for contests, with 7 and 14 MHz being almost unworkable for SOTA stations at weekends. However, during the first half of the month there was activations from Zoli HA/YO2BP in Hungary, Manuel OE/HB9DQM in Austria, Hans DL/PB2T in Germany, Tonnie ON/PA9CW in Belgium, and Marko OH9XX who remarked that it was “Vy windy with temp -27c” at his location.

Heinz reports being active as EA8/OE5EEP from Gran Canaria Island from Dec 4 to Dec 11. He activated a total of 7 summits and by now has uploaded GPS-tracks and tour descriptions of all these summits to the SOTA Mapping Project. Propagation conditions were mixed. The strongest signals from Europe usually were EA, G/GM or Scandinavian stations. In the afternoons chasers from North America, especially on 15m and 17m, took over. For anybody going to EA8 I recommend to take a vertical for one of these bands in addition to a multi-band dipole. (Tnx Heinz).

Manuel HB0/HB9DQM was in Liechtenstein, Stephan OE/DM1LE was in Austria and Karoly YO/HA8BJ and Feri YO/HA8LLH were in Romania.

John GX0OOO started another round of G/NP summits on 2m FM only, but rig failure forced a return to his car for reserve HF CW equipment (see “Top Band report”).

Special call SO9TA was aired by Sergiy over the weekend of the 18th, Matt was in Lichtenstein as HB0/HB9FVF,and also OE/HB9FVF was active from Austria. Zoran was active as E70AA from Sarajevo in Bosnia, a rare call from a SOTA activator.

On the run up to Christmas David GM0EVV was active from the summits in the GM/SS region of Scotland, using his trade-mark spot frequency of 5.381.5 MHz.

Matt returned to Austria on the 23rd, activating summits as OE/HB9FVF/P, and Feri
YO/HA8LLH/P was active from Romania with Karcsi YO/HA8BJ.

Christmas Day saw Bob EA8/F5HTR active from Fuertevenetura Island in the Canary Islands, Zoran active from Bosnia as E70AA again and Angel active from Spain as EA/M0HDF, accompanied by Guru EA2IF.

Special call S5100SF was again active from Slovenia over the Christmas weekend, Markus was active from Germany as DL/HB9BRJ and Bob EA8/F5HTR continued to call from the Canary Islands during the last week of the year.

The last week also saw activity from France by Kurt as F/HB9AFI, Hans DL/PB2T from Germany, Joaquim EA1/CT7AGT was in Spain and Andy CT9/HB9JOE was in Maderia.

I wish all activators, chasers, SWL’s, and their families, a very Happy New Year and trust that you will reach your personal goals and gain much satisfaction from SOTA in 2017.

73

Roy G4SSH

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SOTA ACTIVITY REPORT FOR DECEMBER 2016 by Kevin G0NUP

Mode: CW on 1.8MHz: activity for December

GX0OOO/P

Mode: CW on 3.5MHz: activity for December

GX0OOO/P

Mode: CW on 7MHz: activity for December

AC0PR, AD5A, AE5KA, AE9Q, AF7VP, CT1DBS/P, CT7AGT/P,
DF3MC/P, DJ2FR, DJ2MX/P, DK4RW/P, DL/PB2T/P, DL4TO/P, DL6FBK/P,
DL9TX/P, EA1/CT1HIX/P, EA1AER/P, EA2IF/P, EA2WX/P, EA5FV/P, EA8/OE5EEP,
F/PA7ZEE/P, F4HOD/P, F4KJQ/P, F5LKW/P, F5PLR/QRP/P, F5UBH/P, F5UKL/P,
F6HBI/P, F8FEO/P, G4CFS/P, G4ISJ/P, G4RQJ/P, GM0EVV/P, GW4ISJ/P,
GX0OOO/P, HA/YO2BP/P, HA2VR/P, HA5AZC/P, HA5LV/P, HA5MA/P, HB0/HB9DQM/P,
HB0/HB9FVF/P, HB9/F5HTR/P, HB9/PB2T/P, HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9AXL/P, HB9BAB/P,
HB9BHU/P, HB9BHW/P, HB9BIN, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P,
HB9CLT/P, HB9DGV/P, HB9DQM/P, HB9DST/P, HB9EWO/P, HB9FVF/P, HB9IAB/P,
HB9IIO/P, HB9TVK/P, HB9TWM, I/F6HBI/P, JA1KHZ/1, JA4RQO/4, JF1NDT/1,
JF1NDT/2, JL1NIE/1, JO3ALU/3, JP3DGT/3, JR0QWW/0, JS1UEH/1, JS1UEH/6,
K1LB, K2JB, K3JZD, K4KPK, K4QS, K6HPX/P, K7ODX,
K7PX, K9PM/P, KE5AKL, KE7BGM, KH7AL, KI0G, KR7RK,
KW4JM, KX0R, KX6A, LA3NGA/P, LA9PJA/P, LZ1GJ/P, LZ2OQV/P,
MM0FMF/P, MW0VFC/P, N0SA, N1AW, N4SFR, N6JZT, N7CW,
NA6MG, NJ7V, NM5TW, NN5K, NS7P, OE/HB9DQM/P, OE/HB9FVF/P,
OE/SP9MA/P, OE5EIN/P, OE6SMF/P, OH2NOS/P, OH9XX/P, OK/SP9MA/P, OK1MLP/P,
OK2BDF/P, OK2PDT/P, OK2PIM/P, OK2PVX/P, ON/PA7ZEE/P, ON/PA9CW/P, ON6ZQ/P,
S51RU/P, S51WX/P, S52AU/P, S52CU/P, S52FT/P, S57X/P, S58R/P,
SP9MA/P, SV1RHL/P, VE2DDZ, VK1DA, VK2GEL, VK2IB/P, VK3ARH,
VK4JAZ, W0CP, W1EJ, W4EON, W4PH, W6/DL6UHA/P, W7USA,
WA2USA/P, WA7JTM, WC9G, WG0AT, WS0TA, YO/HA8BJ/P, YO/HA8LLH,
YO/HA8QW, YO/HG8PQ, YO2BP/P

Mode: CW on 10MHz: activity for December

AC0PR, AD5A, AF7VP, CT1DBS/P, CT7ABE/P, DF3MC/P, DJ2FR,
DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL/PB2T/P, DL4MHA/P, DL4ROB, DL6FBK/P, DL9TX/P, EA2BD/P,
EA2IF/P, EA2WX/P, EA5FV/P, EA8/OE5EEP, EB1EVX/P, F4HOD/P, F4KJQ/P,
F5LKW/P, F5PLR/QRP/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, G4ISJ/P, G4TJC/P, GM4OIG/P,
GW4AZS/P, GW4ISJ/P, HA/YO2BP/P, HA5AZC/P, HA5BV/P, HA5CQZ/P, HA5LV/P,
HB0/HB9DQM/P, HB9/F5HTR/P, HB9/PB2T/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9AXL/P, HB9BAB/P, HB9BIN,
HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BRJ/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9DGV/P, HB9DPR/P,
HB9DQM/P, HB9DST/P, HB9EWO/P, HB9FVF/P, HB9IAB/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9JOE/P,
HB9TVK/P, I/F6HBI/P, JA4RQO/4, JO4GMS/4, JS1UEH/1, K0JQZ, K4QS,
K6HPX, K6HPX/P, K7ODX, K7PX, K9PM/P, KB1KXL, KD7WPJ,
KI0G, KR7RK, KT0A, KX0R, LA1ENA/P, LA3NGA/P, M0BLF/P,
M1BUU/P, MM0FMF/P, N1AW, N4CCB, N7CW, NA6MG, ND7PA,
NJ7V, NN5K, NS7P, OE/DM1LE/P, OE/HB9DQM/P, OE/HB9FVF/P, OE/SP9MA/P,
OE3VBU/P, OE5AUL/P, OH2NOS/P, OH9XX/P, OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2PDT/P,
OM4DW/P, ON/PA7ZEE/P, ON/PA9CW/P, S51J, S51RU/P, S52CU/P, S52FT/P,
S53OM/P, S57X/P, SO9TA/P, SP9MA/P, SV1RHL/P, VK1DA, VK2IB/P,
W1EJ, W4EON, WA2USA/P, WA7JTM, WB0USI, WG0AT, YO2BP/P

Mode: CW on 14MHz: activity for December

AC0PR, AC1Z, AD5A, AE5KA, AF7VP, AI6CU, CT1DBS/P,
CT7ABE/P, CT7AGT/P, DF3MC/P, DJ2MX/P, DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL/PB2T/P, DL4FO/P,
DL4TO/P, DL6FBK/P, E70AA/P, EA1AER/P, EA2BD/P, EA2IF/P, EA2WX/P,
EA5FV/P, EA8/OE5EEP, F4HOD/P, F4KJQ/P, F5LKW/P, F5PLR/QRP/P, F5UKL/P,
F6HBI/P, F8FEO/P, G4ISJ/P, GW4ISJ/P, HA5AZC/P, HA5LV/P, HA5MA/P,
HB0/HB9DQM/P, HB0/HB9FVF/P, HB9/F5HTR/P, HB9/PB2T/P, HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9AXL/P,
HB9BAB/P, HB9BHU/P, HB9BHW/P, HB9BIN, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BRJ/P,
HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CKV/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9DGV/P, HB9DPR/P, HB9DQM/P,
HB9DST/P, HB9EWO/P, HB9FVF/P, HB9IAB/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9JOE/P, HB9TVK/P,
I/F6HBI/P, JA4RQO/4, JF1NDT/1, JF1NDT/2, JG1GPY/1, JH0CJH/1, JL1NIE/1,
JP1QEC/1, JP3DGT/3, JS1UEH/1, K1JD, K1LB, K2JB, K3JZD,
K4QS, K7ODX, K7PX, K9PM/P, KB1KXL, KC1APK, KD7WPJ,
KE5AKL, KG5PFD, KH7AL, KR7RK, KW4JM, KX0R, LA3NGA/P,
LZ1GJ/P, LZ1WF/P, LZ2OQV/P, MW0IDX/P, N0PCL, N0SA, N1AW,
N2GBR, N4SFR, N6JZT, N7CW, N7RR, N7SRG, NA6MG,
ND7PA, NG7A, NJ7V, NN5K, NO6E, NS7P, OE/HB9DQM/P,
OE/HB9FVF/P, OE/SP9MA/P, OE5EEP/P, OE5EIN/P, OE6FEG/P, OE7PHI/P, OH9XX/P,
OK1MLP/P, OK2PDT/P, S5100SF, S51J, S51RU/P, S52AU/P, S52CU/P,
S52FT/P, S57X/P, S58R/P, SO9TA/P, SP9MA/P, SV1RHL/P, VA2VL,
VE2DDZ, VK1DA, VK3ARH, VK4JAZ, VK5CZ, W0CP, W1EJ,
W4EON, W4ZV, W6/DL6UHA/P, W7USA, WA2USA/P, WA6MM, WA7JTM,
WB0USI, WC9G, WG0AT, WS0TA, WX4TW, YO8AZQ/P, YU1CA/P,
Z35M/P, ZL1BYZ

Mode: CW on 18MHz: activity for December

AD5A, CT1DBS/P, CT7ABE/P, EA1CVZ/P, EA8/OE5EEP, F4HOD/P, F5PLR/QRP/P,
F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, HB0/HB9DQM/P, HB9/F5HTR/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9CBR/P,
HB9CGA/P, HB9FVF/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9TVK/P, JF1NDT/1, JF1NDT/2, JG1GPY/1,
JH0CJH/1, JL1NIE/1, JO3ALU/2, JO3ALU/3, JO4GMS/4, JP1QEC/1, JP3DGT/3,
JS1UEH/1, KT0A, OK1MLP/P, S5100SF, S51RU/P, S52CU/P, W0CP,
W6/DL6UHA/P, WA7JTM, WS0TA, WX4TW

Mode: CW on 21MHz: activity for December

AD5A, EA8/OE5EEP, F5PLR/QRP/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, HB9FVF/P, HB9IIO/P,
JA4RQO/4, JF1NDT/1, JF1NDT/2, JH0CJH/1, JL1NIE/1, JO3ALU/2, JO3ALU/3,
JP1QEC/1, JP3DGT/3, JS1UEH/1, K2JB, KR7RK, NS7P, SO9TA/P,
VK2/K1JD, VK3ARR, WA7JTM, ZL1BYZ

Mode: CW on 24MHz: activity for December

HB9IIO/P, JF1NDT/1, JF1NDT/2, JH0CJH/1, WA7JTM

Mode: CW on 28MHz: activity for December

HB0/HB9FVF/P, HB9CBR/P, JF1NDT/1, JF1NDT/2, JH0CJH/1, KR7RK

Mode: CW on 50MHz: activity for December

JI1TLL/1, JN1NCB, JS1UEH/1

Mode: CW on 1240MHz: activity for December

Mode: FM on 28MHz: activity for December

Mode: FM on 50MHz: activity for December

JI1TLL/1, KK4OSG, S56LXN/P

Mode: FM on 1240MHz: activity for December

DG0JMB/P, JN3PDF/3, JS1GRO/1

Mode: SSB on 28MHz: activity for December

9A/S57MS/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9DQM/P, HB9FVF/P, KB9ENS, OE/S57MS/P, S52CU/P,
S56LXN/P, S57MS/P, VK1AD/2, VK1DA, VK1MA/2, VK2IB/P, VK3EQ/P,
VK3YY, VK9NM

Mode: SSB on 50MHz: activity for December

7K1BAE, 9A/S57MS/P, AA0BV, F4ESK/P, I1WKN, JA1KHZ/1, JF1NDT/1,
JF1NDT/2, JG1GPY/1, JH0CJH/1, JH1EWV/1, JI1IKC/1, JI1TLL/1, JK1NRL/1,
JL1BWG/1, JN1NCB, JR1NNL/1, JS1UEH/1, OE/S57MS/P, S56IAA/P, S56LXN/P,
S57MS/P, VK1AD/2, VK9NM

Mode: SSB on 1240MHz: activity for December

Regards
Kevin J Prince G0NUP

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SOTA News is normally published on the last day of each month, but there will be occasions when the Editor is not available at this time, in which case it will be published as soon as possible afterwards. It can only be as interesting as the items submitted, so if you think your particular field of interest is not being covered then please submit an article by the 25th of the month.

Have you a favourite SOTA? favourite mode? favourite rig, antenna, or favourite band? How did you find your first day / month / year as an activator or chaser? Your comments and experiences will be read by enthusiasts all across Europe, the USA, Australia and beyond, in a total of 114 different SOTA associations worldwide. Your input will be most welcome.

We receive many e-mails during the month containing details of activations, milestones reached and general SOTA news. Unless advised otherwise we will use this information in the next edition of SOTA News. It is important therefore that you advise us if any information is not intended for publication.

For ease of processing, please submit your input by e-mail direct to the addresses below and not via the Reflector.

==================================================

Mark G0VOF
SOTA News Editor
mark@brownhill.demon.co.uk

U.S. and Canadian reports to:-
Fred K6DGW/7 [aka “Skip” on the radio]
Canada/US SOTA Reporter Dude
Sparks NV
k6dgw@foothill.net

Australian input to:-
Allen VK3ARH
VK Reporter
VK3ARH@wia.org.au (note the recent change)

New Zealand input to:-
Warren ZL2AJ
warren@zl2aj.com

Japanese reports to
Toru JH0CJH
jh0cjh@jarl.com

South African input to:-
Dennis ZS4BS
zs4bs@netactive.co.za

7 Likes

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the news once again and to you and all contributors, a Happy New Year.

A good Top Band report this time with Axel DM2AXL joining in. The same goes for 2016 in general with six activators having a crack at 160m. That should have the effect of involving more chasers too.

CW has receded somewhat. Let’s hope that changes soon. It remains an important mode for low-power, low-weight operation but I get the impression that its use in the UK is gradually decreasing year on year. Hope I’m wrong. Doing well in the USA though with 58% but mainly SSB in VK it seems.

Looks like Geert had a fabulous holiday. Sadly SOTA hadn’t started in EA8/CG last time I was there. I know what he means about the Nublo rock. I didn’t climb it either!

Seems Rob & Audrey are up against it with road closures. We never had any of that nonsense when I was a lad. The only reason they closed roads then was due to snow on the Pennine passes. I too have noticed reduced activity on 2m-FM. I was afraid I might not qualify NP13 & NP19 in December.

Welcome Mark M6VMS. Hope you get as much out of SOTA as we old hands have. Brilliant hobby.

Can’t think of an antenna that will fit in a waist bag apart from a duck or telescopic. As for a rig; the UV-3R is small and dirt cheap too. I carry one everywhere on a daily basis. Shirt pocket job and only 5 ounces.

Tonnie PA9CW did well to put on six in a day. A lot of driving involved as well as walking. Well done.

I haven’t worked out what minus 5F is but it must be considerably colder that I’ve ever experienced while doing SOTA, 2 foot of snow! You don’t get far in that.

Thanks to Barry handing out all those stickyfoots. Must be a full time job! There are a few I could do with. Haven’t got my shack sloth yet.

Many thanks to all of the MT members for another year organising out fantastic pastime.
HNY to all and thanks to the many supporters of GX0OOO/P activations thru’ 2016.
73 John G4YSS

1 Like

@Geert, PA7ZEE: You will find some more “no go” summits on Gran Canaria. Some of the summits in the South West are within the “Reserva Natural Especial de Güigüi” where you are supposed to stay on marked trails. There are no trails to some of the summits, eg GC-013 and GC-019, although the later one seems to be accessible from a nearby trail.

Regarding the Zona Militare around EA8/GC -027, Montaña del Faro, I have written to the Regional SOTA Manager, but so far no reply. Geert, if you find a way to access this area please let us know! This summit could be easily reached from the tourist hotspot of Las Palmas and it has a nice take-off to both, Europe and North Amerika.

We plan to return to EA8 in fall of 2017 but after two vacations on Gran Canaria we will likely go to a different island next time. Tenerife or Fuerteventura are on the top of our list.

@Mark, G0VOF: Thank you for your inspiring report about SOTA on Top Band. You got me hooked and I pledge to join and activate on top band in 2017! Just have to get the antenna issue sorted out. I have a full-size dipole for 80m with twin lead feeder. I will try to tune it to 160m either as dipole or tied together as a vertical. Let’s see which load the internal tuner of the KX3 will cover.

73 Heinz, OE5EEP

HNY to all SOTA participants and thanks for the SOTA News.
I believe there is a small typo in the table

“SOTA End of Year totals 2016

Summits Activated – All Time” :

OK9PKM on 17th position should really be OK8PKM

73, Ruda OK2QA

Hi Ruda,

It looks like you are correct, I have now amended the table.

Thanks & 73,

Mark G0VOF