SOTA News May 2017

SOTA NEWS MAY 2017 - Part 1 of 2

Editorial - by Mark G0VOF

Welcome to the May 2017 edition of SOTA News. My thanks go to the following contributors:- Barry GM4TOE, Skip K6DGW, Roy G4SSH, Kevin G0NUP, Rob and Audrey G4RQJ, Warren ZL2AJ, Toru JH0CJH, Luc ON7DQ, Geert PA7ZEE, Viki M6BWA, Pauloi CT2IWW Bob F5HTR, Phil G4OBK.

73, Mark G0VOF

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The April 2017 edition of SOTA News was viewed more than 1100 times.

SOTA AWARDS April 2017 from Barry GM4TOE - SOTA Awards Manager.

Deciding to issue emailed certificates free of charge has resulted in an overwhelming demand which has resulted in inevitable delays. The following list illustrates the extent of new claims, more than double last month!

Congratulations to Vicki, M6BWA, who has achieved Mountain Goat based on UHF (70cm) contacts only; that is a really remarkable achievement. Congratulations also to HB9CBR, W7USA, DL4MHA, VK2HRX and VK3ANL for also reaching the 1000 points level. There are numerous Shack Sloths this month, forgive me for not including a name check here.

Following a long period without any claims for the Microwave Award this month there have been two, both on 23cm. Congratulations to G4AZS and G7HEM. How soon before I have a claim for the same award on 13cm – there are a group of GM’s who know what I am talking about!

Trophies Issued

Mountain Goat
M6BWA Vicki Archard (All UHF)
HB9CBR Bruno Ackermann
W7USA Raymond P Sara
VK2HRX Compton Allen
VK3ANL Nicholas Lock

Shack Sloth
N5ZC Rich Thorne

Certificates Issued

Activator
DG0JMB Joerg Brueckner 5000 points
VK2HRX Compton Allen 1000 points
VK3ANL Nicholas Lock 1000 points
DL4MHA Wolfgang Renner 1000 points
LZ1GJ Yani Petkov Ganchev 500 points
LZ1GJ Yani Petkov Ganchev 250 points
YO8AZQ Adrian Done 250 points
YO8SSH Sebastian Hojbota 100 points
LZ1GJ Yani Petkov Ganchev 100 points
YO8SDF Lacramiora_Tatiana Clucerescu 100 points
G0POT Michael Sansom 100 points
KN4BKS Elizabeth Burns 100 points
DK6HS Sven Hammer 100 points

Chaser
NS7P Phillip Shepard 75k points
NQ7R Thomas Kramer 5000 points
N5ZC Rich Thorne 1000 points
KC5BG Mike Emerson 1000 points
K6MW Mike Wood 1000 points
KD0IPI Jim Alders 1000 points
M6BWA VIcki Archard 1000 points
YO8SSH Sebastian Hojbota 500 points
YO8AZQ Adrian Done 500 points
YO8SDF Lacramiora_Tatiana Clucerescu 250 points
YO8SSH Sebastian Hojbota 250 points
KK6ABZ Jan Pettit 250 points
VK4HNS Neil Shand 250 points
KP4RV Rafael Bonano 250 points
LZ2OQ Georgi Aleksov 250 points
YO8SDF Lacramiora_Tatiana Clucerescu 100 points
KK6ABZ Jan Pettit 100 points
KG7FOP Roland Simmons 100 points
KE0FQS Michael B. Kingsbury 100 points
YO8SST Tatiana Done 100 points
VK4HNS Neil Shand 100 points
KP4RV Rafael Bonano 100 points

Summit to Summit
WA7JTM Pete Scola Platinum
HB9BQB Guido Giannini Silver
M6BWA Vicki Archard Silver
LZ1GJ Yani Petkov Ganchev Bronze
LZ1GJ Yani Petkov Ganchev Red
YO8SSH Sebastian Hojbota Red

Mountain Hunter
WC9G Ron Burns Platinum
MI0RTY Martin Strawbridge Gold
G0UUU Phil Earnshaw Bronze
KE0FQS Michael B. Kingsbury Bronze
KK6ABZ Jan Pettit Bronze
LZ2OQ Georgi Aleksov Bronze
LZ2HT Ivan Todorov Bronze

Mountain Explorer
WC9G Ron Burns Bronze
F5UBH Christophe Toullec Bronze
YO8SSH Sebastian Hojbota Bronze

SOTA Complete
F5UBH Christophe Toullec 100 summits

Microwave Award
G4AZS Adrian Bayling 150 km 23 cm
G7HEM Mike Hartley 100 km 23 cm

The massive number of claims for certificates has rather dominated my work this month – it is rapidly becoming a serious job – so there have been inevitable delays. I cannot see this situation becoming better so the turnaround times may be rather extended. I also ran out of blanks for Mountain Goat trophies, these are on order and should be with me in the first week of May. Just to add to my woes I ran out of Mountain Goat embroidered badges (having just taken delivery of a large stock of regular ones). Delivery of these may well be extended.

Thank you to the people who have made donations this month. These have countered the loss of income from issuing certificates free of charge so we can continue to provide the online data facilities.

I have replenished my stock of hats and have introduced a Heather Grey ski hat and Red and Olive baseball caps to the existing range. All colours are now in stock although I am phasing out the Navy Blue ski hat as it has not sold very well. Stocks of Polo Shirts are also running down and will not be replaced; I will try to list what is still available on the reflector.

The Rally in Blackpool allowed several of you to purchase SOTA merchandise on the stand and I (along with GM4COX) will be at the Scottish Rally at Braehead on 7th May with a range of stock. If there is something you are particularly wanting and would like to save on the (exorbitant) postage then let me know in advance and I will bring it with me.

Stay safe on the hills

73

Barry GM4TOE
SOTA Awards Manager

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NORTH AMERICAN REPORT from Skip K6DGW

Hi All,

We’re going to skip the statistics for North America this month, between two computers, one of which is behaving like a teenager right now, I can’t find the Perl script or directories to run it. Getting the statistics will pop to the top of the To-Do list for next month. Meanwhile, I need to get this into Mark, so thus encouraged …

Sadly, Guy, N7UN, reported that Jim Rodenkirch, K9JWV, has become a Silent Key. Guy’s note: "Some folks may have seen the announcement that Jim, K9JWV, has become a SK. Jim was involved early in 2009 with Stu/KI6J in the setup of SOTA for W6, W0C, W7A, and W7U. It was these early “seed” summits from KI6J that launched SOTA in the Western States. See qrz.com for a short biography of Jim.

RIP Jim! Thanks for your early contributions to SOTA!"

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS: Bob, AC1Z, reports that he has exceeded 20,000 Chaser Points in the W1 Association. He actually achieved this in February of this year but unfortunately, the stage coach travels slowly out here on the Western Frontier.

Richard, N2GBR, reported his first activation, Cross Mountain, W3/PD-008. With high QRN on both 40 and 20, and an inability to get a spot out on his cell phone, he moved to CW, called CQ SOTA several times, and RBN took care of the spot for him, leading to about 10 QSO’s before the rain started.

With the first activation under his belt, he went on to activate Priest, Sharp Top Mt, Apple Orchard, and High Knob, all in W4V, over a 2 day excursion.

Rob, AE7AP reports that Vick, K7VK, got to Double Sloth this month in the W7M Association.

NEWS: Quite a bit this month —

Elliott, K6EL, our representative on the SOTA MT, reported from San Francisco:

“The March edition of QST magazine, at page 78, lists SOTA first among programs to consider for NPOTA who wish to stay active (inset on that page). I plan to email several dozen of the top NPOTA activators with an invitation to advise us if they want to tag along with a SOTA activation in their area, or to receive advice on equipment and easy summits. Can anyone think of a downside to mentioning this Yahoo group in the process?” [Ed note: Elliott is referring to the NASOTA Yahoo group and apparently no one found a downside].

He also commented that SOTA has received a great deal of free publicity in QST in the last year or so, which included a cover photograph and a cover photograph on the new ARRL Handbook! The current QST issue features “Take it outside” as a theme as well which may conjure up SOTA to a few.

From Guy, N7UN: “Paul/W6PNG and Guy/N7UN are planning to spend a week in W0C activating and visiting local folks. One key goal is to participate in the Rocky Mtn Rendezvous weekend. It would be great to get a lot of SOTA folks to “vacation” during this time and, of course, have some fun. Generally we try to meet at least one day for a SOTA party! Mark your calendars!”

— Aug 5-6: NA SOTA Rocky Mtn Rendezvous + Colorado 14er Event + W7 SOTA Activity Weekend + ARRL UHF (222MHz+) Contest

From Matt, K0MOS: “Thanks to the Summit and MT team, Colorado increased the number of SOTA qualifying summits by a total of 61 summits [27 brand new summits, 37 new summits due to prominence change (500 ft to 492 ft), and 3 deleted summits due to prominence failure]. You can now choose between 1805 high altitude summits. SOTA DB is up-to-date. W0C-SOTA.ORG and a new W0C Arm will be updated/posted soon.”

SUMMITS: Guy, N7UN, for the NA SOTA Summits Team dropped a note:

“During the March 2017 SOTA MT meeting, we agreed to try to be more transparent about existing “work-in-progress (WIP) “ efforts to bring new Associations into the SOTA framework.”

“For the USA, we are very fortunate to have USGS data that provides summits names, elevations, lat/longs, and a calculated prominence and lat/longs of the col/saddle. This data makes it quite “easy” to update or initialize new Associations.”

“For Canada, Central America, and South America it is not that easy. For the most part, the SOTA Summits Team can do a preliminary terrain analysis using SRTM tools that feed a GIS application to build a candidate summit list. That summit list must be verified against detailed digital maps which can be very problematic and time consuming.”

“For North America, Iowa is the last potential Association for which we are trying to recruit a local AM. The following is the NA and SA current list of WIP projects:”

"Initial Inquiry Stage:

  1. VE3 , VE4, and VE5: Need a local AM
  2. CE Chile, CX Uruguay, PY Brazil, LU Argentina

Summit List in Production or Verification

  1. TI Costa Rica
  2. XE Mexico
  3. VO1 and VO2 Newfoundland and Labrador

Finalizing ARM and SL docs

  1. VY0 Yukon (Target for a 1 May launch)

As a final note, the SOTA Summits Team is actively looking for help in bringing these new associations on-line. If you have very good Excel and Word capabilities, please let us know. We need help!"

Elliott, K6EL, added to this that he has a volunteer for AM for Iowa but the two “peaks” are very flat and don’t look like peaks from a distance which will impact the vertical height of the activation zones.

Continuing from Guy:“In 2009 and 2010, most of the W5 and W7 SOTA North America Associations were set up by one Association Manager with the understanding that as in-state, local SOTA participants emerged, a local AM would be appointed. A number of the early W7 Associations have been transitioned to local, in-state folks.” Effective today [4/15/2017], W5N, W5O, and W5A will gain new Association Managers who will be announced shortly. We want to thank Mike, KD5KC, for his early work in establishing these three Associations."

EVENTS: From Gerald, G4OIG, a reminder: “After the success of the November 2016 NA<>EU S2S event, I have put forward Saturday 13th May 2017 for a second event with a projected time frame of 12:00 to 18:00UTC to suit a spread of activity across the States. The propagation predictions are unfortunately rather poor for the coming months and we are also within the major contesting season. On 13th May 2017 we will have to contend with the CQ-M contest. However, alternatives appear to be few and far between and virtually any date is likely to coincide with some contest activity.”

“I hope that a good number of stations can be QRV on both sides of the pond. Having the ability to run more than just a few watts will certainly help out. In the longer term, my suggestion is that we aim for another event on 18th November 2017. Diaries at the ready!I hope we can make some good contacts on 13th May. If you don’t try, you don’t get.” [For those not fluent in Oxford English, “diaries” roughly equates of our Station Notebooks … you do keep one, right? EU<->NA is reminiscent of Marconi’s first transatlantic tests].

In the "Heads-Up department: “Scott WA9STI of Los Angeles, CA, is travelling to Ireland for the first time with his XYL KB6LAS. He hopes to do a SOTA as EI/WA9STI on EI/IS-127 in Dingle on May 24 or May 25. An Alert has been posted but would appreciate any Spots if he is heard.”

REPORTS:

We have had several activation reports, I have room for a couple of short ones:

This possibly should have been in the Achievements section … from Bill, W4HBK on 17 m: “I’ve been trying some time now for a JA QSO but the path is very difficult from the East Coast for QRP and vanishing sunspots. But I finally made it with JI1IHV last week giving him a report of 329 for my first Asia. As it turns out he was running 40W with the help of a solar panel…the extra power did the trick.”

From Ron, AE7AP in W7M: “Things are still slow in W7M. The snowpack is nearing its peak in the high country & beginning to melt in the lower areas. Many of the 4-point summits are now relatively snow-free. April saw a total of 5 activations in W7M by Rob-AE7AP, Bill-N7MSI & Vick-K7VK. The Montana chasers were active – Vick-K7VK achieved “Double-Sloth” in April. We’re ½-way through our 4-month Montana spring!”

Spring is coming to Northern Nevada about as fast as we’re inching our way to metric. Lots of snow in the Carson and Sierra Ranges, it’s going to melt, we’re downhill from it, and last I checked, water and everything else runs downhill. Andrea and I can swim.

73,

Fred (“Skip”) K6DGW
Sparks NV USA
Washoe County DM09dn
NA SOTA Reporter Dude

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UHF Mountain Goat at last on 2 April 2017 - Viki M6BWA

When M0JLA discovered in 2009 that he was entitled to a full licence he wanted to carry a radio on the hills and soon discovered the challenge of SOTA. I then studied and gained a Foundation Licence in December 2010 on the ‘if you can’t beat’em then join ‘em’ principle but decided I only wanted to carry the lightest and simplest possible equipment (any idea of CW was/is quite beyond me). After 3+ years and a lot of hard work (and fun) the VHF Mountain Goat was reached and going up hills still seemed to be enjoyable but it was time to look for a new challenge.

I decided to start trying to qualify all my SOTA summits with 70cm fm as well as 2m in March 2014, after the end of the winter bonus season, as I wanted to find something to do whilst waiting for M0JLA to finish on HF. The kit is a VX-7R, max power 5w which is fine as I am restricted to 10w. I usually use a 2m Sotabeam dipole which seems to work even better on 70cm. I did try a j-pole last year whilst up in Scotland and sometimes this can be better as it is on a fishing pole and thus higher but, after some extensive trials, I reverted to the dipole (although I have lashed it high up on a fishing pole before now!) I can change frequency at the flick of a button (if I hit the right one!). Very occasionally I have 2 radios with me and have to just remember which one is on which band. Mynydd Eppynt (GW/SW-018) is not one of the easiest summits to qualify even if you are calling on the radio which is actually attached to the aerial!!

I nearly always call (and qualify if I can) on 2m fm first and ask every caller if they can work 70cm (usually on 433.475) as well, as I know that getting 4 on 70cm can be difficult - and sometimes impossible. When the main 2m pile-up has died down (if there was one!) I QSY to 70cm after promising that I will return to my 2m frequency as soon as possible. On 70cm I get, if I’m lucky, enough of my 2m chasers to qualify but often it seems to be 3 - and sometimes nil. I nearly always go quickly to 433.500 to see if I can pick up any listeners (G3XEV is the most likely person to be found - thanks John) but any answer is rare. Then I’m back to my 2m frequency and then the 2m calling channel - with a special plea for 70cm if I’m short of contacts. I do occasionally get pile-ups on 70cm (Titterstone Clee and Stiperstones come to mind) and can get 17 or more contacts but this is not frequent. My current record is 22 contacts on 70cm on my UHF Mountain Goat day on 2 April 2017 when I had done some extensive SOTA advertising – and the sun was shining brightly! I was operating from Waun Fach GW/SW-002, the top of the Black Mountains which are just over the Welsh Border and the 7 70cm S2S ranged from the western Brecon Beacons GW/SW-003 and Plynlimon GW/MW-001 to near Birmingham G/CE-002, Gloucester G/CE-001, Ludlow G/WB-012 and the Forest of Dean G/WB-012. Other contacts included Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Llandrindod Wells with the furthest, probably, G0BIN at Bedworth NE of Coventry. Not bad for 70cm on 5w with a dipole as I never got round to erecting the 70cm beam I was carrying as it didn’t seem to be necessary to qualify the hill! A quick look at my summit to summit log shows a couple of 70cm contacts at 160km and 170km (G/LD-019 High Raise to GW/NW-026Mynydd Mawr) but on 2m there are a handful of 250+km S2S with the winner on 7/9/2016 GW/SW-016 Ysgyryd Fawr, near Abergavenny, to G/TW-002 Drake How Cringle Moor on the N Yorkshire Moors – a distance of 309km!

As we all know, it is only a small percentage of the British population who have an amateur radio licence and even fewer of those who will answer a SOTA call on any frequency. When you add in the limited range of 70cm (or even 2m) then things get more difficult and the less that a band is used then the fewer people will actually bother to listen. I remember a contact on 2m with an amateur in Milford Haven who said he liked to listen out on that band but only heard any activity about twice a month! Then there are the people who ‘didn’t bother to reconnect the 70cm radio when they rearranged the shack’ or when the aerial blew down or even (from one of my precious 70cm contacts near Cross Hands) “I bought a new radio and this one doesn’t work on 70cm at all – sorry!” Also common is ’the radio does do 70cm but I haven’t got a clue how to get there (and what is the calling frequency if I actual get it to work??)’. I have even had contacts go and read the manual (What! Isn’t that against the rules in any hobby??) and then successfully talk to me – to their surprise. I continue to be amazed and heartened by the pains that some listeners will take to try to help me qualify a summit. They have telephoned friends, run upstairs to get the aerial higher, taken the dog (and the radio) for a walk up the hill to see if we can talk – even got in the car and driven for some miles to get to a spot with better reception. They are a great bunch of people the 2326 different people I have spoken to (OK the statistic is ‘call signs’ but the number of individuals won’t be much lower) during my nearly 6+ years of activating. I won’t call them chasers as the majority of people I speak to are not collecting points and thanking me for a new summit. They are mostly ‘real’ people who know they may be helping me to get points by answering/friendly listeners who think they’ll have a chat and hear what she is up to/bored whilst doing a task and think they’ll have a short natter – and sometimes, a Sir Galahad or two who comes to rescue me when I plead for just one more call sign for 20 mins or so and they want to help me (or to get me to shut up!) Certainly in February this year my 4th 70cm on Mynydd Llangorse (GW/SW-015) came after 30 mins of calling, just as I was standing up to take down the rig as I was cold and wet and couldn’t bang my head against the wall of silence any longer. It was then that 2W0MFD (Terry from Brecon) turned on the radio and galloped to the rescue. I was still cold and wet but a lot happier thanks to that last contact.

Meanwhile whether you are in the shack, the car or on a hill, don’t forget that your cheap handy may well work on 70cm and make the contact - especially if you poke it out the window, get out of the car or even run to the top of the house and put the fishing pole out of the window (thanks for the many difficult contacts G0TDM, John!) Each time I travel to a different area (eg Snowdonia, Lake District, Arran etc) I tend to speak to a different set of people as I use only 2m and 70cm, unlike those using HF (and more power) who may well talk to the same chasers from almost anywhere in Britain (conditions permitting). This may explain the large number of different callsigns worked and go some way to excuse my inability to remember callsigns or names (and write them down correctly!) What I do remember is a contact in May 2016 from Arran to GM0FSZ Eric in Girvan who found that his 70cm set was still on my favourite frequency (433.475) from when we had last talked during my visit to Northern Ireland a year earlier! Come on the rest of you. Give the 70cm band a try and you might well be listening when, in despair, I call on 433.500.

I look forward to the QSO!

Viki M6BWA

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May OK SOTA tour – Phil G4OBK & Victor GI4ONL

On 3rd May Victor GI4ONL and Phil G4OBK will meet at midday at Stansted Airport and take a flight to Brno which is in the south west corner on the Czech Republic near to Austria. This will be a 5 day SOTA Tour of the summits west north west of Brno. OK/JM-065 will be activated in the evening of the arrival day with the tour operation proper starting properly on the 4th May.

Target area around Brno

We will both use Elecraft KX2 10 watt transceivers with link dipole aerials, concentrating on the 20m, 30m and 40m bands. An HB1B will be carried as a backup radio. You can expect to hear us operating from around 30 summits over 5 days, before returning to the UK on 8th May. We have been working with Jan OK2PDT who have given us some useful advice on summit access in his local area.

With a tight schedule we do not expect to be operating on any summit for longer than 30 minutes, before moving on to the next one. Chasers can expect the operation to be around 75% CW and 25% SSB, with the most likely SSB operation to be by G4OBK on the 20m band.

Phil G4OBK & Victor GI4ONL

73 from Phil & Victor

SOTA NEWS FROM JAPAN by Toru JH0CJH

In April, its SAKURA (Cherry blossoms) season in Japan. This spring temperature is very low and it was slow start of spring. But this makes long lasting of SAKURA flowers and we enjoyed it very much. SOTA Japan Activities are increased in this month by the spring season start.

From 11 to 20 April, famous SOTA activators HB9JOE Andy and HB9FPM Eva have visited Japan with JA call sign JJ1CKD and JJ1CKE. They got JA operation license using JA-CEPT bilateral agreement of Ham Radio operation between JA and CEPT registered countries, that has been taken into effect from December 2016. I believe these licenses are the first case that made into effect through this new JA-CEPT scheme. As per this license, Andy and Eva made several SOTA activation in Japan.

13 April Mt. Ooyama JA/KN-006

15 April Mt. Kintokiyama JA/KN-007

16 April Mt. Darumayama JA/SO-051

During this time Eva HB9FPM completed 2000 Mountain Goat award. Congratulations!

One week after these Andy and Eva’s activation, we had a NA-JA S2S parties on 22, 23 April. This weekend was NA QRPTTF/SOTA event day. Then we expected many S2S QSO between JA and NA, also with DX but the condition was not the best one and very few DX QSO have been reported. We wish to set up another S2S party in near future.

SOTA activities in April 2017 in Japan as of 30 April 2017.

Activation

Total 172 Activations with 1809 QSO have been made and reported.

JA: 167 activations with 1718 QSO from Summits
JA5: 0
JA6: 5 activations with 91 QSO from Summits
JA8: 0

Chasing

Total 367 Chasing QSO have been made and reported.

JA: 345 chasing QSO
JA5: 0 chasing QSO
JA6: 22 chasing QSO
JA8: 0

S2S

Total 183 S2S QSO have been made and reported.

JA: 175 S2S QSO
JA5: 0
JA6: 8 S2S QSO
JA8: 0

The number of Activation increased 28.4%, Chaser increased 46.2% and S2S increased 34.5% compare with last month.


Toru Kawauchi
toru@kawauchi.homeip.mydns.jp
JH0CJH / JA1CTV業務日誌 Just call me!

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SOTA NEW ZEALAND REPORT from Warren ZL2AJ

SOTA Activity Report for March / April 2017

List Summits activated

First for the March / April ZL SOTA report, an activation report from Jackie ZL2WA

Mangatangi Summit, Hunua, ZL1/WK-136 activated on 21.04.17 and 22.04.17

"This was only my second SOTA summit activated and I enjoyed it immensely. The weather was perfect for walking up to the summit. OM John, ZL1BYZ and myself set off along the track, sometimes very steep but quite manageable for a shack sloth like myself. John, being the fitter (and with longer legs!), forged ahead at a fairly quick pace, with me trailing behind. We used hand-held 2m sets to keep in touch and so I didn’t get lost, my sense of direction is embarrassingly bad.

The views along the way were beautiful, with native bush and views of the immense Mangatangi Dam. Once at the top, John and found a suitable area to set up the antenna, a linked dipole offering 20, 17 and 15m, with hook-on bits for 40m. He had the trusty Elecraft KX3 up and running and put the call out for contacts and spotted us on SOTA watch. I made three contacts on 2m and one on 40m before the utc roll-over. The magic four contacts were just made in time; thank you to the four ZL’s who came to my rescue! I made another five contacts on the new day – 4 VK’s and one ZL, all on 17m. I was very pleased with my results, and John was equally happy with his 15 contacts too. It was time to roll up the dipole and pack away all the equipment for the trek back down the hill and to the car. Thanks to all the chasers who made it a successful activation."

de ZL1WA
Jacky Shaw

Jacky and John are active chasers, and regularly activate summits in and around the greater Auckland area. It was great to work both Jackie and John on their summits during this weekend.

During this report period, I had a work trip to Wellington and managed to activate 4 summits during this visit. One of the summits was a joint activation with Ben ZL4BEN and Wynne ZL2ATH. It was a pleasure to be able to meet these two gents for the first time. Wynne is an active sotateer in the Wellington region, and Ben is a keen young ham looking at starting out with SOTA.

As the days get shorter and the weather a little less predictable it is important to remember that as well as packing your radio equipment and food, make sure you take warm clothing on your trek. Bonus point season is about to begin. For ZL1, summits over 1200 mASL from 1st June to 15th September attract 3 bonus points due to the extra difficulty posed by often snow covered summits. No one has claimed bonus points in ZL1 yet. For ZL3, summits over 1100 mASL from 1st June to 30th September attract 3 bonus points for the same reason. Only Andrew ZL3CC has claimed bonus points from his activation of ZL3/CB570 last winter. The bonus points are not a motivator to take extra risks – safety first especially when conditions are extreme.

Chaser activity is up this period which signals an increase in interest from the amateur community in this award. Activation activity is down but only slightly and that is not unexpected when put beside the holiday period in January. If you are planning an activation, please make sure others know. Set an alert on www.sotawatch.org and let local hams in the area know to keep a listening watch. A post on our facebook group is also helpful, to give you the best opportunity to have a successful activation.

An audit of our summit list identified a few duplicate summits, 2 in ZL1 and 2 in ZL3. They have now been removed. We also added 14 new summits to ZL3 bringing the total count for ZL to 5184 summits. Only 111 summits have been activated, however that does not stop you from reactivating a summit to claim the points from a summit that has already been activated by another rham. In fact you can activate a summit as often as you like, but you can only claim the points from the summit once per UTC year.
I will be presenting a SOTA talk at this years conference in Rotorua. I hope to see / have seen many of you there.

Total Summits Activated for Period – 25
Total number of ZL summits – 5184
Total number of ZL summits activated – 111
Total ZL Chaser contacts logged for period 585

Regards,
73’s ZL2AJ Warren.

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THE VIEW FROM THE NORTH - 112 By Rob and Audrey G4RQJ

Very little for us to report this month due to Audrey’s continuing knee problem. she can walk reasonably long distances on the flat but up and down is still giving problems although improving. We can’t risk it just yet but soon we will try a suitable hill, not easy to find in this part of the country.

Main excitement for us has been the annual Norbreck Rally which as always was very well attended by Sota aficionados. Great to meet up with old friends and to make new ones previously only voices on the air, particularly Esther and Jan, GI0AZA and GI0AZB all the way from Ireland. and the usual group up from Wales. Colin,M1BUU’s rig, built on the summit before his contact taking him over the 1000 points mark was on show and produced a good number of complements from visitors. Roy G4SSH was presented with something special, more on that in a future edition of the SOTA News. This Rally was the usual busy interesting and pleasurable event, so busy indeed that we bought nothing (a first) and did not even get to see Mickey 2E0YYY’s stall, Sorry mate, next time.

Locally the A592 through Bowness down to Newby Bridge has awakened from its winter slumber (Shut both ways) for months which was so popular that the highways people are having a repeat performance at the end of the year. Good news the suggested diversion is only 40 miles extra.

The weather at the end of the month has been unseasonable with snow on high ground and high winds to help. Viki M6BWA and Rod M0JLA have had some very cold wintery days during their spring visit to this part of the world .
The highlight of my (Rob’s)activities was standing on top of some stepladders in the garden, one hand on the fence and the other holding a handheld trying unsuccessfully to work them on 70cms from Illgill Head, 51 with me but no go. We did meet successfully on 2M later.

Nothing further but we will be back! meanwhile,

Take care out there.

73
Rob and Audrey
G4RQJ

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

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SOTA NEWS MAY 2017 - Part 2

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SOTA France – Bob F5HTR

Hi to all !

Two months ago, the French association was split into two associations F and FL. Some bugs were in the system, but now most of them are now fixed. Thanks to Andy and the team for achieving success with this. This new association “FL” gives a lot of interest to the foreign activators. From beginning of February, we have seen several multi SOTA expeditions in Vosges’s mountains and north of France (F/PA9CW/p, F/ON4UP/p, F/DL3RBF/p, HB9BQU/p, F/N3II/p, F/HB9AFI/p). This month the number of activations are increasing to more than 100! It looks like a good evolution.

Some of you already contacted TM10SOTA? About 954 QSO have been done this month in all kind of mode, all QRG (49 DXCC). All the qso are confirmed by E-qsl (254), LOTW system and QRZ.com (54). No paper QSL according to the IARU rules.
If you did not qso yet ! You will get other opportunities to work TM10SOTA in July 2017.

  • 8/9.07.2017 (2 days)
  • 14/16.07.2017 (3 days)
  • 22/23.07.2017 (2 days)
  • 29/30.07.2017 (2 days)

TM10SOTA is a special call to celebrate the 10th year of SOTA in France. About 16 operators are authorized to use this call. Do not worry if you listen TM10SOTA at the same moment on different bands or modes. It is authorized to get multi signal from different places.

About the summit database, Gérald (F6HBI) has worked on the TK list which is now OK. It will be soon be updated on the SOTA website. Gérald and I also have listed all summits for the FM (Martinique Island) and FG (Guadeloupe Archipel). Soon you could plan holidays onto these marvelous islands!! The update is planned soon. Thanks to our referent ON6ZQ in helping us in our job to define all summits.
If you planned to hike in France, do not forget that the web site of IGN is the reference. You will find all maps on : https://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/

Also, you can find on the website of SOTA-FRANCE, all the summits lists by department : http://www.sota-france.fr/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=134&mnuid=72&tconfig=0
You will find on this page, a F6ENO’s software to write and convert your logs into database format :
http://www.sota-france.fr/pages/programmes/SAISIE_SOTA/Saisie_SOTA_setup.zip

Best regards to all
F5HTR
Bob

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

SOTA Portugal – Paulo CT2IWW

Over three dozen headed for the hills and new milestone reached on SOTA Portugal´s Day
On April first, over 30 Portuguese activators headed up to the hills to commemorate SOTA Portugal´s sixth anniversary. Despite the terrible HF conditions, hundreds of contacts were made over a wide swath of radio spectrum, practically from HF up to the microwaves. Whilst participating on the event, Nuno Freitas, CT2IUV, racked up the last points needed to apply for the coveted “Mountain Goat” award. This makes him the first Portuguese amateur radio operator to achieve this distinction.
As per the organization, these are the stats for the second edition of this event:
· 32 activating stations
· 13 summits activated
· Over 600 contacts
· Bands from 40m up to 23cm
· Most contacts made on 2 and 20m
· Most used modes where FM (2m) and SSB
· One activation in digital mode
· And 27 participation digital diplomas distributed

CR7AKX CT ES 005 G.jpg - Sofia Ferreira on CT/ES-005 as part of a group activation

CT1END CT ES 007 C.jpg - Carlos Nora activating CT/ES-007

CT2IUV CT2IWW CT DL 005 B.jpg - Nuno Freitas (l) CT2IUV and Paulo Teixeira (r) CT2IWW on CT/DL-005. Cameraman is Joaquim Baldaia, CT7AGT.

SOTA Portugal´s IV Annual Meeting scheduled for May
The city of Valença do Minho, in the northern district of Viana do Castelo, will be home for this year´s SOTA Portugal´s annual gathering. The event, which will take place on May 20th and 21st, is hosted by the local amateur radio club Associação de Radioamadores do Alto Minho (ARAM).
Besides a series of talks over several topics, the participants will join a guided visit to a historic fortress on Saturday and will head out to jointly activate one or more local summits, on Sunday.
More information is available at ARAM´s website: ARAM - Associação de Radioamadores do Alto Minho

Final note
For those planning one or more outings onto the hills in Portugal over the next few months, please play close attention to the weather conditions and specifically to warnings regarding forest fires.
So far, spring has been very dry and unusually warm and there´s been a rash of fires all over but mostly towards the north of the country. If these conditions prevail for the next 4 to 5 weeks we might be in for a rather problematic summer season. Make sure you prepare ahead and contact local hams for advice on conditions, before heading out.

Have fun but, above all, be safe!

Paulo Teixeira, CT2IWW

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

EA6 Mallorca SOTA tour – Luc ON7DQ

Hello SOTA friends,

I’m on holiday on Mallorca EA6, from May 7 till May 21, 2017.
I’ll try to do as many summits as possible, and under the motto
“a summit a day, keeps the doctor away”, this is a preliminary list :

For the moment, this would be my list (all summits have the prefix EA6/ of course) :

Sunday May 7
MA-060, Santa Magdalena, toghether with Ricardo, EA6AIF
Monday May 8
MA-052, Puig de Maria
Tuesday May 9
MA-017, Puig d’Alaró
Wednesday May 10
MA-053, Puig de son Seguí
Thursday May 11
MA-036, Puig d’Alpare and/or MA034, Puig de Ferrutx
Friday May 12
MA-030, Morey
Saturday May 13
MA-066, Puig se San Marti
Sunday May 14
MA-056, Puig de Bonany
Monday May 15
MA-037, Calicant or MA040, Talaia d’Alcúdia
Tuesday May 16
MA-065, Puig de sa Cova Negra
Wednesday May 17
MA-055, Jordi and/or MA062, N’Anyana (first activation)
Thursday May 18
MA-035, Puig de Sant Salvador
Friday May 19
MA-042, Puig de Caldent (first activation)
Saturday May 20 MA-032, Santuari de Cura (possibly also with EA6AIF)
Sunday May 21
NO SOTA, flying home …

The first summit on May 7 will be in the afternoon around 13:00 UTC.
All others I think I’ll do first thing in the morning, then after the summit I can go for some food, do some tourist visit or go to the beach … and relax ! (with exception if I would do a second summit on that day)
Check the alerts page for more details as I will update frequently.

Another exception is May 13, then I would also go in the afternoon, and stay for an extended activation, between 12:00 and 17:00 UTC, for the EU<>NA S2S event.

I will try bands from 40m up to 10m depending on propagation, response from chasers.
Modes will be SSB or CW, all depending on circumstances, ability to self-spot etc …
Spotting help is very welcome and also on-the-air info on possible S2S contacts !

Equipment : KX3 (up to 15W), link dipole or endfed, also 2m FM with 5W from an FT1D and a quarterwave whip. I have a roll-up Slim Jim, but would like to know if anyone on Mallorca is interested in a 2m contact ?
(otherwise I can save weight and leave the Slim Jim in my car).

Hope to hear a lot of chasers !

73,
Luc - EA6/ON7DQ/P

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

SOTA antennas - Geert PA7ZEE

In the Reflector there are various contributions about antennas for SOTA activations. In general all very interesting and useful. However, due to my experience with activating SOTA summits, all that I learned about antenna theory, has become doubtful for me.

Let me give you a few examples.
· On a summit in Belgium under a closed roof of foliage and an inverted vee of 2 x 10 m on a height of 8 m and 5 W from a FT-817, QSO’s in SSB were made by Frank PC7C with SOTA friends in the USA with reasonable reports.
· On a summit on the Island of Gran Canaria, I laid my W3EDP wire on brushwood of 1 m above rocks and worked many stations in Europe with 3 W from my KX1.
· From a summit in Germany I worked Phillip VE1WT with 1.5 W from my KX1 and the W3EDP antenna surrounded by trees and received a 229 report.

What has happened that, with these antennas and under those circumstances, DX was possible?
First of all SOTA Chasers are very determined to work Activators; they try harder.
Some Chasers have antennas like a 5 element Yagi on a high antenna tower, which helps a lot and last but not least sometimes the propagation is with us.

So there are other factors involved besides the antenna of the Activator; a little Magic too ?
I do not say that the antenna of an Activator doesn’t matter, but may I quote Shakespeare?

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

73 de Geert PA7ZEE

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

SOTA ON TOP BAND - Mark G0VOF

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

I got something of a surprise when I started compiling this month’s Top Band news. I do not recall as many activators using the band in any month in the entire history of SOTA. Not only that, but of the 9 activators this month, 8 of those were active on the same day & mostly at the same time!

That can mean only one thing, a lot of potential for that still quite rare thing, a Top Band summit to Summit. As I have said in the past, just like a Tango, it takes two for an S2S & there were quite a few of those to be had!

So we start the month down under, when on the 1st April as part of the AM activity weekend several VK activators ventured onto 160m using not only CW & SSB but also AM & Data modes. A post on the SOTA reflector by Andrew VK1DA kicked off interest in this year’s activity weekend, the challenge of which appears to have been lapped up by our VK colleagues!

Safe to say that detailed analysis of all the contacts & S2S’s would take several pages so I will keep things brief:

The first activator on the air was Tony VK3CAT/P who called on 1825KHz CW from VK3/VN-012 Mt Mitchell. Over the course of his activation he appears to have made around 12 S2S contacts on 160m, which I think I can safely say is new record, but one that he also shares with Gerard VK2IO.
Looking at the spots Tony was soon joined on the air by Paul VK3HN/P from VK3/VN-027 Mt Gordon & Gerard VK2IO/P from VK2/HU-054 Broken Back Range. Gerard also appears to have made a total of 12 S2S contacts on the band, which remains a record as far as I can tell! Warren VK3BYD/P activating VK3/VE-105 Mt Big Ben made 11 S2S contacts, truly amazing numbers!

To put things into perspective, in April 2011 when I first activated on 160m there had only been around three Summit to Summit QSO’s on 160m logged in the database since SOTA started in 2002. Since then there have been quite a few more, but nothing has ever come close to what these VK activators achieved between themselves on one day, Saturday 1st April 2017, and yes, I have made note of the date :wink: The statistics below use raw data from the logs entered in the database, & even allowing for errors they are truly stunning:

A complete list of activators & their summits as logged in the database is at the end of this report, I take my hat off to all involved & will be cracking open a tinny & slapping some AC/DC on the record player tonight in your honour!

Seriously, well done guys!

After that, it would appear that the next activation was something of an anticlimax!

On Tuesday 11th April, John G4YSS operating from the summit of GW/NW-001 Snowdon - Yr Wyddfa as GC0OOO/P offered the summit on 160m as he has done on more than one occasion in the past. Despite the train service to the summit being closed for winter, the summit itself was very busy with people who had walked all the way up.

I had left my radio on John’s usual frequency of 1832KHz CW using a 300Hz Collins filter whilst I showered & got ready for work. Thankfully that morning the noise sources in neighbouring properties had not fired up so 160m was relatively quiet (still nowhere near a natural noise floor though!) After showering, I had almost finished getting dressed when I thought it strange that I hadn’t heard John yet & decided to tune around a little. It was then that I found him calling on 1831.3KHz, completely outside the pass band of my 300Hz filter! John wasn’t too strong, but I could read him well enough to send him 559 & I received 579 in return. If I had given a report based on my meter it would have been a lot less, but I tend to ignore the meter & base my reports on what I hear.

It was cold & misty at the top and John soon found his antenna sagging under the weight of ice. This manifested itself as John’s CW signal becoming so weak to me that I would not attempt a SSB contact. I fired up the Hack Green Web SDR to listen before I left for work & spotted John’s first QSY to SSB. As we were very much into daylight & conditions were pretty poor anyway, I was not surprised to read later that I remained John’s only contact on the band that morning.

Thankfully John did have more success on 80m & other bands, both HF & VHF, although with the cold & damp conditions this was far from an easy activation!

A superb report can be found here:

G4YSS: GW/NW-001 Snowdon on 11-04-17 - #3 by AC2KL

So, a remarkable month for activity on Top Band, I wonder how long it will be before we see the like of it again!!

Thanks & very well done Tony, Gerard, Warren, Allen, Matt, Bernard, David, Paul & John!

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

On 1 April, Matt VK1MA Activated VK1/AC-042 Black Mountain & made 5 QSO’s (0 CW / 5 SSB)
On 1 April, Bernard VK2IB/3 Activated VK3/VE-165 Mt Granya & made 3 QSO’s (3 CW / 0 SSB)
On 1 April, Gerard VK2IO/P Activated VK2/HU-054 Broken Back Range & made 19 QSO’s (10 CW / 6 SSB / 3 AM)
On 1 April, Allen VK3ARH Activated VK3/VC-024 Mt Beckworth & made 6 QSO’s (2 CW / 2 SSB / 2 DATA)
On 1 April, Warren VK3BYD/P Activated VK3/VE-105 Mt Big Ben & made 14 QSO’s (10 CW / 4 SSB)
On 1 April, Tony VK3CAT/P Activated VK3/VN-012 Mt Mitchell & made 14 QSO’s (10 CW / 3 SSB / 1 OTHER)
On 1 April, Paul VK3HN/P Activated VK3/VN-027 Mt Gordon & made 5 QSO’s (5 CW / 0 SSB)
On 1 April, David VK3IL Activated VK3/VE-020 Mt Lovick & made 4 QSO’s (0 CW / 4 SSB)
On 11 April, John GC0OOO/P (G4YSS) Activated GW/NW-001 Snowdon - Yr Wyddfa & made 1 QSO’s (1 CW / 0 SSB)

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

Until next month,

Best 73,

Mark G0VOF

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

CW REPORT FOR APRIL 2017 - Roy G4SSH

The month started well, with two SOTA Anniversaries.

Portugal’s National SOTA Day, celebrating 6 years of SOTA brought out many CT and CS calls, whilst the 10th Anniversary of SOTA France saw TM10SOTA very active on the bands. There was also a SOTA “AM Mode” weekend, with some activators camping out overnight.

A feast of holidays during April saw many activators free from work (or school) and so available to head to the hills, resulting in a noticeable increase in the number of spots generated . However propagation continued to vary wildly with entire bands being dead at times.

CW Highlights noted during the first half of the month were:-

Chris F/ON6ZQ/p in France.
Hans HB9/PB2T/p in Switzerland
Jarek OE/SP9MA/p in Austria
Matt DL/HB9FVF/p in Germany
Zoli OM/HA5CQZ/p in Slovakia
Frank HA ON6UU/p in Hungary, including (3.5 MHz)
Jozef OK/OM6TC/p in Czechia
Hans HB9/PB2T/p in Switzerland
Paul EA6/HB9DST/P on Mallorca
Kurt F/HB9AFI/p in France
Joe IS0/DF8KY in Sardinia
Roger F5LKW & F6HBI Gerald on Multi summits
Fred F/DL8DXL in France
Fred LX/DL8DXL in Luxemburg
David OE/N3II/p in Austria
David F/N3II/p in France
E70AA active at weekends.
Jarek F/SP9MA/p in France.

Post Easter

Hans F/HB9BQU/p in France
Tof ON/F5UBH/p in Belgium 3.5 cw
John GC0000/p in Wales 3.5 cw
David CT7/G4ZAO/p in the Algarve
Reinhard EA5/DK1IO/p in Alicante, Spain
Andre F5UKL/p and Gerald F6HBI/p very active during the month.
Harry DF7FX/p and Sigrid DL2FAZ/p very active with multi summits every day.
Feri UT/HA8LLH/p, in Ukraine
David OE/N3II/p in Austria
David F/N3II/p in France
Jarek F/SP9MA/p in France.
Matt TK/HB9FVF/p on Corsica
Hans EA6/OE1SRC in Mallorca
Luc PA/ON7DQ/p in Netherlands
Petr EI/OK1CZ/p in Ireland
Jacub OE/OE1WS/p in Austria
F/HB9IIO/p in France
Roger F5LKW/p activated numerous summits in France
Jürg CT7/HB9BIN/p activated 13 summits in the Algarve between 19th-27th .
Hans EA6/DM3SWD/p, in Mallorca
Steve SV8/G4EDG/p in Greece
Dan F/HB9IIO/p in France
Kurt F/HB9AFI/p in France
Jan OE/OK2PDT/p in Austria
Jan HA/OK2PDT/p in Hungary
Tonnie DL/PA9CW/p was in Germany; activating multi rounds of 10 pointers.
Jack F/AI4SV who was in France
Tom DL/HB9DPR/p in Germany
Paul F/DL6FBK/p in France

Milos 9A/S53X/p in Croatia

73

Roy G4SSH
g4ssh@tiscali.co.uk

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

SOTA ACTIVITY REPORT FOR APRIL 2017 by Kevin G0NUP

Mode: CW on 1.8MHz: activity for April

GC0OOO/P, VK2IB/3, VK2IO/P, VK3ARH, VK3BYD/P, VK3CAT/P, VK3HN/P

Mode: CW on 3.5MHz: activity for April

GC0OOO/P, HA/ON6UU/P, KB3VVE, OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P, ON/F5UBH/P, VK2IB/3,
VK2IO/P, VK2WP, VK3ARH, VK3BYD/P, VK3CAT/P, WH6LE

Mode: CW on 5MHz: activity for April

DK2JK/P, DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL6FBK/P, GI4ONL/P, GM0EVV/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BIN/P,
HB9BQU/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9DCO, HB9DGV/P, HB9DQM/P, HB9DST/P,
HB9EWO/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9JOE/P, HB9TVK/P, K2JB, K6HPX/P, K9PM/P,
KC7DM, LB7FA, N2GBR, N7CW, N7LP, WH6LE

Mode: SSB on 5MHz: activity for April

AE9Q, DH7FK/P, DK2JK/P, DL1CR/P, EJ/ON4TA/P, G0AZA/P, G0VWP/P,
G2HFR/P, G4VPX/P, G6PJZ/P, G8TMV/P, GD6WRW/P, GI0AZA/P, GI0AZB/P,
GI4ONL/P, GM0EVV/P, GM4COX/P, GM4IPB/P, GM4MD/P, GM4OIG/P, GW4VPX/P,
GW8OGI/P, HB9BIN/P, KI4SVM, M/SQ2RBY/P, MM0FMF/P, MW0JCQ/P, MW0JLA/P,
MW0WML/P, MW0XOT/P, MW0YDH/P, WF4I

Mode: CW on 7MHz: activity for April

9A/S53X/P, AA0BV, AA6FD, AC0PR, AC1Z, AD4IE, AD5A,
AE5KA, AE9Q, CT1DBS/P, CT1GZB/P, CT7/HB9BIN/P, CT7ABE/P, CT7AGT/P,
DD7II/P, DF3MC/P, DF7FX/P, DF9GU, DJ2MX/P, DK1DU/P, DK2CX/P,
DK2JK/P, DK2RO/P, DL/HB9BHU/P, DL/HB9BHW/P, DL/HB9BQB/P, DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL/HB9DPR/P,
DL/HB9FVF/P, DL/OE5EEP, DL/PA3EYC/P, DL/PA9CW/P, DL/PA9W/P, DL/PB2T/P, DL/SP9MA/P,
DL1DXA/P, DL2FAZ/P, DL2HWI/P, DL3TU/P, DL4MHA/P, DL6CGC/P, DL6FBK/P,
DL6WT/P, DL8DXL/P, DL8JJ/P, EA1AER/P, EA2BD/P, EA2IF/P, EA2WX/P,
EA4MY/P, EA6/HB9DST/P, F/AI4SV, F/DL6FBK/P, F/DL8DXL/P, F/HB9AFI/P, F/HB9BQU/P,
F/HB9IIO/P, F/N3II/P, F/ON6ZQ/P, F/SP9MA/P, F4HOD/P, F5AKL/P, F5HTR/P,
F5IUZ, F5IUZ/P, F5LKW/P, F5UBH/P, F5UKL/P, F6FTB/P, F6HBI/P,
F8FEO/P, G0HIO/P, G0MFR/P, G4OBK/P, G4ONL/P, G4WTF/P, GC0OOO/P,
GI4ONL/P, GM0EVV/P, GM0GAV/P, GM4OIG/P, HA/OK2PDT/P, HA/OK2PVX/P, HA/ON6UU/P,
HA2VR/P, HA3HK/P, HA5AZC/P, HA5CLF/P, HA5LV/P, HA5MA/P, HA6QR/P,
HA8BJ/P, HA8LLH/P, HB9/PB2T/P, HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BAB/P, HB9BHW/P,
HB9BIN/P, HB9BQB/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BYZ/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CGL/P,
HB9CKV/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9DCO, HB9DGV/P, HB9DPR/P, HB9DQM/P, HB9DST/P,
HB9EWO/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9IIOP/P, HB9JOE/P, HB9TVK/P, HB9TWM/P, HL3ANE,
IK2YRA/1, IS0/DF8KY/P, JA1KHZ/1, JA3NAP/3, JA4RQO/4, JF1NDT/1, JF3KQA/3,
JG1BOK, JI1IHV/1, JI1IHV/2, JL1NIE/1, JM3HRC/3, JP1QEC/1, JP3DGT/3,
JS1UEH/0, JS1UEH/1, K1JD, K1LB, K2JB, K4KPK, K6EL,
K6HPX/P, K6TW, K7ODX, K7PX, K9PM/P, KB1KXL, KB3VVE,
KB9ILT, KC7DM, KD2FLX, KE5AKL, KH7AL, KQ2RP, KR7RK,
KT0A, KX0R, LA1EBA/P, LA1ENA/P, LA1KHA/P, LA3BO/P, LX/DL8DXL/P,
LX/OK2PDT/P, LZ1GJ/P, M0BLF/P, M0OAT/P, MM0FMF/P, N0EVH, N0TA,
N1FJ, N1OIE, N1ZF, N2GBR, N3TWM, N6PG, N7CW,
N7LP, NA6MG, NJ7V, NK8Q, NM5S, NR7T, NS7P,
NU7A, OE/DF9GU, OE/HB9DQM/P, OE/HB9FVF/P, OE/OK2PDT/P, OE/OM1WS/P, OE/SP9MA/P,
OE5AUL/P, OE5EEP/P, OE6KYG/P, OE9TKH/P, OK/DL8DXL/P, OK/OM6TC/P, OK/SP9MA/P,
OK1CZ/P, OK1DVM/P, OK1MLP/P, OK1NF/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2PDT/P, OK2PVX/P,
OK2QA/P, OK2VWB/P, OK8JOE/P, OM/HA5CQZ/P, OM/OK2PVX/P, OM3CUG/P, OM4DW/P,
OM4WY/P, OM6AN/P, OM6TC/P, ON/DO1DJJ/P, ON/F5UBH/P, ON4KCY, ON5REV/P,
ON7DQ/P, PA/ON7DQ/P, S51J, S52AU/P, S53OM/P, S57X/P, S58R/P,
SO9TA/P, SP9MA/P, SQ8JMZ/P, SV1RHL/P, SV2OXS/P, TK/HB9FVF/P, TM10SOTA,
UT/HA8LLH, VA2OTA, VK2IB/3, VK2IO/P, VK2WP, VK3ARH, VK3CAT/P,
VK5CZ, W1EJ, W5ODS, W6UB, W7JET, W7USA, WA6ARA,
WA6KYR, WA7JTM, WA9STI, WB5USB, WC0Y, WC6J, WC9G,
WF4I, WG0AT, WH6LE, WS0TA, YO2BP, YO2BP/P, YO8AZQ/P,
YU1CA/P

Mode: CW on 10MHz: activity for April

AA0BV, AA6FD, AD5A, AE5KA, AE7AP, CT1DBS/P, CT1GZB/P,
CT1REP/P, CT7/HB9BIN/P, CT7ABE/P, CT7AGT/P, DD7II/P, DF3MC/P, DF7FX/P,
DJ2FR, DJ2MX/P, DK2JK/P, DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL/HB9DPR/P, DL/OE5EEP, DL/PA3EYC/P,
DL/PB2T/P, DL2FAZ/P, DL3TU/P, DL4MHA/P, DL6FBK/P, E70AA/P, EA2BD/P,
EA2BSB/P, EA2IF/P, EA2WX/P, EA4MY/P, EA6/HB9DST/P, EI3KA/P, F/AI4SV,
F/DL6FBK/P, F/HB9AFI/P, F/HB9BQU/P, F/N3II/P, F/SP9MA/P, F4HOD/P, F5HTR/P,
F5IUZ, F5IUZ/P, F5LKW/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, F8FEO/P, G0HIO/P,
G4ONL/P, G4OOE/P, GI4ONL/P, GM0EVV/P, GM0GAV/P, GM4OIG/P, HA/ON6UU/P,
HA2VR/P, HA3HK/P, HA5AZC/P, HA5LV/P, HA5MA/P, HA6QR/P, HA7HF/P,
HA8BJ/P, HB9/PB2T/P, HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9CBR/P,
HB9CGA/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9DGV/P, HB9DPR/P, HB9DQM/P, HB9DST/P, HB9EWO/P,
HB9IIO/P, HB9JOE/P, HB9TVK/P, HG8PQ/P, I/YO2BP/P, IK2YRA/1, JA1KHZ/1,
JA4RQO/4, JF1NDT/1, JG1BOK, JP3DGT/3, JS1UEH/1, JS6SDQ, K0JQZ,
K1JD, K2JB, K4KPK, K6HPX/P, K7ODX, K7PX, K7SO,
K7WYV, K9PM/P, KB1KXL, KC7DM, KD7WPJ, KE5AKL, KH7AL,
KQ2RP, KR7RK, KT0A, KX0R, KX6A, LA1ENA/P, LA1KHA/P,
LA3BO/P, LZ1GJ/P, M0BLF/P, M0OAT/P, M0VFC/P, M1BUU/P, MM0FMF/P,
MW1BUU/P, N0EVH, N0TA, N1FJ, N1OIE, N1ZF, N6JZT,
N7CW, N7LP, NA6MG, NJ7V, NK8Q, NM5S, NR7T,
NS1TA, NS7P, NU7A, OE/HB9DQM/P, OE/HB9FVF/P, OE/N3II/P, OE/OK2PDT/P,
OE/SP9MA/P, OE1MVA/P, OE5AUL/P, OE5EEP/P, OK/OM6TC/P, OK/SP9MA/P, OK1CZ/P,
OK1DVM/P, OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2VWB/P, OK8JOE/P, OM1WS/P, OM3CUG/P,
OM4WY/P, OM6TC/P, ON4KCY, ON5REV/P, ON6ZQ/P, S51J, S52AU/P,
S53OM/P, S57X/P, SO9TA/P, SP9MA/P, SQ8JMZ/P, SV1RHL/P, SV2OXS/P,
TM10SOTA, VA2OTA, VK2IO/P, VK2WP, VK3CAT/P, W1EJ, W5ODS,
W7USA, WA7JTM, WA9STI, WB5USB, WC6J, WF4I, WG0AT,
WS0TA, YO2BP, YO2BP/P

Mode: CW on 14MHz: activity for April

9A/S53X/P, AA0BV, AA0Q, AA6FD, AC0PR, AC1Z, AD4IE,
AD5A, AE5KA, AE7AP, CT1DBS/P, CT1GZB/P, CT7/G4ZAO/P, CT7/HB9BIN/P,
CT7AGT/P, DJ2FR, DJ2MX/P, DK2RO/P, DL/HB9BHU/P, DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL/HB9DPR/P,
DL/PA3EYC/P, DL/PB2T/P, DL3TU/P, DL4ROB, DL6CGC/P, DL6FBK/P, DL8DXL/P,
E70AA/P, EA1AER/P, EA2BD/P, EA2BSB/P, EA2IF/P, EA2WX/P, EA4MY/P,
EI/OK1CZ/P, F/AI4SV, F/DL6FBK/P, F/HB9AFI/P, F/HB9IIO/P, F/N3II/P, F/ON6ZQ/P,
F4HOD/P, F5AKL/P, F5HTR/P, F5IUZ, F5IUZ/P, F5LKW/P, F5UBH/P,
F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, F8FEO/P, G0HIO/P, G0MFR/P, G4OOE/P, G4WTF/P,
GM0GAV/P, HA/OK2PDT/P, HA/ON6UU/P, HA2VR/P, HA5AZC/P, HA5MA/P, HB9/PB2T/P,
HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BAB/P, HB9BHW/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQB/P, HB9BQU/P,
HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CGL/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9DCO, HB9DGV/P, HB9DPR/P,
HB9DQM/P, HB9DST/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9IIOP/P, HB9JOE/P, HB9TVK/P, HL1ZIH,
IK2YRA/1, IS0/DF8KY/P, JA4RQO/4, JF1NDT/1, JF3KQA/3, JG1GPY/1, JH0CJH/2,
JJ1CKD/P1, JJ1CKD/P2, JL1NIE/1, JP1QEC/1, JP3DGT/3, JP3PPL/3, JS1UEH/1,
JS6SDQ/6, JS6TMW/6, K1JD, K2JB, K4KPK, K6EL, K6HPX/P,
K7ODX, K7PX, K7SO, K7WYV, K9PM/P, KB1KXL, KB3VVE,
KB9ILT, KC7DM, KD2FLX, KD7WPJ, KE5AKL, KH2TJ, KH7AL,
KQ2RP, KR7RK, KT0A, KX0R, KX6A, LA1EBA/P, LA1ENA/P,
LA3BO/P, LX/DL8DXL/P, LZ1GJ/P, M0OAT/P, M1BUU/P, M6GYU/P, MM0FMF/P,
N0EVH, N0TA, N1FJ, N1OIE, N1ZF, N2GBR, N3TWM,
N6JZT, N6PG, N7CW, N7LP, NA6MG, ND9Q, NJ7V,
NK8Q, NM5S, NR7T, NS1TA, NS7P, NU7A, OE/N3II/P,
OE/SP9MA/P, OE5EEP/P, OH3KRH/P, OK/OM6TC/P, OK/SP9MA/P, OK1CZ/P, OK1DVM/P,
OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P, OK8JOE/P, OM1WS/P, OM3CUG/P, OM4DW/P, OM4WY/P,
OM6TC/P, ON7DQ/P, S52AU/P, S53OM/P, S57X/P, SO9TA/P, SP9MA/P,
SQ8JMZ/P, SV1RHL/P, SV2OXS/P, TK/HB9FVF/P, TM10SOTA, VA2OTA, VA2VL,
VK2IO/P, VK2WP, VK3ARH, VK3CAT/P, VK5CZ, VK6NU, W0CCA,
W0ERI, W0MNA, W1EJ, W5ODS, W6UB, W7JET, W7USA,
W8JH, WA6ARA, WA6KYR, WA7JTM, WA9STI, WB5USB, WC0Y,
WC6J, WC9G, WF4I, WG0AT, WH6LE, WS0TA, WX4TW,
YO8AZQ/P, YU1CA/P, YU1RK/P, ZL1BYZ, ZL3CC

Mode: CW on 18MHz: activity for April

AC1Z, AD5A, CT1DBS/P, CT7/G4ZAO/P, CT7/HB9BIN/P, DL/OE5EEP, F4HOD/P,
F5UKL/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9DCO,
HB9DQM/P, HB9IIOP/P, JF1NDT/1, JG1GPY/1, JH0CJH/2, JI1IHV/1, JI1IHV/2,
JL1NIE/1, JP1QEC/1, JP3DGT/3, JS1UEH/0, JS1UEH/1, JS6TMW/6, K1JD,
K7PX, K9PM/P, KB1KXL, KR7RK, KX0R, N1ZF, NA6MG,
NJ7V, NS1TA, NS7P, OE/HB9DQM/P, OE5EEP/P, OK/OM6TC/P, OK1MLP/P,
OM3CUG/P, SO9TA/P, TM10SOTA, VA2OTA, VA2VL, VK2IO/P, VK5CZ,
WA7JTM, WC6J, WX4TW, ZL1BYZ

Mode: CW on 21MHz: activity for April

F5UKL/P, HB9CBR/P, HL1ZIH, JA4RQO/4, JF1NDT/1, JH0CJH/2, JI1IHV/1,
JI1IHV/2, JJ1CKD/P1, JL1NIE/1, JP1QEC/1, JP3DGT/3, JP3PPL/3, JS6TMW/6,
JS6TQS, K9PM/P, KB1KXL, KR7RK, OK1MLP/P, VK2IO/P, VK3CAT/P,
VK5CZ, WA7JTM

Mode: CW on 24MHz: activity for April

JF1NDT/1, KR7RK, OK1MLP/P

Mode: CW on 28MHz: activity for April

F4HOD/P, F6HBI/P, HB9CBR/P, JF1NDT/1, JP3DGT/3, KR7RK, OK1MLP/P

Mode: CW on 50MHz: activity for April

JF1NDT/1, JF3KQA/3, JI1IHV/2, JM3HRC/3, JS1UEH/0, JS1UEH/1, NJ7V,
OE1WED/3, OE3IPU/P, WA7JTM

Mode: CW on 1240MHz: activity for April

Mode: FM on 28MHz: activity for April

Mode: FM on 50MHz: activity for April

CT2GQI/P, JN3PDF/3, KK4OSG

Mode: FM on 1240MHz: activity for April

CS5LX/P, CT2GQI/P, CT2IXQ, CT7ABF/P, DG4MIC, EJ/ON4TA/P, G7HEM/P,
GW4AZS/P, GW6WRW/P, GW7HEM/P, JS1GRO/1, OK/DG0JMB/P, VK2HRX

Mode: SSB on 28MHz: activity for April

HB9GKR/P, KK4OSG, S56LXN/P

Mode: SSB on 50MHz: activity for April

JA1KHZ/1, JF1NDT/1, JG1GPY/1, JH0CJH/2, JI1IHV/1, JI1IHV/2, JI1UPL/1,
JI1UPL/2, JJ1CKE/P2, JK1NRL/1, JM3HRC/3, JM3HRC/9, JS1UEH/0, JS1UEH/1,
JS2VVH/1, JS2VVH/2, KK4OSG, S52ON/P, S56LXN/P, S57MS/P, W7USA,
WA7JTM

Mode: SSB on 1240MHz: activity for April

EI/ON4TA/P, G4AZS/P, GW4AZS/P, GW6WRW/P, MM0FMF

73 de Kevin G0NUP

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

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

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

6 Likes

Mark, thanks for the 160 metre write up. Have written the acticvation up in my blog ( WordPress.com) that also has links to a few of the other activators. Ron VK3AFW was also active on Mt. Strickland VK3/VN-030. My “other” qso was cross band CW and SSB. Running the KX3 barefoot with 10 watts.
Tony VK3CAT

1 Like

Hi Mark and Tony,

Oops. I forgot to upload my log. Now done. 13 QSO’s, 7 SSB, 6 CW, 7 S2S on 160 m, mid morning until dark. Hope to do something similar next year. BTW the initial idea of a 160 m day.night was put up by WarrenVK3BYD.

73

Ron
VK3AFW

Hi Tony & Ron,

Thanks for the update, I guessed there would be activation’s not yet logged so I will update my records accordingly. You all did amazingly well!

To all,

The Bi-Monthly ZL SOTA report has now been added to part one of this months news.

Thanks & best 73,

Mark G0VOF

I updated the list of summits I will try to activate, see :

73
Luc - ON7DQ