Towards “All VHF” Trophy

Would somebody please clarify the following:

  • According to SOTA rules, which bands are considered to be in the VHF frequency range?

  • How about cross-band satellite qso’s: can either U/V or V/U contacts count for the All VHF Trophy?

  • Are Packet Radio qso’s over satellite eligible for SOTA points?

  • Let’s say an activator X makes 10 qso’s on the 20m band from summit Y in January and earns 8 points. Then the same operator X makes 6 qso’s on the 2m band from the same summit Y in June and earns 0 points. Under such circumstances, can s/he claim any points for the All VHF Trophy?

Thanks!

4m and above, I believe.

Satellite QSOs count as per general rules

Yes, but Barry will have to do some work to verify, so help him out.

Can you swap signal reports?

Yes, you can. In the Unconnected Mode (UI frames) such reports even have some meaning…

From a previous thread:

I’d like to make my second MG (if I ever reach it) an “All VHF” one. While thinking about that, I’ve come over the four questions listed in my initial post of this thread. Would somebody please try to give me clear and complete answers so I can continue planning and dreaming. Much appreciated.

70MHz / 4m and higher

Yes V/U U/V QSOs via satellite are All VHF

As long as you can show the QSO was with another person and you swapped reports, yes.

Yes. By default this is not easy to show on the DB pages, we would expect you to list the QSOs in this case. i.e. you would need to show 6x VHF QSOs logged on the summit in June. There are some check features we can run but for “odd” requests like this, if you can show the QSOs etc. then you make the Awards Manager’s life easier. He likes an easy life.

Great. Thanks a lot, Andy.

I’m a bit surprised that 50MHz (6m) band in not considered an VHF band and that all amateur bands in the UHF, SHF, and higer frequency ranges count as VHF. I guess I’m not the only person around here who would appreciate a clarification of this…

Hi folks,
I too am surprised by the SOTA definition of VHF NOT including 6m.

The ITU certainly includes 6m as within the VHF band.
https://www.itu.int/net/ITU-R/asp/terminology-definition.asp?lang=en&rlink={F41BA235-2F36-40B7-A5C0-C53623263CBF}

Not to mention ARRL and RAC contests include the 6m band in their VHF and up contests.

Ian VE6IXD

I’ve never really thought of it as VHF because you get F2 on it like 10m but not like 2m. It’s not exclusively VHF nor HF. That’s why it’s the magic band! However, I had a look at the DB source and the division between HF and VHF is up to and including 28MHz is HF and 50MHz and above is VHF.

There’s no definition of where VHF stops. You can think of VHF as “not HF” in that case.

Thanks a million, Andy. I’m still to get my first points towards an “All VHF” MG Trophy, but it’s good to know that 6m qso’s count, too. In my part of the world 2m correspondents are very rare species. Also, waiting for a satellite on a windy summit is not a very pleasant option. That’s why I need all the magic of the magic band…

The VHF band is 30-300 MHz.
Unless you’re thinking about it from a ham radio perspective, where VHF is usually everything above 50MHz. Its strange to me that SOTA doesn’t consider 6m to be a VHF band.

Read the rest of Andy’s post about where the database considers the boundary to be.

Oops. I should have read more closely.

All the normal VHF bands are SOTA-legal VHF.