With the new database online, I’m unable to find any information on winter bonuses in a table form. I have to go to individual summits and check each one. Is there a consolidated listing for an association that has this info?
Post withdrawn.
The ARMs listed on https://summits.sota.org.uk should have this information. I can’t see it consolidated anywhere in the databases as it’s stored per-summit.
The ARM will tell the start and end date of the bonus period and the summit height required for a summit to have a bonus. There is no consolidated display on either of the database displays.
You should be aware there are summits with a Summer Bonus. Some associations have regions with Winter Bonus or Summer Bonus but not both.
I can not seem to be able to access the ARM for W4C. I click and nothing happens. I right click to open in a new tab and it comes up blank. Dean ~ K2JB
Look in your download folder, the PDF will be sat there. Probably.
It works fine in FF 70.x on W10, and IE11 inviting me to save the file or open the PDF in my PDF reader app (Evince). With Edge the PDF opens in a new tab.
Don’t have Chrome here so I can’t see what that does. No Mac either so I don’t know if Safari works.
Opens fine in a new window for me with Chrome.
Do note however that several (maybe many - haven’t been through them all!) of the association pages at https://summits.sota.org.uk don’t seem to have a link to an ARM.
It will depend what you have told your browser to do with a PDF file. Open it or save it, usually in your download folder.
Checked on an ipad (IOS 13) - safari launches a new tab and then asks do you want to download that PDF. Chrome on the same Ipad currently does the same.
Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH
This is where I was hoping it would be. Would make sense for it to be there next to the POINTS column.
The data is logically associated with the summit so it should be a relatively simple matter of displaying it (points and start/end date of bonus period applying to this region) on that page. Depends on how high this change would be compared with others being worked on.
Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH
I disagree. The winter/summer bonus is a constant shared by all the summits in a region. There is no real need to put something in a column that will be the same all the way down, that is just a waste of space and adds unnecessary complexity to the table. The proper place for information like that is the ARM general information, where it is now.
How to make the bonus more visible did actually come up recently in an internal discussion. You’ll probably see this acted upon soon, but most likely not with an additional column, which I think would be wasteful of space.
Not all summits in a region will have the bonus because it also depends upon elevation. There are summits that do not satisfy the 4k’ elevation minimum while a summit near it will satisfy the minimum.
That new Sotlas site includes that info I believe for specific summits. The ARM is obviously the definitive resource. That info could be more accessible.
I find it difficult to understand your point. The ARM starts with Association reference data in tabular form, it gives the points bands, tells you if there is a seasonal bonus, tells you if it is a winter or summer bonus, gives the minimum height for the bonus and the bonus period. All you need is the height of the summit and everything else follows automatically. If you are activating in a different Association all you have to do is look at the reference data for that Association to get the bonus information and then again it all follows from the summit height. This is the way I have done it since the second year of SOTA, it is automatic for me.
That isn’t the case where there is an altitude that must be reached before the bonus is applicable. What is needed in that case is the threshold altitude for each region and the start and end dates of the bonus period. If you are going to place that data on each summit list and detail page, you may as well just indicate whether it qualifies for the bonus.
In reality, I find that I activate the summits I can, when I can. The bonus is sometimes an attractive add-on. But I don’t need to know the details as the database includes the bonus if applicable. What is tricky is activating a summit before and after the bonus period start or end date. Splitting an activation across that boundary can create some scoring issues if the qualifying contacts were achieved across the entire activation but not within a specific UTC day. Not too much of a problem in the UK or indeed EU generally, but definitely an issue further away from Greenwich time zone.
Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH
It is readily accessible in the ARM. If going from one association to another though as is common in the US, I think it could be easier to find the simple info of whether there is currently a bonus. SOTLAS does that as confirmed in this post. I typically do not go to the effort of checking other association’s reference manuals for bonus information. If there is a bonus that is … a bonus.
That’s not ENTIRELY accurate. There are summits in W4G that meet both the minimum height AND points which have no seasonal bonus awarded.
For example, W4G/NG-058 is an 6pt summit at 2945ft. The W4G reference states:
Seasonal bonus: Yes
Bonus rationale: Impeded travel due to snow and ice, cold
temperatures.
Min. height for bonus: During the bonus period an additional 3 points will be
awarded to peaks scoring 6 points or more, or for
activations above 2500ft.
Rainy appears to meet both criteria, but is not eligible for a seasonal bonus. This is a 4mi in/out hike with about 1000’ of elevation gain.
So it appears that the height of the summit is not, at least in some cases, related to a seasonal bonus.