I’ve been back in the hobby for a couple of months and have been loving SOTA. It’s basically the only ham radio I do at the moment!
I’m planning on having a go at the 144MHz Backpackers Contest on 3rd August and have a bunch of questions. I’ll be heading up a SOTA summit and will activate it either before or after the contest.
My first is related to 2m SSB. Is there a calling frequency and is it polite to move to another frequency after establishing contact just like on 2m FM?
I’ve been learning CW and may have a go if I’m feeling confident. When it comes to calling CQ on 2m do you just do it anywhere in the band plan designated for CW or CW/SSB or are there particular frequencies that are more appropriate for calling?
When it comes to having a contact, I know there is a QSO exchange that must be followed but what if someone responds to my CQ, wants to have a QSO but isn’t participating in the contest. Do I still put them in the log?
Sorry for all of the questions but contests are very new to me! Is anyone else planning on participating?
There is a “Centre of Activity” at 144.300 for SSB. It is generally considered good practice to avoid using this during contests, so call CQ perhaps 10KHz or more higher or lower - you will probably hear others doing the same.
Outside of contests, people don’t normally QSY from 144.300 in the same formal way that they do for the FM calling channel, but it is probably good practice not to stay there for a long rag chew.
Good move! There is a Centre of Activity for CW at 144.050, but you may also find contacts higher up amongst the SSB especially during contests.
Yes, the contact will still count. Ask them for a Locator and serial number, but give them a serial number and log the contact anyway even if they don’t. They almost certainly will be happy to respond, though!
The contest QSOs will count for SOTA, as long as you are working within the SOTA activation rules, but don’t spot yourself as that would be against the contest rules.
I won’t be out and about for this one, but good luck and have fun!
"Entrants must abide by their standard licence conditions (no high power permits) and observe the RSGB band plans including the 6m DX Window (50.100-50.130 MHz) where only inter-continental contacts may be made. Main calling frequencies/centres of activity (50.110 MHz, 50.150, 70.200 MHz, 144.300 MHz, 432.200 MHz) +/- 5 kHz, must not be used to call CQ for contest QSOs. GB2RS and GB2CW frequencies (+/- 5 kHz) must not be used during the period of a scheduled transmission from these stations. "
"Entrants are reminded that the rules explicitly require adherence to the RSGB Band Plan
Stations using SSB below 144.150MHz or between 144.400MHz and 144.500MHz during the 144MHz UKAC are liable to be penalised.
The VHFCC reserves the right to penalise both parties in a QSO made outside of the band plan.
However, the 144.500MHz to 144.794MHz segment of the 2m All Mode section can also be used during the UKAC. The VHFCC recognises that this is not normally in use during SSB contests, but if people would like to try calling CQ in a quieter part of the band, why not try it, taking care to avoid the designated calling frequencies and centres of activity for other modes such as SSTV, ATV talk back, digital voice and data."
Thank you so much for your reply, that is really helpful! My only other question was the requirement to share the first two characters of one’s post code in the QSO exchange. Seems quite strange to me and every time I watch a YouTube video of them in the contest they only ever exchange serial and locator. I guess my question is if people actually do it? It’s only on my mind because if I do operate CW, that’s just another piece of information for me to have to copy!
Read the rules carefully… "b) The multiplier type differs between individual contests in order to match the exchange in the main contest running at the same time - check the individual rules table carefully. "
It’s simple, think about it. The more diverse the frequencies you operate on, the less like it is that someone else, maybe with 4x 17ele Yagis at 20m and kW up the coax will have picked the same frequency.
Unless you are a massive station and can dominate the frequency, pick a non-0 non-5 frequency and avoid being squished by a bigger station.
I take this to extremes on HF and usually self-spot and operate on frequencies on my KX2 like 7.0333 or 10.1666 knowing that SOTA chasers with modern radios will find my weak signal better.
The SOTA SMS server handles that number of decimal places but I think I noticed SOTAgoat (which I tried recently and worked when I had good-enough phone reception) rounds it to 3 or 4 places. Am I right?