Were they the first SOTA activations? (Saga on the air)
Ehh, I didn’t know that, which are these associations?
An anagram of combining SOTA & SAGA is
As A Goats
but a goat’s what??
Hmmmm
Well done, Andy! It’s always good to have some spare parts in the car.
I didn’t say it’s easy. On a few occasions I got upset because of way too many people at the summit, horrible wx or antenna wire tangled in a tree, …
Maybe I should add “… even if I forgot essential parts of the equipment at home.” 
73, Roman
4,000 contacts s2s and 20,000 points s2s. C’mon baby, bring it home for papa.
Elliott, K6EL
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No. A licensed married couple I met on board had already operated from Saga ships.
I missed out on a couple of new unique SOTAs for me as the G AM was not in attendance with me. Due to our long standing pact, I did not activate 9A/DH-127 or ZB2/GI-001 after hiking up them from the ship!
I hope one day to return to them, with Jimmy, to activate them, as they were both great walks. I also would like to do 4O/JC-063 that I walked part of. Then we’re onto other SOTA summits we’ve previously been to but not activated (pre EA6 launch) and other holiday locations with plenty left for us to do - EA8/FV, F/NO, ON/ON, GM/SS, EI, DM…. So much SOTA out there!
Just had the proofs for my QSL cards being produced for my /MM adventures.
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Is ACTIVATING using CW easier than CHASING?
- Is ACTIVATING using CW easiest?
- Is CHASING using CW easiest?
0
voters
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Hi Phil,
If you would open the poll for “Is activating on CW easier or activating in SSB?” I would clearly vote for CW.
Heinz
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That would depend on which part of the learning/experience spectrum of CW you are on. I would tend to agree* that activating on CW is easier if you are already competent at CW but not if you are a beginner, and certainly not if you’ve yet to start learning the code! It always amuses me when I see people who can’t do CW claiming that CW activating is easier than SSB activating!
*OTOH, maybe not. Recently I have made a handful of contacts, rather slow going, on say 20m CW on an activation. But upon switching over to 20m SSB, enjoyed a pile-up with many more contacts. So while in my heart I feel for me that CW activating is easier, this is actually not supported by recent evidence.
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There is psychological benefit of activating… when you are the activator you are actually operating much more and more in control. You call CQ, listen to the mayhem, pick a signal and work that. Lather, rinse, repeat. So you have a consistent stream of QSOs. When chasing you listen (well you’re meant to) and at the right time send your call. You may or may not get picked. Then you have to wait AND listen and repeat till you get the QSO. To me it’s much more frustrating to have to keep calling and not get selected than pick a chaser calling me.
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That brought a wry smile to my face…
It seems SOTA is like Goldilocks and the TWO bears…
Too many contacts or not enough… the “Just Right Bear” seems to take a day off…
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Hi all,
After having already mentioned it twice in previous threads, I am once again putting the message back in the bottle (Sting & Police)
9 / 175 G summits to end my quest…
| Summit Ref | Nbr of activ. | Last activation | Bands | Modes | Comment |
| G/DC-008 | 21 | 08 Sep 2021 by M1CGB/P | 20m, 40m | SSB | |
| G/NP-023 | 67 | 16 Dec 2021 by G6WBS/P | 2m | FM | Too far from JN23mx |
| G/NP-026 | 55 | 05 Sep 2021 by G4TQE/P | 2m | FM | Too far from JN23mx |
| G/SC-011 | 76 | 18 Dec 2021 by M0WIV/P | 2m | FM, SSB, DATA | Too far from JN23mx |
| G/SC-013 | 104 | 24 Aug 2021 by G4TJC/P | 2m, 20m, 30m,40m | DATA, SSB, CW | |
| G/SP-003 | 127 | 30 Jan 2022 by M5EVT M1BUU | 20,30m | CW |  |
| G/SP-010 | 339 | 30 Dec 2021 by M0PJE/P | 2m | FM | Too far from JN23mx |
| G/SP-012 | 205 | 28 Dec 2021 by M7TKL/P | 2m | FM | Too far from JN23mx |
| G/WB-006 | 166 | 01 Jan 2022 by G7HEM/P | 2m | FM | Too far from JN23mx |
I couldn’t contact the activation’s on VHF obviously it’s a bit far for me 
, but I missed two others who had HF 
Thanks to anyone who can help me, I know there are !
73 Éric
PS:
And don’t worry, once my quest is over I will continue to chase the Gs
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I’ve had two impressive chaser pileups. One was on Craig of Monievreckie, a wee 1pt summit where the 20/17m CW chasers never ended. I think it was Heinz OE5EEP who spotted me saying “1hr later and still working pileup :-)”
And the other time was the 1st ever activations from Madeira. That was Africa and I don’t there had been any/many EA8 activations before. New association and rare continent and even though SOTA was a fraction of its size now, there the pileup was massive enough that my cra^W poor CW skills meant I worked split and spread the mayhem far and wide.
Now I wonder what it must be like to be a proper DXpedition where it’s not SOTA chasers but a significant proportion of the world calling at the same time. Say Kerguelen or Heard Is or Spratly etc. Fun? Maybe once you have got back home and can relive it in your mind without worrying if you will get off the island safely 
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As part of my target to get 128 points this year I thought about which local summits I should be able to do in the winter bonus period. I thought 37 points by mid March was a reasonable target. With my activations of Fountains Fell G/NP-017 and Pen-y-ghent G/NP-010 today I am now on 45 and it’s still January. I am now running out of local summits but at least the days are getting longer.
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Now that Im a pilot and own a small plane im going to be flying all over the USA for some summits. Looking forward to some mega activation’s this year. SOTA!
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Waouh 
1st call on 30 and 20m @M5EVT and @M1BUU they gave me G/SP-003
Merci beaucoup Matthew et Colin, j’apprécie ce geste 
73 Éric
PS: Now 8 to go
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On my list for Activation in the next couple of months. Keep an eye out for Alerts. It would be 40m SSB.
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Thank you Gerald will look for you 
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Just remembered an important part of my SOTA plans for 2022 (and a small snag…):
to increase the use of 70cm fm amongst both my shack-bound chasers and my fellow activators. Yet again on Sunday I heard ‘the 70cm mast blew down in the gales before Christmas but I haven’t got round to putting it up again. Nobody much round here uses it.’ I also heard on 70cm ‘you are 57 thanks for the contact, I listened on 2m but you were so faint there was no chance of getting a contact.’ It is certainly not that surprising when the 70cm signal reports are better than the 2m ones. I am extremely grateful to the activators who either offer to QSY to 70cm when we’ve had a 2m s2s (I don’t think I’ve ever said ‘no’ but sometimes ask to deal with the pile-up first) or willingly agree to press a button, change aerial or even set up another radio to humour me. Special thanks to locals activators GW4VPX. G4AZS, G4HQB, GW4BML and M5RJC (now he has seen the light!).
The ‘Snag’? The second hill on Sunday was Tor y Foel GW/SW-013 in a fairly lively wind which managed to hide a small slit trench in the grass as I walked through the rough to avoid the exposed ridge path. Luckily it is only a (small I hope) sprained ankle so I got to the top and activated and descended very carefully but what about all those hills that are waiting for me to visit … and we are in February already… I must stop typing and get the foot up on a stool… where are those frozen peas?? Are there are any relatively close drive-on 2 pointers???
Viki M6BWA
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Oh no! I hope you heal up quickly.