A little bit of respect to activators (Part 2)

Continuing the discussion from A little bit of respect to activators (Part 1) - #100 by KQ2RP.

Previous discussions:

Hi Armin @DL6GCA,

You said Maybe it is necessary to bring it up again and again
I sadly could say that this is waste of our time.

Today PY1II activated PY1/TR-043
It was first time for me to get so beautiful copy from Brazil.
It was also first time to copy high kilowatts panic between chasers.
Do you think they didn’t copy my many S2S calls to PY1II ?
Of course they did copy, but they switched on their own ham spirit in which the activator has no rights :frowning:
That’s why let’s not waste time beating our heads against the wall, let’s enjoy SOTA as it is :wink:

Congratulations to chasers who worked PY1II today :beers:

See you on frequencies soon :exclamation:

73, Jarek

4 Likes

Hello Jarek

… it is said that Sisyphus was a happy man… :wink:

I too have been able to hear PY1II very well in parts today… and in these moments I also called. It makes no sense for me to call if I can’t hear the other station… Once I thought that I was heard. But it was Fred @DL8DXL :roll_eyes: Congrats to Fred…

Yesterday I had a QSO with him, as he was on PY1/TR-041. He was stronger that time. I was very happy about that, because at home I have only 80 watts on a wire hanging in 6m height above the ground between higher houses. I would be better off on the Summit.

Yes - there are happy moments, in which also a S2S can succeed: 5th SOTA Activation, S2S and QCX | py1zb

But that is rare… and therefore a special moment of happiness.

For me as a Chaser applies:

If I don’t hear the activator, I don’t call.
If I hear a station calling /P or S2S, then I don’t call.
If possible, I point out a /P or S2S call to the activator.

73 Armin

7 Likes

I often work /P but not always from a SOTA summit so it is tough on an activator hearing my call and expecting a S2S contact. On SSB I can usually explain quickly that I am not an S2S chaser but as I am just starting my CW journey (one successful chase so far), what is the best way to call /P as a chaser without having to explain to the activator why I have no summit reference? At my current 12wpm, that could take a while….! :weary: 73 Mike

1 Like

just /p - no ref

73 Armin

4 Likes

Like you Mike I often chase when operating /p but not from a summit. I take the view that as it is not compulsory to use /p when operating in the UK, I leave it off so as not to get anyone’s hopes up! Also, I would feel a bit guilty if someone gave me priority as a /p station when it’s not for a S2S…
73, Matthew M0JSB

5 Likes

I worked Doug twice last week - both QSOs were on 21 MHz CW - one at 1841z. As a Chaser it doesn’t pay to stop looking after your dinner time! Doug was an exceptional signal when I worked him. I’ve had very few QSOs into South America. Japan is the same, which is understandable, but non-SOTA wise its usual easy to working in PY/LU/CE on HF but I find SOTA activators in these countries are mostly unreadable in my receiver. It’s now partly down to inproving condx I guess, but I think the operator has a lot to do with it in terms of his operating ability, using Morse and the antenna used. I wasn’t around to hear the selfish chasers not allowing the activators through for the S2S this weekend. That’s very bad practice. Whoever you are you should be ashamed, or maybe you could not hear the repeated /P or S2S being sent for one reason or another… There are a few people running before they can walk with the Morse and using readers that don’t perform well in the face of competing signals in a pile up scenario. They also are unaware of standard operating procedures and can’t comprehend properly what is happening on the frequency.

73 Phil G4OBK

2 Likes

It takes too long to explain, I say don’t bother. The pile up will just get more angry and impatient if you break out into a long sentence in Morse. Just carry on using the /P and when you are in QSO with the activator send SRI NO SOTA after your report. It only takes a couple of seconds. I did this in France and when in other places chasing from holiday homes. No one complains. You are an activator anyway so you already do your bit Mike!

73 Phil

PS I never resend the /QRP people send /QRP after their call and I usually make them wait.

4 Likes

If I am activating and called by a /P station, if they don’t send me a reference I either assume they are not on a SOTA summit because they are WWFF or GMA, for example, or I ask UR REF? BK and I get a quick NOT SOTA BK back. When I get home I check on Sotawatch to check if I have got references right so I would almost certainly pick up on an S2S if I didn’t get the reference at the time. So don’t worry about it. Or, as already said, just don’t add /P.

3 Likes