I am very active as a SOTA chaser and also a chaser within the WWFF activity. I know that there is no need to chaser a SOTA activator from band to band as one contact if enough. However, several SOTA activators are also within a WWFF park which requires 44 contacts to make it an activated park for that activator. Would it wrong of me to chase them from band to band there giving them multiple contacts towards the required 44 contacts.
Thanks in advance. de W6LEN / Jess
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Hi Jess. Unless the activator posted a comment indicating they need a quick activation, it is totally fine to chase on multiple bands. I once chased @KR7RK on every band 10 thru 40 (he was in AZ, I was in WA). There are a few chasers who often chase me on multiple bands.
I will mention something that IS against SOTA protocol (and the āDX code of conductā) and that is sending your callsign more than once when trying to work someone. 
Best 73,
-Josh WU7H
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As Josh says, unless you have seen something posted by the activator asking for single band chasing only then go for multiple band chasing. When you have one QSO logged and you follow a band change then hang back from calling to allow others a shot. Only when the activator is CQing with no replies would I jump in for a multiple chase.
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Thanks Josh, advice noted and will follow.
Hi Jess,
Thereās nothing wrong with calls to an activator on multiple bands/modes - only one contact counts in the total but if someone is trying different bands, having the same station call him (or her) on multiple bands is a great way to compare band and equipment performance. Itās also a nice chance to get to know the operator better. The exception is (as has been said) if the activator is in a hurry or wants to get off the summit (e.g. if bad weather is heading in)ā¦
73 Ed.
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Unless the weather is severely limiting time, I like working people on multiple bands. It gives me a great feel for relative working distances eg 40m vs 20m.
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Josh,
I understand you are asking chasers not to waste time and for many activations time is of the essence so call sign once is often fine.
However call sign more than once is not a violation of SOTA mores unders several scenarios. For example the activator may actually ask for call sign repeats.
The chaser needs to judge when repeated call signs are necessary.
If someone doesnāt copy my call completely I will give it twice, usually in phonetics and then in letters and numbers on phone or 2x in CW. If he still hasnāt got it right then I will repeat several times.
Like many things, what you do canāt be set by immutable rules.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
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Iām talking specifically about the situation where there are multiple people calling at once (a pileup). Yes, if the activator sends back a partial that matches your call, by all means send your call a few times. But it is never acceptable to send your call multiple times during a pileup, in an attempt to āwinā.
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Josh,
What you refer to in the āDX Code of Conductā is a set of rules defined for contesting and DX hunting. SOTA is more friendly and forgiving and I know several very competent chasers who send their call twice on the first call but not in a way that hopes to āovercomeā other callers, rather just for clarity. We in SOTA, are a patient bunch with activators generally working contacts until the queue dries up (even though activators only need 4 contacts to qualify the summit) and chasers waiting until they get their contact. It is often the case that chasers will not hear each other because of skip distance and so the patience shown by chasers in SOTA to wait until the activator calls again is exemplary. As in all things, there are exceptions where a chaser is a pain, but these (IMHO) are those who have come from contesting and have not yet settled into the more ālaid-backā and friendly operating approach in SOTA (and indeed all of the portable operations award schemes).
73 Ed DD5LP
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One of the problems with sending your callsign multiple times during the pileup scenario, is that you may inadvertently walk on top of the activator. This has happened to me multiple times when I throw my callsign out there and another chaser (who is louder than the activator at my station), sends his callsign twice. The second time drowns out the activator trying to call me. This is followed by dead space until the activator calls me a second time and I can actually hear my callsign.
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But usually all the chasers send their callsigns again, often twice, and it goes round and roundā¦
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