Yes but there are challenges that exclude the Legacy modes.
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I’m not with you Ed.
When it is a specific band challenge, all modes are included.
When it is a specific mode challenge, all bands are included.
There are datamode and digital voice mode challenges that exclude SSB and CW and hence the balance would be to exclude Digital / data modes from the other (e.g. 160m/80m/12m/10m/6m/17m) challenges.
You are saying datamodes can take part in all challenges but Legacy modes (SSB/CW) cannot. That is exclusion without a balance.
in this example 17m SSB & CW are excluded in the DV/Datamode weeks.
Perhaps I’m looking for an Inclusion balance across all months that isn’t intended to be there and we should look at each month’s challenge as a challenge in its own right with whatever rules and restrictions there are to be around the individual challenge define the challenge?
Well the spirit of the challenge is to encourage activators and chasers to expand their skills and try new things. The first 12m challenge was inspired by the fact that, anomalously, hardly any SOTA activity was taking place on 12m.
As such, we came up with a programme of under-represented bands and modes for the challenge in 2020. We decided on a variety of events so that there would hopefully be something for everyone.
This time next year we will be considering the programme for 2021, but I don’t see a case for CW or SSB unless either suffers a dramatic drop in activity over the next 12 months.
Your illustration applies to bands as well. For instance, 2m will not be included in as many months as 80m. But, like CW and SSB, 2m activity is already healthy enough without additional promotion.
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Tom
This looks like a really interesting idea, and despite not having done SOTA for as many years as most of the operators I must confess I am getting in a bit of a rut (80/60/40 SSB) and this will encourage me to try something new. (The lakes weekend was great btw for trying something new!) There are some bits that might be easy for me, and some that are quite a bit harder. I have not worked 70cm for 37 years (The last time was with a pair of Pocketphones!) so I will need to sort out an antenna and give it a go. I have never tried 12m at all, and have never tried 6 or 10 on a summit so more new antennas to make! I’ve dabbled in data at the home QTH, but getting it all to work /P will really get the grey matter working, and possibly the soldering iron for the right leads. No kit for digital voice so probably can’t try that flavour! Thanks to the MT for getting my brain cells going again, but slightly relieved it didn’t go as far as Moonbounce or 472KHz!
Thanks paul
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We’re keeping to the simple LF stuff of 160m to begin with! 
That LF S2S that Chris DL1CR and Wolf DK1HW did has a degree of sublime coolness to it though.
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Great Paul - this is exactly what we hope from the Challenge- hope you enjoy it.
…and the rig had bottles! (Sorry, only elderly Brits will understand - think 807, 6V6)
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Hi Brian,
The VK3 E’s season is (roughly) from the last week in December to the first week of February. 2 m E’s openings can occur in November and late in February but they are … um … sporadic to say the least. For 6 m the season may run from early in December to early in February. The availability of contacts is influenced by the number of people on holidays so the apparent season is not necessarily as long as the real season.
The best we can hope for here is that some of the chasers who have not been hearing activators in these zero sunspot days will hear them again.
While the proposal may not be perfect (when was the last perfect proposal made?) it’s a worthwhile initiative.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
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Ed, you may recall we have 3 commercial eateries in the AZ in VK3 and one in VK5.
Should there be a worked all pubs or P2P challenge?
73
Ron
VK3AFW
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Steve,
I note your concerns about FT8 are based on assumptions or hearsay, not personal knowledge so I can understand why you have not got it right.
The Genuine K1JT Current Version of FT8 does not allowed continued automatic operation. After 73 is sent the tx is turned off until manually restarted.
There are people who have modded the program for DXpedition operation so that it runs automatically. I’m not keen to qso that sort of operation.
No doubt it is possible to modify the current version to call CQ after sending 73 and continue on. It was done with an earlier version by a couple of people. However it needs to cope with for example the situation where QSB takes the signal below the decode threshold and the other station keeps asking for a report. That takes a bit more software savvy to include in an automated station station but still possible. There are other things that happen that would throw the software off and the apparent QSO would have not taken place. The human op needs to be vigilant and be in control.
I want to make the point that the possibility of automation of a station is not new or solely an FT8 thing.
20 years ago I worked a CW beacon. I sent my call and a report in it’s listening period. It responded with my call and a report. So are you going to ask that CW be banned because it is possible that someone might automate their station?
Automation has also been done with RTTY and PSK. So why are the bands not full of automated stations working each other? Radio amateurs get their pleasure from operating the station, not from their computer doing everything.
It is possible to cheat in all activities. Some SOTA activators according to the rumor mill have activated outside the AZ because it was easier. Well if so they have devalued themselves.
If you want to ban FT8 because possibly someone might conceivably run a fully automated station then you need to ban all digital modes and CW for the same reason.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
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The Russians launched the RS-5 satellite that had a CW robot which you could work and even get a QSL card. That was back in 1981 - nearly 40 years ago. Automated QSOs are far from new.
I do not do datamodes ( this is somehow too impersonal for me )…and I do not have rigs for 160m, 6m or 70cm and higher.
There is not much left.
Then the conditions have to fit, if I have time at a weekend during the time window of the challenge.
Nevertheless, I would have liked (especially because of the current 144 Mhz problem) 2m SSB. (FM devices are often used … that’s no effort)
So - I’ll do SOTA as usual… (ok… with a little focus on 2m SSB… nevertheless!)
73 Armin
I think it was the MIR. I did have a CW QSO on 10m sometime around 1986 and also received the QSL card.
Cheers,
Guru
The whole idea of this challenge, and previous ones, is to encourage activators and chasers to try something new. This is why we’ve announced the programme four months ahead; so that interested parties can get on with building antennas, acquiring rigs, learning new skills etc.
That’s the same for everyone, and the thinking behind having one of each day of the week in every challenge period.
These challenges have always focused on bands/modes that are underrepresented in SOTA when compared to amateur radio generally. 2m SSB does not fulfil that criteria. In any case, at present, we either choose a band(s), but allow every mode on that band - or choose a mode, but allow every band on that mode. Not both.
The scoring system, where you add a new point for every new unique QSO partner you work means that the more different modes you use on a given band, the more unique QSO partners are going to be available for you to work.
Take 70cm for instance. If you stuck to FM, you would severely limit your potential for unique QSO partners. You would need to include SSB and perhaps CW or Data in order to do well. So the scoring system tacitly encourages SSB on VHF (and other things) without explicitly making it a requirement.
Exactly. Nothing to lose, just something extra to catch your interest - if you choose.
I have been looking for a reason to get back on the hills, have missed them a fair bit!
I will certainly try to get on for the Digital Voice and 70cm challenges
As Paul G4MD mentioned, shame that there was no 2m SSB, but as you say, this could be something for the future
73
Matt G8XYJ
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Bear in mind that both 12m and 10m also benefit from Es, and at the lower frequencies the season is longer. We also get a weak and patchy winter Es season on 6m which is more noticeable on 12 and 10m, I imagine that you get that too, so both hemispheres get two bites of the cherry, it will just be a matter of luck whether decent conditions emerge during the flavour periods but it is hoped that more people will be looking for openings.
Just a point of clarification which definition of activation of a summit is being used ? (1 QSO or 4 QSO)
With 70cm in July the definition could be critical to selecting summits.
From the general rules.
8. At least one QSO must be made from the Summit to qualify it as an activation. In order
for the activation to qualify for the points attributed to that Summit, a minimum of four QSOs
must be made, each of which must be with a different station.
73 de
Andrew G4VFL
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