How many points do other chasers get on a typical day?
I had a few hours spare today & a quick look at the spots popping up seemed to suggest that summits around the EU were buzzing with SOTA activity. I therefore decided to lock myself in the radio room for a few hours & see how many I could work.
It turned out to be a bumper day for SOTA chasing for me!
So far I’ve managed 78 points with 18 contacts, which I think is the most points I’ve ever collected in one day.
Looking back at my log, most of these contacts seem to be either Austria or Germany with some very strong QRP signals, so propagation seems to be just right for the hop into that part of Europe from my location.
Today’s activities puts me on 2878 chaser points, so I might as well push to hit 3k!
While I appreciate that it’s not a contest & we all set our own challenges, I wondered how my (probably slightly amateurish) efforts compared to the more seasoned chasers?
I obviously don’t expect to match some of the big names of the SOTA chaser world who have a lot more time to commit than me & most likely have a far better antenna setup than me (big towers, beams, a lower noise floor etc) but with a 20m Moxon beam at around 12m or so above the ground, an OK EFHW for 40m NVIS & about 250-300 watts to throw at it, I would suggest that my setup isn’t exactly lacking!
So roughly how many points is a good/bad day for all you chasers out there?
Good to see you back on this reflector asking more questions after a seven month hiatus.
As a regular multi-mode chaser who is retired and on the air most days, I don’t tend to tot up my points on a daily basis. If I’ve been pretty active that day (i.e. more than say 10 SOTA QSOs) I will submit my log as a csv file. If it’s a quiet period over several days operating wise and I haven’t worked chased much SOTA, I might wait 3-4 days before I submit my csv file.
I never sit in the shack all day. After an hour or two chasing I tend to get tired of it and go and do something else, returning later in the morning or in the afternoon. In the winter after 14:00 contacts with EU activators are few and far between as the sun sets across the continent. Things pick up a bit later in the afternoon if there is propagation westwards, and a few USA/VE activators can be worked, especially if you operate in CW, and if 15/12/10 metres is open across the pond, which is happening most afternoons now. I’m not hoping for much at present in the 2024 10m challenge inter EU - the short skip condx on 10m to EU have been poor of late.
For me today coming into the shack on and off between 09:55 and 12:42 my visits generated just 8 contacts, for 25 points. 4 x CW and 4 x SSB contacts. Being connected to the reliable MM0FMF SOTA Cluster makes a big difference, and I’m always connected throughout the day. Nipping in and out of the shack from time to time usually generates a few QSOs.
On the 27th Dec I was more active, between 08:14 and 17:22 doing SOTA and working non-SOTA stations in MGM with FT4/8. Out of 42 QSOs, 29 were SOTA Chaser contacts. Out of those 29 just 11 were SSB, the rest were CW. If you have got good eyes you can read my logbook.
If you use CW and SSB you are likely to generate a bigger daily score. On the 27th I think I scored around 162 points. I spent much longer in the shack that day and split my time between looking for DX contacts and SOTA. There was plenty of activity that day due to Twixmas, when more activators tend to turn out, weather permitting.
I usually only chase at weekends, and between everything else I have to do other than ham radio
I’d say I’d typically work only around 3 or 4, getting close to 10 on a good day. My very simple set up here is running a G90, with a home made fan dipole in the attic.
But for whatever reason, back on the 7th October I managed 24 SSB QSOs (23 unique summits) in that day mostly on 20m, totalling 118 chaser points. I’m not sure if it was propagation, or there was special SOTA event on that I wasn’t aware of, but certainly was fun when you get a run like that.
I know, I’ve been pretty busy the last few months. I’ve been around but there’ve been fewer activations than usual.
I know there are a significant number of activations which I miss out on because there are some activations which are CW only.
I did try to learn CW a while back & got to a point where I could probably almost do a rubber stamp SOTA QSO. Unfortunately a lack of time (and if I’m brutally honest, a lack of motivation) got the better of me & I didn’t keep it up. I would be starting from square one if I wanted to try again.
We all have our own favourite modes & I have nothing but respect for people that take the time to learn CW but unfortunately I struggle to get excited over CW in the same way that some people struggle to get excited over FT8. It just isn’t my cup of tea…Sorry to any CW fans out there!!!
Speaking of FT8, I probably miss out on a few data activations as well. I know a few people do FT8 from SOTA summits. I’ve had a handful of FT8 SOTA contacts over the last few years but I don’t routinely chase on FT8.
I’d say that’s pretty good going for an attic antenna with 20 watts!
