Congrats to Andreas, HB9HCI, on achieving Mountain Goat status some days ago. Andreas has showed some extra dedication to the programme since he started scoring only 5 months ago.
Andreas has specialised in this funny looking SOTA logfile mode “OTHER”, and since his log shows only 6 SSB QSOs so far, we have not yet met on the frequency. But I remember having met him and XYL Yvonne in real on the recent HB9SOTA snowshoe tour to Selibüel – most of us hiking down to the hut after having activated, and only the two rushing up to the summit. He made a story out of it in our HB9SOTA newsletter, showing us the other side of life on that day, and especially the sides of life of an FT8 activator.
I’ll certainly have to see FT8 field operating once to enhance my SOTA world, and Andreas has certainly proven proficiency with several hundred contacts to give me some insights, hi. But I think that my main focus will remain on doing SSB . . . ehm, what would be e.g. a QSO with EA2DT (for me at last) without his melody “dellllta-tango!” on air, creating some familiarity among the SOTA community? And yes, I’ve already mentioned several times that my CW abilities will be brushed-up – yep, at latest after having retired, hi. And then: FT8, or probably FT4, FT2 or FT9. And all that before SK.
But the topic here is: welcome to the Swiss herd, Andreas! And enjoy your niche furthermore!
The SOTA DB API only reports CW, SSB and FM on the activator_log_by_id endpoint, so SOTLAS treats any QSOs that are not accounted for by the total number of QSOs per activation as “Other” in the chart.
Wow, what an achievment!
Mountain Goat in 5 Month, my respect
It’s a pitty we couldn’t S2S each other and won’t do so in the near future…
I have yet to be convinced to carry this additional weight of a FT8 Equipment on a summit.
Is there a reason you don’t want to use a microphone?
Yes there is: on one of my first summits my tablet was not charged. So I tried some QSO’s with micro. There was someone from Spain, who spelled his callsign with “sugar” instead of “sierra” and I asked myself: shugar or chugar or … and missed the rest of his callsign. Then the connection became weak and I asked a few more times to get his callsign. Then a German on an island in Greece, who was qrz, helped me from background to spell the callsign. For me that was such a awkward experience, that I became shy and trust only in FT8. (More than 30pts I lost due to malfunction of the FT8-equipment but I hesitated to use the micro)
But by and by I developed a (SOTA-proofed) FT8–Box. This kit is for beginners (and OM’s too). It will contain an introduction to FT8 on SOTA. Then you need only your transceiver, a smartphone/tablet and this little box to be QRV on FT8.
We have in German a diction: “Wer sich nicht in Gefahr begibt, kommt darin um. (Rolf Biermann)” (Those, who avoid risk, will perish in it) Ergo: I will try to get the next 1000 pts with microfone…
thx and 73, Andreas, HB9HCI
Congrats, Andreas,
I don’t work digital modes. My preferred mode is CW although I also do SSB.
I’ll be looking forward to chasing you on SSB while you work for your 2xMG.
73,
And it’s the only digital mode you can play without needing an artificial computer or similar to decode it. That’s why I like it and I don’t like the rest of digital modes.
Thank you, Ken, for chasing me the other day on CW while I was activating EA2/NV-037.
73,
Unglaublich, aber wahr: 1000 Punkte in 5 Monaten - ganz herzliche Gratulation auch von uns dafür . Dass Du - wie Du uns ja schon angekündigt hattest - Deinen 2.MG in SSB “holen” wirst, das freut uns natürlich ganz besonders, und wir freuen uns auf unser baldiges, erstes S2S
Bis dahin weiterhin viel Erfolg auf den Gipfeln und vy 73 de René, HB9NBG + 73/88 de Carine, HB9FZC
I agree: CW is one of the most comprehensive ways to send information. In transmission CW is like FT8 (for slow keying). But on the receiver side FT8 is much more sensitive.
When I was 15 years old I also learned CW and went to the officials to get an additional SW concession. That were the longest 5 min in my life! After the first few moments I knew: He is too fast - I can not follow. After that he ask me: “I see you are confused. I give you a 2nd try.” My answer: “Oh - please NOOO!” This was the reason, that I never used my VHF-licence until retirement. Now I think about the 3rd 1000SOTApts to do in CW. (if I am still able to learn CW as OM)
Andreas, HB9HCI
