I see from the recent activations, that 2E0LCY/P activated Whernside today 24/4/08, no spot again!!
73 Mike GW0DSP
In reply to GW0DSP:
Reason:
11:55z 2E0SBC 144MHz FM morecambe
11:57z M0TES 144MHz FM gleeston s/cumbria
11:58z M3OPQ/P 144MHz FM morecambe
12:05z G4KPB/M 144MHz FM fleetwood
No major Chaser here Mike. You must have been having lunch as I know you can smell RF off those hills! Perhaps you over-peppered your mash otherwise you’d have been back in that shack as quick as lightning 
73, Gerald
In reply to G4OIG:
You beat me to that comment Gerald. 2 stations not fixed (/p and /m) leaving two to spot. Activation shows 4 worked in 10mins. By the time the 1st were able to spot it could have all been over. It’s dangerous drawing conclusions from limited data sets.
I’m always grateful that chasers spot me. It helps drum up activity for me. You can tell when the spot has been sent by the increase in people calling. I find I relax a lot when the 4th QSO goes in the log. Silly because I now do SOTA for the walk and exercise 1st, the radio is the bonus. And the icing on the cake is the fact there are so many keen chasers that make taking the gear on the hills worthwhile. I’m sure you can hear me audibly relax when that 4th QSO starts.
This appears to be 2E0LCY’s 1st activation. So welcome to SOTA and I hope you have as much fun with SOTA as I get.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Yes Andy, I too relax after number 4. Fortunately through the assistance of regular Chasers I have never failed to qualify any of the 140 summits that I’ve activated, even though I use VHF/UHF as a personally defined qualification goal. Of course I only had a 290R to start with, but I didn’t change tack when I got the 817. I agree the exercise is as much a part of the activation as the radio, but I would be extremely disappointed not to qualify a summit on account of the amount of travelling involved. I make no excuse for running 25W on 2m as it reaches the parts that QRP cannot, Hi.
I too would like to give a welcome to 2E0LCY and I hope that we meet up one day S2S.
73, Gerald
In reply to G4OIG:
Hi Gerald and Andy
Maybe I’m just annoyed that I allowed a tiny little bit of summit RF to sneak past the end of my beam un-noticed!!! normally, not much gets past me, hi.
You were close with the pepper Gerald, it was actually curry;-)
Maybe the chasers are not there in the numbers that they used to be. Any way, it’s not good enough, DSP missed 2 in 2 days, I’m losing my touch;-)
To 2E0LCY, welcome to the Sota family, it’s great fun, but be warned, I’ll get you next time;-)
73
Mike GW0DSP
In reply to GW0DSP:
You were close with the pepper Gerald, it was actually curry;-)
Hmmm, that’s what it was. I thought we had the return of the dreaded Europong!
Maybe the chasers are not there in the numbers that they used to be.
Perhaps we have periods of lower interest with chasing, much as has often been perceived as being the case with activations… proven or not - I am not sure whether we ever came to a conclusion as to whether it was fact or fiction.
73, Gerald
In reply to G4OIG:
Low chaser interest = painting and decorating:(
Rob
G4RQJ
In reply to G4RQJ:
Rob, swearing is not allowed on this reflector.
73
Mike
Hi Gerald,
Yes, the conclusion was reached and was clear. However you broke it down, whether into particular bands/modes/countries/regions, the numbers of activations were rising year-on-year. There was always a tail-off in activity after the start of the year, down to a minimum in September-ish, then things pick up again. And when January comes around again, the next year as a whole has more activity than the previous.
This pattern was observed in two studies I did - one for all UK SOTA activity, and another that was just looking at 2m FM North West England - but the trends were almost identical. The pattern was also observed in a separate analysis by GW4BVE and GW0DSP, published in a past edition of SOTA News.
AFAIK, a study of chasing rather than activating has not been undertaken. However, as a mathematician/statistician, I would be astonished if the trends for chasing did not very closely resemble those for activating.
Mike - I entirely agree with your analysis of painting/decorating…!
Tom M1EYP