Association Updates 1st August 2021

Associations
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Apologies for being a couple of days late with this announcement.

The headlines this month are a big update to the Hordaland region of Norway and many tweaks to the listing for Scotland. Andy is straightening out a few kinks with the uploads.

GM

Scotland GM gets a big update with most summits positions and heights getting minor adjustments with only one summit getting re-scored. Also there are some deleted summits, re-positioned summits with new references and new summits.

Re-scored from 1-Aug-2021
GM/WS-019 Creise 10 points down to 8 points

Deleted summits, all valid till 30-Nov-2021
GM/ES-020 Carn Liath
GM/SS-067 Beinn Dearg
GM/SS-089 Stob na Boine Druim-fhinn
GM/SS-257 Troweir Hill
GM/SS-273 Hightown Hill
GM/WS-344 Cruim Leacainn

Replace summits all valid from 1-Dec-2021
GM/ES-088 Creag an Dail Bheag replaces GM/ES-020
GM/SS-288 Creag na h-Eararuidh [Stuc na Cabaig] replaces GM/SS-067
GM/SS-289 White Hill replaces GM/SS-273
New Summits all valid from 1-Apr-2022
GM/NS-154 Beinn Dearg
GM/NS-155 Creag an Amalaidh
GM/SS-287 Kirriereoch Hill
GM/WS-349 Glas Bheinn
GM/WS-350 Sithean Mor [Sidhean Mor]
GM/WS-351 Na Maoilean

LA/HL

Thanks to Darek, LB1DH / SQ9X, for putting in a lot of work on this update. We have more than doubled the number of LA/HL summits, with a handful of retirements. LA/HL-203 to LA/HL-432 are new.

The retirements are LA/AA-112, LA/HL-026, LA/HL-103 and LA/HM-071.

Please note that LA/HL-103, Meien, has changed reference to LA/RL-312, just in case anybody is sitting on an old activation log they didnā€™t upload yet!

Weā€™re still working on further updates to LA.

HI elevations

A recent survey expedition in HI has determined more accurate elevations for three of the highest summits ā€“ HI/CI-001, HI/CI-002 and HI/NO-001. Weā€™ll probably get more accurate positions, too, once their paper is published.

There were only a few other little tweaks, such as a name fix for DM/RP-262.

Have fun everyone.

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I would like to point out that Glas Bheinn GM/WS-349 replaces Glas Bheinn GM/WS-330 and Na Maoilean GM/WS-351 replaces Na Maoilean GM/WS-334. I would also like to question the decision with regards to the Na Maoilean summit reference change, looking at the OS Map, the height of the col appears to be summit in-between 320m and 330m which means the col between the old and new summit could be anywhere in-between 22.6m and 32.6m below the new summit. Do we know the actual height of this col which enables you to make the decision to change this summit reference rather than just change the grid reference and height?

Also I recently found out from an RHB survey that Guir-bheinn GM/SI-142 is no longer a Marilyn, do we know when this summit will be removed from the SOTA programme?

Jimmy M0HGY

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When I feel like.

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The name for PP5 was made to be similar to the other Brazilian associations, it was missing Brazil. Iā€™m sure there was something else. As Simon says there are few minor tweaks needed.

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It is marginal but was decided on the basis of 5-m contours from OSGB Vector Map Local and the OSGB DTM5 elevation model.

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As Jim pointed out the new Glas Bhein and Na Maoilean summits replace existing summits of the same name but do get new references for the reasons Simon gave. The dates for the replacements start should of course be 1-Dec-2021 not 1-Apr-2022. However, the start dates were correct on the database so this looks like merely documentation.

For reference:
GM/WS-349 Glas Bheinn replaces GM/WS-330 on 1-Dec-2021
GM/WS-351 Na Maoilean replaces GM/WS-334 on 1-Dec-2021

Thereā€™s an EI summit that has an incorrect winter bonus value to fix. LA/AA-112 & LA/HM-071 are being deleted from 31-Jul-2021 and there are three HI summits which have the feet and metres values for elevation reversed.

These fixes should all be polished off this evening.

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Well thatā€™s Jack and Neil camping out with a race to see who can make a QSO at 00:00:01z. :grinning:

At least I know it isnā€™t worth my while doing Mullwharchar this year. :grinning:

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I am wondering from this Gerald if activating all GM/SS SOTA summits south of Glasgow/Edinburgh will be back in the agenda for yourself, Paul G4MD and Andy MM0FMF? White Hill GM/SS-289 will be another new SOTA summit south of Glasgow/Edinburgh which is the one that replaces Hightown Hill GM/SS-273.

Jimmy M0HGY

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The rules say you can specify a date for summit list validity. So you could pick ā€œsummits valid 1-Jan-2015ā€ for example as the list of summits you completed and thus miss out any newly added annoying summits that mean revisiting the area of The Awful Hand.

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Many thanks for the heads up Jimmy. I will have to roll that into the scheduleā€¦ and of course check out the other changes, especially as I have now slipped north of the Glasgow/Edinburgh line. The Mull of Kintyre is an entirely separate consideration of course. Iā€™ve had an itinerary worked out for that since 2014, but have not yet made it over there for SOTA. My last visit was back in 1971 when I was running 2m AM. :grinning:

I wouldnā€™t want to miss it. I havenā€™t tried out my new plumbing over Galloway ground. :laughing:

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Hightown Hill was my first ever activation way back in 2005 Jimmy, so its replacement White Hill will be visited once it is a SOTA Counter. I donā€™t imagine it will be hard to work White Hill as a chaser - the activators will be queuing up to get it!

73 Phil G4OBK

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What is the rationale for adding or keeping summits in an association (W6) that are on private land? SOTA is an activity open to the entire ham radio community and it is counterintuitive that some of the goals would be placed in areas that are owned by companies or individuals that have no interest in allowing anyone to visit them. It also encourages trespassing despite the usual stringent warnings against it.

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The criterion for inclusion is the topographic prominence. Details such legal status (e.g. private, prohibited special environmental status, military reserve, &c, &c), difficulty (e.g. ā€œimpossible to climbā€) or safety (e.g. surrounded by land mines, on a firing range) do not affect the prominence and it is the responsibility of the activator to check these. Such details may change in the future, making inaccessible summits accessible or vice versa. Indeed, if a summit meets the criterion and is therefore listed but is under private ownership, if you get permission to activate it why wouldnā€™t you? This happens a lot.

We have many tens of thousands of summits in the database so it would be completely impractical to keep up-to-date status information. The more consistent approach is simply to offer the complete lists according to prominence and leave it to the activators to determine if an expedition is possible. Also we would be uncomfortable conferring some sort of ā€œofficialā€ status in case it turns out to be wrong and in case the absence of a warning is taken as an implicit ā€œOkā€. In a few cases e.g. when asked specifically by a landowner MT might have placed a note on a particular summit, but for the most part we prefer to leave this to participants. So everybody please do check for notes on the summit pages and do any further research as necessary.

Of course if the private owner starts blowing lumps off the top and the P falls below the threshold we will retire the summit. See forthcoming W4K update for examples!

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Further, there are hundreds of peaks that are on indian tribal land, and you could be marched away at the point of a firearm. Best to check it out before you go. The association manager knows.

EL

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GM/SS-289 Activation. Well it looks like Andrew will take the prize Gerald. However, I am hoping to ā€˜bagā€™ Andrew on 13cms on it.

And thatā€™s my remaining 6 SSā€™s are now up to 8. Feels like a bit of a slipper pole :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

I trust you (and indeed Paul) are well. Have been heavily involved with my radio club WoSARS and work at Home (and a wee nasty virus C19) thatā€™s been keeping me off the hills. ABW Iā€™ll be out there early next year!

73

Jack(;>

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I managed to activate 5 of the 6 being deleted and chase and thus complete, 4 of those 5.

Having nearly given up because of the long grass on SS-067 I am not sure I want to go back again to active SS-288!

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Aye, I wondered where youā€™d been. A wee bit of curling as well I suspect. Sorry to hear about the C19 episode. I copped the Alpha variant in March 2020, a couple of weeks after Paul and I got back from our Annual Birthday Bash. Thankfully I was just trashed for a while.

The addition of Kirriereoch was what I was waiting for. I now have that and White Hill to add to Mullwharchar making the trip worthwhile. I did immediately think of wild camping, but then decided that the Loch Trool midgefest might make that a bad idea, especially as I suffer badly with the wee beasties. So Iā€™m still giving it some thought. :grinning:

Hopefully catch you when Iā€™m next up north of the borderā€¦ maybe in a couple of weeks if all goes well.

73, Gerald

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Morning Phil,

You put Andrewā€™s (VFL) hi on a bit of a lo yesterday with your early activation - you bad boy you - hi hi! He was busy ā€˜upp-northā€™ with GM/SS-155 then 289 in mid afternoon. Worked him on both summits on 13cms for a 13 Complete and ā€˜newā€™ new one!

Trust Judy is keeping well?

Catch you on the hills next year??

(;>J

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