One of those things you think of on the way to the summit. Has anyone earned “bonus goat”, that is 1000 points strictly from seasonal bonus points?
Best regards,
Drew
n7da
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Hi Drew,
MM0YCJ has 1002 bonus points at present, not sure about any others.
Andy
MM7MOX
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Amazing! And very cool!
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I didn’t realize this could be a thing. It turns out there’s quite a few winter points mountain goats.
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What’s more interesting is who has the lowest score to be a bonus goat.
You need a minimum of 334 activations with a bonus to get 1002 bonus points.
You need to activate 2 point summits to get a bonus.
So the lowest score to be a bonus goat is 3342 + 3343 = 668 + 1002 = 1670 points.
So who has the highest bonus points to points score?
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Andy,
Which 2 point summits in VK have bonus points? They are all 8 pointers afaik. Are there any outside of the UK?
73
Ron,
VK3AFW
Sorry Ron, being very UK-centric in my thoughts here.
Places which have a minimum score of 2pts to get the bonus give the answer I gave. It looks like we need a per association value to account for the different minimum score to get a bonus.
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What it’s telling me is that M6BWA Vikki and M0JLA Rod are hardy winter activators in the UK… 
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I saw that. Outrageous for slightly more mature people to be so fit and active. Long may they continue 
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Norway, Finland, Iceland, Faroes do.
Ireland, Northern Ireland and Sweden do not.
Some USA associations do (e.g. W7M)
Thanks Gerald but the truth is that I am lazy and wanted to reach MG (long, long ago) and sussed that the quickest ways (for us) was to go up most of the local 2 point South Wales hills in winter thus turning them into 5 point hills. Once MG was reached it was too late to change my mnindset so we continued going up them year after year (and would be this year if only the wind and rain would die down. We still have about 4 to do this year.) Rod M0JLA got his winter bonus goat before me and mine came on all bands almost exactly a year ago (those lovely Clwydian hills!) and all VHF/UHF in early January 2024. I’m glad I grabbed it when I could as the speed of ascent and general condition of the engine is definitely showing its age!
Sorry we didn’t chat on our recent trip in your direction but you were probably going up more strenuous and exotic hills…
73 to you both Viki
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Hear, hear!
Viki
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Thank you for your good wishes.
I wish you also a healthy and happy new year.
73,
Rod
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No less than 267 activators have ONLY submitted seasonal bonus qualifying activations. Though as one might expect, most of these have only done a small number of activations.
Here, FYI, is a list of all the activators for whom 50% or more of their activations have been seasonal bonus qualifying, and who have done 50 or more activations:
| KM4JHK | 77.0% |
|---|---|
| W4JL | 70.7% |
| G1STQ | 68.6% |
| AC3B | 66.9% |
| KS4FX | 64.3% |
| M0NJW | 62.7% |
| 2E0RSM | 62.5% |
| CT7AGT | 61.6% |
| MW0ECX | 59.0% |
| S52TC | 58.7% |
| VE7ESE | 58.6% |
| ZL4RA | 58.4% |
| KM4YKK | 58.2% |
| LA8NHA | 56.4% |
| G0MHF | 56.2% |
| OM7VK | 55.6% |
| K7TSY | 55.0% |
| OM7OK | 54.7% |
| DK4KW | 54.7% |
| M0DEV | 52.6% |
| NG2E | 52.6% |
| JG0AWE | 52.3% |
| EA8AMT | 51.9% |
| M0BKQ | 51.7% |
| DK6AN | 51.5% |
| M1CJE | 51.2% |
| DS3EXT | 51.0% |
| JA8XUB | 50.7% |
| DH7WW | 50.3% |
| K4RXL | 50.0% |
| S57FA | 50.0% |
| KK0U | 50.0% |
For anyone wondering about arguably (here in the UK) the most famous winter-focused SOTA activator - John @G4YSS - then he just missed the cut with 49.9% of his activations being winter bonus.
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Short account of my recent seasonal bonus goat, all winter bonus in my case. Winter Mountain Goat (Musk Ox Award?)
Musk ox is member of the Bovidae (goat) family apparently!
73
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Thanks Tom. Just wonder if there is there a way to work out if anyone achieved their seasonal bonus activating unique summits?
I wonder if I am the first, but more likely someone beat me to it?
73
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Around here, we have winter and summer bonus points. Perhaps mixed bonus goat, winter bonus goat, and summer bonus goat?
Very cool to see what kinds of bonus points totals folks have racked up!
Hi,
In part of VK6 I proposed two bonus periods on the basis that the Sun is overhead twice each summer for summits North of the Tropic of Capricorn. The first occasion is as the Sun appears overhead as it travels South to be overhead at the Tropic and then again as it heads back North.
The summer temperatures exhibit a double peak in temperature. It’s pretty hot even at the dip. I’m sure the same applies to many places North of the Equator.
I was told only one bonus period can apply and it was for a maximum period that didn’t span both temperature peaks. OK I personally don’t expect to activate these peaks and certainly not in Summer.
VK8/AL-100 is not covered by a bonus but a fit young hiker died climbing it a few years ago from the heat. It is now closed but for cultural rather than safety reasons.
The point is that even smallish peaks can be deadly due to the weather, bonus points or not. Those 2 pointers in the UK could be dangerous for the unwary in spite of their low height.
So kudos to the bonus goats.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
1 Like