I’ve just looked at my activation. I activated Glas Beinn GM/WS-303, 501m 2pts, on 31 Mar, tonight, got four QSO’s but didn’t get any bonus points. Did I miss out or miss something else?
Let me do a database search for you…
3 points between 30 November and 14 March
Case solved 
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NOOOOOOO. I thought it was 31 Mar. Poo!
Thank you.
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On a plus note I did get two trans-Atlantic QSOs using only 10W
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The periods of the bonus points are inconsistent… and is up to the regions.
I was quite surprised to receive bonus points for my activations on EA8/GC at the end of March…
73 Armin
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Well apparently here in t’ north east of England we’re in the summer SOTA season. The snow is falling for the 2nd day in a row 
Well done on the trans-Atlantic Paul!
Actually you signed up in Feb 2021 and the announcement that the bonus period in Scotland was changing was made in Nov 2020, so you missed it. As one of the original associations, the period was Dec 1st to Mar 15th. I think it was Gavin GM0GAV who suggested we shift the GM bonus 1 day as that would mean the Winter Bonus would start on November 30th, St. Andrew’s Day. As St. Andrews day is now a Public Holiday in Scotland, it meant Scottish activators would be able to use their day off to activate and gain a bonus.
The database gives the correct dates but the GM ARM is out of date, mea culpa and needs revising.
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Cross post. So the ARM is wrong.
Hi Paul,
Like you I have missed the end of the winter bonus, only we are out here in HB9.
However, in our case we have been self isolating after contracting Covid! Quarantine finishes today so hope to out again soon.
GM/WS-303, Glas Beinn is a perfect winter bonus peak qualifying by one clear metre. I see I ticked it 10 years ago, plus the winter bonus in February 2012.
Just like, "t’ north east of England we’re in the summer SOTA season (out here). The snow is falling for the 2nd day in a row"
Hopefully any avalanche risk settles quickly, but it still feels like winter?
73
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If we’re open to revision, can we extend bonus season in GM land until 30th April for 8 and 10 point summits?
These mountains generally hold winter conditions until later in the year, require winter kit to be carried and will still be cold on top.
That way, everyone can nab all the 2 pointers + bonus in the depth of winter with shorter days and it would encourage some to head for the higher mountains earlier, but with longer days making it a safer proposition. This would benefit the Chasers too.
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Guys all my own fault for not reading it. No harm done and like I said the transatlantic QSO’s with my TX-500 more than made up for them.
Ah, well…
Moving the bonus dates in GM one day forward doesn’t change things in a substantive way. The same number of days as before and averaged out, the same WX conditions as before. It allows locals to use a new granted public holiday that’s all.
There are 2 things that stop the bonus being extended as you ask. One is technical, the software would need changing as it only allows a bonus period / region. i.e GM/ES could have a different bonus period than GM/WS. It’s not possible at present to set different bonus periods on the score of a summit. The other is the rules say a bonus period can be at most 4 months long. The GM bonus is like all the UK periods, 3.5 months. Why is it this length and not the max? I don’t know. SOTA had been running for nearly 5 years when I got involved. So at most the GM bonus could be extended to 30th March (remember it starts 30th Nov for St. Andrew’s Day). Personally, I’m in the wind-down to retirement so soon every day will be a holiday, but I do think aligning to the local Patron Saint’s day is a good thing.
Changing the rules would affect all associations world wide and suddenly not only would there be possibly updates to about 150 GM summits but requests to extend the bonus from over one hundred other associations.
It’s good that subjects like these are talked about every now and then. It’s likely there will be many other people who are not au fait with the fine details of how some of SOTA rules work.
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When you discover how this comes about, please drop me an email… I’m 2 years into retirement and time on the hills has sadly diminished. I’ve yet to discover why. 
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I can live with that. 
Seriously though, I didn’t realise it would affect the entire planet of SOTA.
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Hi Fraser,
Could you keep your cold weather in GM, here’s what we’ll have tonight in France 
73, Éric
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Sorry Éric, it must have travelled south with my radio waves. 
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Take care or the G AM will be asking for April 23 
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Why do you think I didn’t extend GM to March 30th? 
Though sadly we’re not as enlightened down here. Our masters don’t give us a day off for St George (and they also believe we can recover in only one day after New Year’s Eve 
)
I’ve gone through the wind down to retirement and am now busier than ever!
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