I was a chaser for two operators activating the same summit. After logging them in My Chaser Log, under Points, one shows: 0(?).
Under notations, it states:
“ Entries marked with ‘?]’ in the Points column are potential duplicates. Prior to 1st January 2004, it was possible to claim points for multiple activations of a summit on the same day as long as the contacts were with different expeditions. From 1st January 2004, points are only awarded once per summit per day.
Does that mean that one of the activators won’t get any credit for the activation, as well as any chasers?
No the activators both get points, but you as a chaser will only receive chaser points once for that day, regardless of the number of activators you speak to. The next day you can get chaser points again for that same summit.
The activation points are only awarded if they make 4 contacts from the summit.
In reply to MW0WML:
Hi Gerald,
The rules are clear. Without getting into trouble, I and another activator have activated two different peaks that were joined by a saddle. He went up the north one and I went up the southern one and we had great activations. Then we came down and “high fived” on the saddle and passed a few suggetions on our way to the opposite peaks. Then he bagged the southern peak and I bagged the Northern one. It was a wonderful day and we both saw some new country and made great contacts with our faithful chasers.
I recognize that as activators, we both get all our activation points, but I wish those faithful chasers who followed both of us along the trail for the entire day could get points for their efforts rather than turning off their radios after they gathered their points. Our chasers are not like that, but I hope they know we appreciate them even though they recieved no points for chasing the two of us on diffferent peaks all day long.
Knowing that the chasers dont get their points for the second activator on the second peak in a one day period takes a bit of the fun (but not all!) out of team activations. I dont know how to resolve this quirk with expeditions, but I would really like to see my chasers get points for waiting for me as I stumble around.
So for those chasers that hung out and gave me the contacts after the first activation, Thanks guys, your the best!!
See you on the next one.
To do that you would have to create a minefield of additional rules, including things like minimum time elapsed before you can get chaser points for the same summit again etc. Unless you wanted a situation where you worked all twenty members of a mass activation of a 10 point summit, one after the other, and collect 200 points for doing so. The SOTA rules must account for all possibilties.
The very fact that the chasers are still there to give you the contacts on the later activation at no points gain to themselves actually suggests to me that the chasers indeed do not turn off their radios in such instances - so there’s nothing to worry about!
Don’t forget that if you are using the 12m band at the present time, then chasers will get credit for those later subsequent QSOs - in the 12m SOTA Challenge.
I’ve been into climbing mountains for longer than I have been into ham radio - and this September will be the 50th anniversary of getting my license. I have never refused to work subsequent activations of a summit on any day, it is my pleasure to help fill the activators log, and where I have climbed to that summit myself I love to visualise it and remember my own adventures as I exchange reports. The points are not important, the summit is. SOTA is unique in that it combines two great fellowships, the fellowship of the air and the fellowship of the hills, no member of those dual fellowships will ever knowingly let an activator down!
I have never refused to work subsequent activations of a
summit on any day, it is my pleasure to help fill the activators log,
and where I have climbed to that summit myself I love to visualise it
and remember my own adventures as I exchange reports. The points are
not important, the summit is. SOTA is unique in that it combines two
great fellowships, the fellowship of the air and the fellowship of the
hills, no member of those dual fellowships will ever knowingly let an
activator down!
73
Brian G8ADD
How wonderfully put Brian! Sums up my own views in a way I could never hope to articulate.
In reply to MW0WML:
Yes Brian Fellowship is the word. It’s a Fellowship. Fellowship is what I feel up there with a million dollar view, Scout napping, and chasers on the air. TNX chasers!
Absolutely work em on every band and peak I can. Hang the points! Until SOTA came along I thought I was the lonely duck. Now I know there are many of us that just enjoy the chase from both ends. SOTA hams at both ends are enthusiastic, patient, skillful and great ops! Love the fellowship and the outdoors.
" … a minefield of additional rules, including things like minimum time elapsed before you can get chaser points for the same summit again etc. …"
You have got a good point there. However, I could imagine a compromise: multiple points could be given for a summit on the same day if a chaser works the summit on different bands with different operators. Example (fictitious reference and callsigns): M7ABC and M8XYZ activate G/QR-999 in 2 m and 70 cm. Only if you (as a chaser) work M7ABC on 2 m and M8XYZ on 70 cm or vice versa, you get two points. If you only work one of them on both bands, you get one point. If you only work both on one band, you also get one point. If one of them decides to activate another band, say, 23 cm, and you work him/her on it, you will not get another point.
Nevertheless, I work the stations as they come; the people on the summit might be glad about any QSO they make, …
I think the current rules are fine as they stand, even the suggestion above is just too complicated to understand and be followed correctly (never mind coding the database to get it correct).
I am generally happy to work as many activators on a summit as required to allow them to qualify the summit and I will (when able) actively listen for activators that are expected later in the day.
However some multi-op activations seem to take much longer than they really need too on an activation, simply because all the ops work each and every caller (not just the first four, which is all that is really required). On summits where the number of callers is significant this can take a very long time and might mean the occasional chaser misses out because they cannot stay long enough or because propagation changes.
We Marcial EA2BDS and I usually make activations together. Never have had problems to get our 4 contacts. Also, we have found many times that we both have been called by the same chaser. When at home, I do it too.
Several systems can be found, different bands, shifts,… I’ll try to chase everyone on the summit, points or no to be earned. They(we) all have made the effort of reaching the summits, and that deserves a small effort on my side as well. I share the general point of view showed here. The exciting thing is to contact with the one on the summit, or staying there up, being called from so many different parts of the world, not the points at all.
If you think that as it has been said you are playing the game on a no flat field, are the points really so important?
“Enjoy the game, that’s the question” (Will Shakespeare, G0???)
Well this suggestion, or something similar is how extra credit can be collected in the 12m Challenge. Different band, different mode, different operator all contribute to extra scoring credit in the 12m Challenge.
But not in the points for the main award, and that’s how it should be IMO.
I suggested the above compromise just in case some people start shouting and throwing burnt-out transistors at the management ;-), or the latter want to introduce some refinement. And yes, to me the main award is all right as it is. In the end, the activators do most of the work in this program.
vy 73, Jan-Martin
PS: Wasn’t that “To DX or not to DX …”? Many years ago, I found a cartoon of the Bard saying this, but I cannot remember who drew it … can anyone else?
Many years ago, I found a cartoon of the Bard saying this, but I cannot remember who drew it … can anyone else?