Combined SOTA & WWFF activations

Has anybody tried this recently?

Looking back over old topics there were a couple of threads around 2014 & 2015 where anecdotally a couple of people mentioned that it increased the number of chasers (there was also a comment about things getting a little unruly with WWFF chasers…I’m not sure if that was a fair comment), but not much has been posted about it recently.

I’ve never done WWFF before but note that my planned activations for next week all fall within the boundaries of WWFF recognised national parks so thought that I might give it a go whilst I’m there.

G/DC-001 (High Willhays) is in Dartmoor National Park.

I also intend to activate G/SC-001 (Dunkery Beacon) & G/SC-005 (Selworthy Beacon) on my way through. Both of which are in Exmoor National Park.

My understanding is that WWFF requires 44 contacts which don’t all have to take place at the same time & operation from a motorhome is permitted.

My thinking was to activate the SOTA summits in the morning, then operate mobile from the car park for a couple of hours from the motorhome in the afternoon & combine the QSO’s from both activations to (hopefully) get more than 44 QSO’s in total.

I don’t see any problems in the rules with this as long as the contacts uploaded to the SOTA database were carried out within SOTA rules (portable & within the activation zone, not inside the vehicle etc).

Does WWFF tend to drum up much chaser activity?

Am I setting myself up for a nightmare trying to combine two award schemes into one activation?

Interested to hear other’s experiences?

3 Likes

It’s a popular combination in VK. WWFF keeps you busy because there are additional chasers, also you can have contacts with the same station on different modes and bands. Since there is no requirement under either programme to limit contacts to specific chaser types, all contacts count other than repeat contacts on the same band and mode.

73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH

3 Likes

Good evening from Pieria.
I am a Flora Fauna activator SV2CNE and it happened in some activations that I have made to be
in mountain peaks that are in the program SOTA I think there is no problem if you make fewer contacts in the next session at the same peak can be counted additionally 25 one year and the next 30 in total will be seen in the database
the total contacts you need to complete the Flora Fauna area.
Even older activations of at least five years that took place from mountain peaks SOTA and were located in national parks, these contacts can be recorded in the database and counted in the program as long as you have exceeded 44 contacts.
De SV2CNE GEORGE

2 Likes

The “catch” if you can call it that is the need to get 44 QSOs. These don’t have to be done on the same day so if you live locally you can add more later but if it is an area you are just visiting say on a holiday it might be a challenge if conditions, particularly the weather, are difficult. Some WWFF activators spend several hours operating which is easier sitting on a chair near your vehicle, less so on a summit. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

As VK1DA mentioned it happens a bit in Australia.

For WWFF, stations that you work, called hunters, do not submit logs. The hunters only get credit for the QSO when the activator submits their log for upload. This is different from SOTA where the chasers gets the QSO credit regardless of the activator’s log status. Even if you don’t make 44 QSOs the submission of your log is important.

When activating WWFF from the motorhome after activating the summit you should make sure the stations you work are aware that you are no longer on the summit and QSOs are no longer valid for SOTA.
If using CW and you have an alert in place for the SOTA activation it may a good idea to delete the alert when you finish your SOTA activation to prevent any spurious RBNhole spots being generated.
WWFF has a big following in Europe and if conditions are good you may find quite a large pile up coming at you.

Enjoy!

4 Likes

I combine both and it’s never a problem. Just remember the chasers depend on you to submit the log as unlike sota, wwff chasers do not submit their contacts.

3 Likes

I had a small pileup from EU one day when I spotted on WWFF for a SOTA/POTA/WWFF activation in the US. They were all WWFF hunters because they signed with “44”. What you are proposing is absolutely legal.

2 Likes

Oh I’m sorry then…

I must have disappointed a lot of Chasers then. I don’t take part in WWFF, but I’m always called by stations who then say goodbye to me with 44. Probably the summit I activated was in a WWFF area.

I was always happy to give these chasers a few points as well… then unfortunately not.

73 Armin

2 Likes

I converted some of my earlier SOTA logs into acceptable WWFF logs, added the park code and submitted the contacts. There are converters available on the web, easy enough to use as your sota log has enough information in most cases. The only issues with automated conversions are where the park boundary is close to the activation zone, or even bisects it. In that case you need to be sure your operating position was in the park to claim it. We have a vk1 summit where there is one park on the east and a different park on the west. The parks hunters are very enthusiastic and always grateful for the contacts especially on dx contacts.
73 Andrew vk1da/2uh

3 Likes

I do a lot of Flora and Fauna in PA. Because here are only two SOTA’s.
When I was in F and LX I activated SOTA within a Flora and Fauna park. If you make a spot on the WWFFwatch DX-cluster, you will have a lot of chasers. No problem. After the activation you have to send your log to the FF-manager.

Good luck.

4 Likes