The callsign DA20XOTA means Deutsche Alpen 20 (Jahre/Years) X-any On The Air and is related exclusively to outdoor portable amateur radio activities of all kinds in the German Alps from January 1st to December 31st, 2024.
It may include such activities as:
SOTA (Summits On The Air)
GMA (Global Mountain Award)
WWFF (Worldwide Flora Fauna)
POTA (Parks On The Air)
COTA (Castles On The Air)
BBT (Bayerischer Bergtag / Bavarian Mountain Day)
Contests and Field Days
but not limited to.
Probably, the first sport amateur radio activities in the German Alps were associated with the BBT (Bayerischer Bergtag / Bavarian Mountain Day) in the 195x and with occasional VHF/UHF & microwave contesting. The new era of alpine amateur radio activities began with the launching of the German alpine SOTA association (SOTA-DL Deutsche Alpen) in 2004. Over the next 20 years, other amateur radio award schemes and programs followed in the alpine regions, e.g. GMA, WWFF and the newest one called POTA. Today, anyone can participate in one of the outdoor amateur radio award programs depending on their sporting ambitions, physical fitness, interests and preferences. There are thousands of references in the German alpine regions waiting to be activated and brought on the air. Please join us in celebrating 20 years of outdoor amateur radio activities in the German Alps! Just pick-up a couple of X-any references and get your 20 Jahre Deutsche Alpen Explorer Award for free.
The alpine regions are considered ones of the most picturesque in Germany. The German Alps offer a lot of opportunities to enjoy portable radio operation around the clock. Whether you choose to be active and go sport climbing for SOTA or family hiking for GMA, biking up and down the challenging mountain roads to explore new WWFF nature parks, or simply admire the majestic views while strolling through the quiet town streets towards an old castle or ancient fortress for COTA, like us, you will definitely fall in love with the Alps! Explore German Alps, as an activator or as a chaser or as both!
Hello Dzianis @DD1LD. Thank you for the information about the planning and the project with DA20XOTA. Is the activation of DA20XOTA only possible for SOTA-DL members or can others also use the callsign after consultation? In any case, we will keep an eye on SOTAWATCH regarding DA20XOTA and I am looking forward to one or the other QSO.
Like everyone else, you are welcome to operate under DA20XOTA. There is no SOTA-DL or any other membership required.
The callsign DA20XOTA is used exclusively for portable and outdoor radio operations and only in the German alpine regions, so we dont’t use /P. The rough boundary is given by the A96-A99-A94 highways and state borders. To reserve a time slot, please contact Mario, DJ2MX directly.
There is a sort of outdoor XOTA cluster, where you can easily track all the DA20XOTA activities.
There’s nothing like a morning walk along a long alpine ridge and activating all the peaks along the way. Only some of them still have a SOTA reference, but almost all of them are valid for GMA. Enjoy it and have fun!
Hello Dzianis @DD1LD. Thanks for the feedback and the information. I have already been in contact with Mario @DJ2MX. Maybe an activation with the callsign will work out next year.
Pretty QSL card! Many more activations and of course lots of fun with DA20XOTA. I don’t have a QSO with DA20XOTA yet, but the year still has a few days left
Under the call DA20XOTA we activated 30 references in the German Alps: 17x SOTA, 4x GMA, 7x WWFF/POTA, 2x COTA. 2062 QSOs were logged by 8 operators. 11 awards were issued. 1x was GoGreen.
My current attempts at viewing the latest DA20XOTA activator stats has the sotadata web site “churning” and not retrieving the data. Is there a reason?
Because each activator logs their QSOs in their personal account with “used callsign” = DA20XOTA.
So for the general sotadata user there is no way to find all QSO or activations done with this callsign.
This can only be done by someone with direct database access-magic.
Finally, DA20XOTA QRTed on December 31, 2024 with 252 QSOs from DL/MF-082.
We logged a total of 13.5k QSOs and had a lot of fun radioing from the German Alps.
Below is a brief summary of the activated references + 2x LOTA. Thanks, Martin, DF3MC, for the summary!
It was a one-year experiment and a unique experience for our small but very active and passionate SOTA-DL team. We tried and learned a lot! We have given out 80 DA20XOTA awards, and we have set a worldwide record with our “follow the sun” action:
A big BIG thank you to ALL chasers for all the fun you gave us!
The SOTA era of alpine amateur radio activities began with the launching of the German alpine SOTA association (SOTA-DL Deutsche Alpen) in 2004, and this glorious SOTA era ended in 2024.
Eine kurze Zusammenfassung aller Funkaktivitäten wurde in der Märzausgabe des Amateurfunkmagazins CQ DL veröffentlicht. Vielen Dank an Martin, DF3MC.
