Having now participated in several first activations of summits with multiple operators in the same expedition, a question has arisen:
What criteria determine which operator is credited with being the first to activate a summit, when multiple operators in the same expedition submit activator logs for the same summit on the same day?
Previously, N3TUQ and I activated W3/PD-029. He was the first to make a contact, while I was the first to complete four contacts. He was also the first to submit his log. He was credited with the first activation.
We just activated W3/PD-033 for the first time on Sunday. There were four of us present this time (myself, N3TUQ, KB3ZUV, and AB3TQ). KB3ZUV made the first contact, and was also the first to submit his log. However, N3TUQ also appears to be credited with the first activation for this summit.
Is it random, or is there a specific algorithm which makes this determination?
The earliest QSO (activation date and time) selects first activator. If there are several QSOs with the same activation date and time then it’s non-determinant, maybe 1st to submit a log or how the data is saved by the database engine.
That is what I suspected, which is why the results surprised me. Now that I know for sure, I looked at all of our logs, and found the problem. All of the times are incorrect in the activator log which shows up first (the times are many hours earlier than when we were on the summit). I think he might have a software configuration issue or something.
Good thought, but it’s not that simple. His logged times are between 0700Z and 0800Z, which would have been between 0300 and 0400 local time. He was actually on the summit around 1900Z to 2100Z, which was 1500 to 1700 local time.
Interesting…12 hours difference. Perhaps it is an AM/PM vs. 24 hour issue.
Thinking back, I believe that the same thing happened on our last activation…
Actually, it works correctly by DATE, then by TIME.
For example, last weekend I and Mike-AD5A did a joint activation of W5T/DW-003, Pine Peak.
If you check the summit page, you will see I am credited with the first to activate.
If you check the logs, you will discover that my first contact was 1550 UTC, and my 4th contact was 1605 UTC. AD5A made his first contact at 1553, and his 4th at 1555.
So although I had the very first contact, AD5A had 4 contacts in before I had two completed. But that didn’t matter at all. My first contact was all it cared about.
Hope this helps.
Vy73 - Mike - KD5KC.
El Paso, Texas - DM61rt.
W5-SOTA association Manager.
Yes that’s right Mike. It is the first contact that determines that an activation has taken place, so the order of activations is based on that one. The fourth contact determines the qualification, but the DB orders the activations, not the qualifications.