I always do Andy if I can can hear them, which you should have noticed if you watch SOTAWatch as much as I do in my nice warm shack, but I also also make sure when I start to activate that I spot my working freq as a go-to or I spot again, despite also freezing my butt off. I probably feel a lot colder than you do as well - as I have to take a blood thinner these days. As I said earlier I am permitted to moan as I have suffered the hardships of activating, and for a lot longer than you have hihi!
Hi Phil, Iāve been doing portable since I got my license in 1969 long before the internet age and the luxury of alerts and spots. In them days [Monty Python Four Yorkshiremen voice] we just had to listen and tune the frequency dial to find stations. We would have thought folk who moan about not getting an activator working frequency displayed in front of them (as if by magic) a bunch of Big Girls Blouses.
Itās good that you spot or re-spot your frequency even when freezing your butt off but not all people and butts are the same, so we shouldnāt expect it or moan in its absence.
Meanwhile, thank you for all our contacts.
73 Andy
P.S. Iāve taken blood thinners for 15 years and my circulation has been getting worse these past 20 years or so. Getting cold and trying to avoid it is a big factor in my winter weather activations.
This is something I always do whenever I find an activator who is not yet spotted on Sotawatch and Iād like all chasers proceeding this way. However, I must say that selfspotting is absolutely fast and easy when using the right tool from a summit with cell coverage.
I use SOTA spotter and it only takes me a few seconds to selfspot. This is something I highly recommend to any activator.
I activate a lot on 2m FM and I start by scanning the band for other activators and I mop up the S2S contacts. I then call CQ on 145.500 and then move to a free channel. Someone will usually spot me so I usually have a pile-up to work through. Once clear, Iāll call QRZ for a bit and then if nothing heard, Iāll call CQ again on 145.500. Ideally, I will repeat this process until all chaser contacts have been made.
However, various factors can restrict time: fitting in multiple summits, wx and daylight. Always, the primary duty of the activator is to stay safe and ensure that they have plenty of time / contingency for a safe descent.
Last year, I stayed on Glyder Fawr, GW/NW-003, for 2 hours on 2m FM as it was a warm summerās day, Iād set off at 0515 UTC and I was activating only one summit.
Yesterday, I was happy with 5 contacts on Fan Fawr, GW/SW-005, as it was a challenging ascent in winds of 40mph+ and time was getting on as Iād activated Pen y Fan, GW/SW-001 beforehand. My knees are not what they were when I was 15 years old so I wanted to ensure that I had plenty of time for a slow and safe descent. Also, there is little shelter on Fan Fawr and wind chill factor was very high.
Chasers are much appreciated. Itās very disappointing when one fails to qualify a summit and so I always try to ensure that all chasers who want a QSO are satisfied but at the same time I have to keep myself safe.
Golden rule: the hill will always be there.
No, I donāt self spot, not being equipped for it. As I see it, it is my job as an activator to attract the attention of chasers, and its the job of chasers to find me. In the days before Sotawatch became available this was not considered to be a difficult job for either side, it strikes me as ludicrous that now we seem to need to have the assistance of the internet and SOTAās infrastructure to make this job possible. It hasnāt got harder, we have just got lazy.
Iām sorry if anybody fails to find me when Iām out, and Iām sorry if I miss anybody when Iām in, but does an angler expect to catch all the fish when he is doing his thing? That is where the sport comes in! There is no entitlement to get your chases or your activations, part of the fun is that you have to work for it with no guarantee of reward, if things donāt go your way there should be no complaints.
I missed this point on first reading. No I should not have noticed, Phil.
My priority as an activator particularly when servicing a pile-up or doing CW is to give my attention to the chasers who are calling me whilst trying not to be distracted by my [sometimes hostile] environment [e.g. wind trying to rip my log book away from me in winter, a clegg trying to bite my bare legs in high summer] and NOT to look at my bl**dy phone seeing whoās spotted who.
I always put out a CQ on on 145.500 when I am activating a SOTA summit on 2m FM and I QSY to another 2m FM simplex frequency as soon as a station answers my CQ call on 145.500 to complete the QSO. Once I have completed the QSO on the simplex frequency that I have QSYed, I will call QRZ on that frequency and if no answer to my QRZ, I do put out a CQ call on the simplex frequency that I have QSYed to, but if no answer to that CQ, I always revert back to 145.500 for further CQ calls.
So mine is, but looking at the bl**dy phone once the pileup dried up, before QSYing to the next band mode is not distracting and can be highly interesting for finding potential S2S and deciding where to QSY next.
Good point Guru (if you have phone coverage - many summits I work donāt). If Iām not my usual diplomatic self today [Hah! says my wife] itās watching the dreadful news on the TV and then reading us spoilt western Europeans argue over trivial matters. Most of us are very lucky indeed and SOTA / amateur radio gives me a lot of pleasure.
I self-spot on 145.500 as that is where I am about to start calling CQ. I donāt like to be so brave as to nominate the QSY frequency at that stage, as chances are, in IO83 and IO82, that the channel you thought you were going to is in use when you actually go to it.
As for not finding an activator - well there are only really 11 channels to check, and if you canāt hear them, then you canāt work them.
If you fail to RX a SOTA activation in progress, then the reason will be that you canāt hear them for reasons of path/power/antenna etc, not because the activator didnāt specify the working frequency on SOTAwatch.
Surely chaps, you are all aware of QSB (fading for those who are not familiar with CW Q codes used in voice) - even when using 2m FM, and also operators moving the antenna, especially if using a handheld or moving across an activation zone whilst working stations as they walk? Many a time I have been sat (in the warmth of my shack) listening to a channel that has been spotted by an activator or another chaser and fleetingly, the signal comes out of the noise for long enough to call the station, exchange signal reports and then the signals fade outā¦ If I was sat hoping for the operator on the calling channel it may never happen. All I am saying it makes sense to state the working frequency to maximise the contacts made, which is why I will continue to do it when I am activating.
I did the 1st activation in the W6 association back in 2009. I was advised it by the W6 AM it was perfectly OK to sit on 146.520 to operate. It may be fine in the US but I felt distinctly uneasy doing so.
I think most people still call first on the calling channels on VHF/UHF, I almost always do.
I know what @G0LGS is talking about, it seemed a bit strange that the activator was calling CQ on a random channel and didnāt call on 145.500, I think they were relying on the self spot to direct chasers to the right frequency.
Might be me missing the trick! Whilst I was struggling to raise many on 2M this morning from The Wrekin, I didnāt bother trying the calling frequency. Too busy relying on the natty APRS spotting system Should (obviously) think to try it in future.
Recently Iāve switched to a new approach : first find a free simplex channel, then call on 145.500, announcing my intended QSY channel - eg ālistening on 145.475ā. I self spot 145.500 with the QSY channel in the comment. This seems to work well as it mostly avoids the need to hunt for a free channel after the first chaser has already responded, and pulls in both the casual listeners on 145.500 as well as the band of dedicated chasers like yourself.
Though come to think of it I ought to modify the spot frequency too !
Should (obviously) think to try it in future.