I have noted that only about 24% of the summits in the database have been activated. 76% of the total are not yet activated. There are many summits with hundreds of activations instead. Why not to give a bonus (double score or some additional points) to the first activator of a summit? No problem if you have yet taken a decision about, I did’nt find the relative topic.
73 de Claudio IX1IHR (active on 23rd may from I/LZ-194, new activation…)
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Such an award scheme is not equitable simply depending on where you live.
e.g. you become a new ham today in G. You you cannot get any 1st activation award bonus because all the summits have been activated at least once, often 20 years ago. But people living where a new association starts could claim a bonus by sheer luck of where they live.
The way to ratify points, bonus etc. is simply to ignore them and concentrate that when you go and activate a summit you get several benefits. First you are the DX and people will seek you out so they can have a QSO, second you get to walk about in mountain countryside and enjoy time there. Those 2 things are enough for me.
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Hi Claudio,
The first activator of a summit is recorded forever on the Summit information page for all to see - here is an example of the summit page for an Australian summit:
And VK2JI - That’s me!
73 Ed DD5LP / VK2JI / G8GLM
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My suggestion was not to award the first activator but to improve the search for a new summit to activate. It was only a suggestion…
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Take a look at Sotamaps - https://www.sotamaps.org/ it can list summits that have not been activated for a region.
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I’ve always found the “buzz” from the whole process of putting a never-previously activated summit on the air more than enough reward!
YMMV
73 Paul G4MD
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Hi Claudio,
Maybe there should be something more than the honour. In exchange for real money I will supply a suitable unauthorised certificate. I’d like a new rig for Christmas.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
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Relatively few activators get their pick of first activations when an Association first starts up, some of the guys in the G Associations probably have lots of firsts, if they wanted a genuine unauthorised certificate for each summit you’d make a killing! 
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I know this conversation has been dormant for a long time but here we go.
For my part, I like Claudio’s suggestion - I have 18 first activations to date and am highly motivated, as a VE7 activator, to find them. There are still lots out there, and a great majority of them are inaccessible because of remoteness, horizontally, and danger. 
However, I’d still argue a 3 point bonus, as for winter, would be worth considering.
We cannot say SOTA is unable to provide an award on the basis of equitable access because SOTA is not built on equity. In some parts of the world, there are roads or gondolas to the top of many mountains. In other parts of the world, flatter, there are 10 point “summits” that would not register as summits in other areas. A third example of inequity is that some associations offer winter bonuses and others do not. SOTA is clear that it is not a competition between activators but is a competition with one’s self. Hence, there could be a bonus for the first activation of a summit.
73 de VA7SGY
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What is the purpose of a bonus?
The winter bonus is to encourage people to activate summits at a time of year when activations might be less comfortable, more arduous, but it is small enough to discourage taking risks because winter in the mountains makes for a smaller margin of safety. The same goes for the summer bonus, in places where summer conditions, heat and perhaps humidity, are uncomfortable.
Would a first activation bonus be to encourage people to try to activate summits that have been avoided because they are too remote, too difficult, privately owned or are military reservations? Would such a bonus be seen as encouraging reckless behaviour? Not a good idea!
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That is an excellent list of poor reasons to try a first activation. You are right. Summits in those situations ought not to be attempted; I tried to acknowledge in my post there are summits here in VE7 that will remain unactivated
I was going to build a list like this:
- First activation as a means of using navigational skills, map and compass, orienteering, GPS.
- First activation as a means of demonstrating that a summit is not necessarily difficult, it has just not previously been activated.
- First activation as a basis for a SOTA-pedition where two or more activators travel together, perhaps camping or completing a series of activations.
- First activation as a motivator to call on wilderness skills.
- First activation as a response to SOTA’s encouragement that activators not fall into a rut of alway doing the same summits but, literately, break new trails in activating.
I’d love to hear responses to my point about equity as that was the basis of the initial objection to a first activation bonus.
SOTA is not a competition between you and me or any two other activators.
SOTA is already uneven from association to association in terms of the challenge of reaching summits.
SOTA already understand itself as a means of getting amateur radio operators active, sharpening portable communication capabilities.
SOTA already provides many bonuses and awards.
A first activation bonus is clearly within the spirit of SOTA.
We have a new member at my local radio club, a student at the local Uni doing a tech subject and interested in radio. They are doing their first exam in a few weeks. They are also interested in climbing the fine hills in the UK and SOTA. So young, new to ham radio and new to SOTA.
Tell me how they would get a first activation bonus in England?
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Watching this thread with some interest from W7U land where unactivated summits are a plenty. I netted four in 2025 in my first full year as an activator. I personally think the honor of being first activator on the webpage is sufficient and is a motivator for me. But, I’m not going to complain if a change is made…
73, Jared, N7MAW
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Very long reverb on this thread!
Likewise I’m not in favour of a 1st activation bonus. I’d like to feel my points are earned on an equal footing, not that I’m being rewarded just for being one of the first ZL4-based SOTA activators.
However, I’d be keen for some official way of seeing stats about first activations / first activators - one that doesn’t involve anyone interested having to reverse-engineer the API and then bombard it with several thousand per-summit queries.
I don’t know how they would do that in England. I don’t activate there so am not familiar.
Because each association’s topography is unique, the situation varies. In some places there are first activations available and in others there are not.
In VE7, my home association, there are many many 10 point summits. They are so remote and so high, with such extreme conditions and risks, that I have come to terms with not activating a VE7 10 point summit I. The course of pursuing my mountain goat. Their inaccessibility doesn’t mean that SOTA does not include them in the scoring system. It just means I can’t activate one. I would need to go to a different association for that privilege.
it’s a similar line of reasoning for your new English operator. For that person, a first activation is not accessible in England. They would need to go to another association for a first activation to be accessible to them. That shouldn’t mean that a first activation bonus can’t be offered anywhere.
What you are describing would suit me as well. The main advantage of a bonus is that it can be tracked. I’d be able to find the first activations I have, which give me a sense of accomplishment.
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It already exists. Each summit has its own page in the database, with lots of information including first activation details, along with recent activations and forthcoming activations.
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Fat chance of doing that here in the UK (activating new summits that is).
Perhaps a forum badge of sorts? To encourage information sharing - the first to add a report or something useful of that nature?
I noticed a lack of information for some summits (during my EA5 trip), so a handy little carrot (whatever it might be) could be useful.
I did notice a virgin summit during my jolly in Spain but it was quite a drive. I’m not sure extra points would have swayed my decision, but seeing photos and a report might have swayed me if I thought it was a nice place to visit. 
It works both ways - there’s a summit in the G/SC area that I won’t bother activating because, after seeing the reports, I’m not too keen to visit!
Meaning I only need to load 3000+ summit pages (or make 3000+ summit API calls) to get the stats for ZL
I was lucky enough to activate a ‘new’ summit in the UK earlier this morning. GW/SW-042 which was identified as being a little bit higher than the now retired nearby summit (Mynydd Machen).
I would have been more than happy to share the ‘first activation’ with fellow activators especially since it’s such a rare occasion in the UK and whilst there was an initial interest, I ended up activating solo.
The support I received from fellow activators and chasers when I called CQ at midnight was truly fantastic; people who stayed up - and some even set their alarm - to help me activate the summit. Very special and heartwarming. Thank you all! 
I don’t feel this warrants extra points. Having my callsign associated with a First Activation for this summit is quite special.
As if that was not enough, the icing on the cake was receiving a First Activator badge when I uploaded my log.
Pleased as punch and not stopped smiling all day. 
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