Hello all,
I’ll be activating Mont Valin (VE2/SG-002) on september 1st for the first activation in history in Canada. I hope to making this a successful activation despite not beeing a weekend so I’ll be looking for ur sigs.
Tuesday 1st September 2009
14:00 VA2SG/P on VE2/SG-002 14.060-cw7.030cw14.070-psk14.285usb
First canadian SOTA activation in history, also AO27 AO51 (Posted by VA2SG)
73
Jean-Pierre VA2SG/P
In reply to VA2SG:
You will have hundreds of eager chasers looking for you!
Bonne chance!
Brian G8ADD
In reply to VA2SG:
Good luck with Canada’s first activation Jean-Pierre. Unfortunately for me I’ll be at work, but hope catch you again soon.
73
Roger MW0IDX
Hi Jean-Pierre,
Good luck the the first activation in VE2. I won’t be able to work you, but I hope you make lots of contacts. I hope some of the other radio hams in VE2 go out SOTA activating as well and I hope you some other activations as well.
Jimmy M3EYP
In reply to G8ADD:
You will have hundreds of eager chasers looking for you!
But possibly at the wrong time!
This is alerted for 1100Z which, correct me if I’m wrong, is 5:00am LOCAL TIME in VE2 land. Do you intend to be on the summit this early or do you intend to activate it at 11:00am LOCAL TIME?
Andy
MA0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Surely it`s 7am local - or 6am at worst?
In reply to G1INK:
Well I assumed the reported time was local time. ie Quebec region daylight savings time.
I thought Quebec was 5 hours behind UK. 11-5=6am
-1 for daylight savings 6-1=5am.
I’m not saying I’m right, just that’s how I did the sums here 
Andy
MA0FMF
Erm…
Alert time is 1400 UTC
1400 - 5 = 0900 ADD one for daylight saving = 1000 local time (1500 UK local, 1600 EU local)
Where did the 1100 alert time come from?
73 Marc G0AZS
In reply to G0AZS:
The 11:00 time is for the second activation in Canada on 12.September
73 de Aage / LA1ENA
In reply to G0AZS.
Don`t look at me.
1400utc probably best time for a chance to Eu from VE2
In reply to G0AZS:
12th September… I was adding activations and spotted it.
Please change the title of this thread to “Second Canadian SOTA activation” and we can continue!
Perhaps we need Jon to change this so that you need to enter your timezone when you register for the board and always enter local time for your alerts. That way we let the server do the arithmetic and display the alert for your local time.
Andy
MA0FMF
In reply to G1INK:
Yes Steve… look here:
http://uk.geocities.com/g4fkh@btinternet.com/
http://uk.geocities.com/g4fkh@btinternet.com/Rx30.gif
Although on 20m, a tad even later for peak should/could work well… especially on CW 
73 Marc G0AZS
edit: Very good point Andy, especially with more transatlantic activity.
In reply to VA2SG:Hello Jean-Pierre, Let’s hope propogation is good, I will be eager to get you on my chaser log, you will be kept very very busy.
Look forward to hearing you in my shack.
73 Tony G7OEM
In reply to G7OEM:
Tnx for all comments.
I’ll check with VA2SS if he made a mistake in the time. Mine is around 1400 UTC or a bit later.
In fact, I’ll try to stay on the air until 2359 UTC if weather permits.
Viva la Sota!
In reply to MM0FMF:
Perhaps we need Jon to change this so that you need to enter your
timezone when you register for the board and always enter local time
for your alerts.
I can think of many pitfalls with this. Far easier to stick to UTC throughout; it’s needed for logging anyway.
In reply to M1MAJ:
After checking, VA2SS and co (VA2AAE and VA2JOT) will be on mountain at 7h00AM local, thats 11h00 UTC.
We are early birds hi!
73!
In reply to M1MAJ:
I can think of many pitfalls with this
I’m sure you can! 
But as an engineer the fact that there are pitfalls to get around only makes the task more challenging and therefore worth doing.
Far easier to stick to UTC throughout;
Well the entries in the alert database would be in UTC, it’s the displayed time that gets fondled to local time by applying the user’s TZ correction.
it’s needed for logging anyway
Not if the log database does the same jiggery-pokery with the times.
See how I can generate jobs for Jon and Gary without even trying!
Andy
MA0FMF
Yep !!! 11h UTC… will be 7h AM here. We are planning to have a good all day event there !! And there will be VHF contest on the states side USA… So… Yippi !!
73
J-F VA2SS
In reply to VA2SS:
Here he is. Welcome to the fun!
Hope the 817 will not beat up my battery too fast. I’ll bring the PFR3 for CW.
In reply to MM0FMF:
I’m sure you can!
pitfalls to get around only makes the task more challenging and
therefore worth doing.
I think the pitfalls are human interface problems rather than technical issues.
Well the entries in the alert database would be in UTC, it’s the
displayed time that gets fondled to local time by applying the user’s
TZ correction.
Is that the user’s home local time or the local time at the activation site? Not the same thing.
A time zone is more than just an offset; you need to specify the daylight savings time rules as well. So everybody needs to be able to select the correct set of conversion rules. And the rules have to be kept up to date.
What happens when the UK Parliament decides that we will go to UTC+1 in winter and Scotland decides to opt out?
It could all be done, but I fear it would add more confusion than there is now. Amateur radio has always worked on the basis of using a common time reference world wide. It’s not a difficult concept and we of all people should be well used to it.
Given that the Internet now means that we can regularly interact in real time with people anywhere in the world, I think it’s about time that we forgot about local time zones entirely. Set all the world’s clocks to UTC, that’s what I say!