Well… my initial feeling is to do nothing for now and review exactly what it all means when we have some idea when things return to “normality”. (For whatever normality will be in the future.)
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First a reminder of the calendar:
January 1st-7th 2020: LF - 160m & 80m
February 1st-7th 2020: Datamodes
March 1st-7th 2020: Digital voice - C4FM / DSTAR / DMR / FreeDV
April 1st-7th 2020: LF - 160m & 80m
May 1st-7th 2020: Datamodes
June 1st-7th 2020: 12m, 10m & 6m
July 1st-7th 2020: 70cm
Aug 1st-7th 2020: 17m
Sept 1st-7th 2020: Datamodes
Oct 1st-7th 2020: Digital voice - C4FM / DSTAR / DMR / FreeDV
Nov 1st-7th 2020: LF - 160m & 80m
Dec 1st-7th 2020: 12m, 10m & 6m
The April (LF - 160m & 80m), May (Datamodes) and June (12m, 10m & 6m) flavours have already had a run and will come around again later in the year (November, September and December respectively), so hopefully those that miss out this time will be able to have a crack at them later. I realise it’s not ideal in respect of our seasonal planning north/south. I hope a good number of activators will be available by July for the unique (and personal favourite) flavour of 70 cm.
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Hi Simon / MT
Andy’s point - doing nothing may encourage activators to go out and breach in country regulations, in some cases these are not very clear and may be interpreted in different ways. So the participants would risk the chance of being accused of it by others, or it would be a grey area, or whatever.
If restrictions are lifted, or part lifted in some areas of the world but not in others, it would give an unfair advantage to some in what is essentially a year long challenge. A few activators in particular have been taking the challenge very seriously looking at the scoring table.
Would it be worth considering freezing the scores as they stand now, and then resuming the challenge on April 1st 2021?
73 Phil
PS Suggesting a 2.5 hour drive to activate a summit as suggested by AA0BV which I just read, for the sake of Challenge points! One place I would avoid at all costs are motorway / highway service stations. One is likely to need a comfort break on a drive like that.
At all times we expect activators to behave in a way which will not bring SOTA into disrepute, above all else. The MT isn’t going to be interpreting every Covid-19 rule or guidance in every jurisdiction, of course. If AMs want to lead locally by voicing their interpretations then participants should take careful note and be thus guided.
It’s a global problem, so give or take some variance in lock-down dates I don’t imagine folk in one part of the world will “enjoy” a big advantage over any others.
The Challenge is just that. It is not a competition. I honestly do not believe anybody is going to risk anything for their Challenge score. I do understand that the lure of the hills is very strong, but I don’t think the clock ticking on the Challenge calendar adds significantly, even if in some other association they’re already out having fun. Just take the opportunity to work extra hard on perfecting your gear for the slots later in the year. And if this year’s Challenge really gets mucked up I’m sure there will be more opportunities in the future.
Stay safe.
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Two points arise from that quote. First of all, and most important, it is a challenge, not a contest. There can be no “unfair advantages” because the whole point is to encourage people to go out and use bands or modes that they would not normally use. Yes, there are tables and rankings, but an important point of those as I see it is so that we can evaluate the effectiveness and uptake of those underused bands and modes. For instance I have no DV capability, I will be watching the results to see if it makes any sense for me to change that.
Secondly, at this time we have no idea of how long the various lock-downs around the world are going to last for, but we can be sure that they will start and finish at different times around the world, and this is a world-wide challenge. A knee-jerk reaction is not going to be helpfull, we should wait and see, but meanwhile bear in mind that we intend that there should be a “flavours” challenge next year, too. If this years challenge ends up being screwed up by COVID-19, that will be a minor annoyance given the wider consequences.
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I am aligned with my MT colleagues. It’s frustrating and annoying for sure. But we must prioritise keeping ourselves, and others, safe.
It is what it is.
Comments noted from the MT regarding the challenge. Thank you very much for clarification on where you all stand on this.
UK activators could get plenty of points if they feel it is safe for them to maintain social distancing by taking part in the 2 RSGB 80m Band Contests on 5th and 6th April.
The RSGB SSB RoLo contest takes place on Sunday 5th April from 1900 - 2030 UTC so a good chance of making contacts into EU from UK, especially towards the end of the session.
The RSGB CW CC Contest takes place on Monday 6th April from 1900 - 2030 UTC. Again good timings for possible contact from UK to EU, especially towards the end of the period when the path is likely to be in darkness.
One thing about the vast majority of summits and hillwalking in general is that once it gets to late afternoon and certainly in darkness, it is rare to see other walkers on hills and mountains if you are there on your own, so these contests may present a good opportunity for some activators to accrue points (and Chasers also) depending on particular in country government rulings prevailing at the time.
73 Phil G4OBK
It is worth noting Phil, that in support of the social distancing measures, RSGBCC has banned participation from /P or /A stations from now, indefinitely. So even if not submitting a contest entry, it would be inappropriate IMHO to be on a SOTA summit working down the contest stations.
This is serious. We’ve got to stay in.
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Agree, sadly agree. I have been wishing for a SOTA opportunity, but it will have to be later rather than sooner. In the meantime I have been working on SKCC and WSJT.
On SKCC I try to get on the air early for potential 160 and 80 contacts.
On WSJT I have been listening for 6M FT8 and MSK144 opportunities. With my home station not much chance but I listen!
Very serious: 3 434 deaths in Spain so far…
I did my local “double treble” on 1st/2nd September - The Cloud G/SP-015, Gun G/SP-013 and Shining Tor G/SP-004 on the Tuesday, then the same three in reverse on the Wednesday. The motivating factors were, of course, the September Flavour (Datamodes) in the 2020 Challenge, and the 2m activity contests (FMAC and UKAC).
My overnight wild camp on Shining Tor was thankfully much less exciting with zero electrical activity, in stark contrast to the “biggest storm for generations” that put me in fear of my existence three weeks earlier! There was also a very welcome stuff breeze as I arrived on summit, sparing me from the worst midge attack I have ever experienced three weeks earlier during that “calm before the storm”! (Yes Barry @GM4TOE, much worse than Bynack More GM/ES-010 that time!)
My results were as follows:
1-9-2020
The Cloud G/SP-015
20m FT8: 30
20m FT4: 27
2m FM: 2
Gun G/SP-013
2m FM: 3
Shining Tor G/SP-004
2m FM: 43
2m SSB: 79 (Best DX: PA)
40m FT8: 6 (Best DX: YV)
2-9-2020
Shining Tor G/SP-004
2m FM: 5
40m FT8: 32
40m CW: 9 (S2S: EA1/OU-003, HB/BE-114)
Gun G/SP-013
15m FT8: 4 (Best DX: 5Z)
The Cloud G/SP-015
2m FM: 2
I didn’t take any selfies on the summits, but especially for real ale and EYP narcissism fan Steve @G1INK, I captured these on a splendid visit to Wincle Brewery en route between Shining Tor and Gun!
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The last couple of days of the September Datamode Flavour in the 2020 Challenge has continued to be fun with the DX rolling in.
On Sunday evening from Gun G/SP-013 I operated on 30m FT8 with VP8 (Falklands) bring the pick of the contacts.
On Monday evening, I nipped up The Cloud G/SP-015 on the way home from work and operated on 17m FT8. Brazil, Lebanon, Turkey, Cyprus, Canary Islands, USA and St Lucia were all in the log.
I was hunkered down in the bothy bag as the wx was unpleasant when I heard a voice calling me from outside. It was Stuart G1ZAR who was visiting The Cloud for a 2m FT8 activation.
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Come on Stuart you missed the prank of lifetime here. While Tom was in the bothy bag concentrating on the screen you could have pinned the bag to ground with a handful of tent pegs. The difficulty of getting out of the bothy bag when you know it’s just laying over you would have seriously messed with Tom’s mind till he saw it was another activator playing a wee jape on him.
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I’ve just written up reports on my Challenge activations for August (17 m) and September (data modes):
One new thing for me was trying out FT8 on 2m. I did this after the 2-m Backpackers’ contest on Sunday. Here’s where it got me:
[Base map ©Crown copyright 2020 Ordnance Survey. Media 010/20]
And rather than a selfie I offer this handsome chap passed returning from Craig Cwm Silyn:
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A reminder that next week - Thursday 1st to Wednesday 7th October - sees the next “Flavour” in the 2020 SOTA Challenge.
This time it’s DV (digital voice) and so QSOs using C4FM, D-Star, DMR or FreeDV on any band will be valid. QSOs must be simplex though and not carried via a digital terrestrial repeater (as per normal SOTA rules).
This has been the least popular of the Flavours so far, and this could be the last time we run this one - so please join in if you can. Here in the UK, C4FM seemed to be the most used of the DV modes, mainly on 2m. Activity is usually around 144.6125MHz but can occur up on the 145 frequencies.
I may go out on Thursday 1st and probably before or after UKAC on Tuesday.6th
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Right then. The next SOTA 2020 Challenge flavour is tomorrow (Thursday).
DV - digital voice: C4FM, DMR, D-Star, FreeDV (simplex only - no repeaters or nodes)
I can only see a couple of JA alerts so far, but I’m sure there will be more activity than that. I intend to be activating every day anyway. Weekday evenings, weekend could be any time.
So I’ll be on 2m (and possibly 70cm) C4FM tomorrow evening from a summit somewhere for starters.
Anyone else intending giving simplex DV a try from a summit?
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Tom, I’m heading to Black Hill.
Hope to catch you in a bit, and anybody else please!
Wow! I have a chance of my first contact on C4FM if you are so equipped Simon. Where’s my instruction book for the FT-991A…
7 elements pointing to Black Hill with 50 watts output. Should make it…
(Tom will be out of range I think)
73 Phil Pickering IO94OF
Hearing you no problem Simon at least 57 fully quieting excellent reception on 144.6125 C4FM but no response from you. C4FM system at my end is untested, however power meter shows I am pushing out 50 watts. I cannot hear anyone else going back to you, or you responding to any other station.
I hope we may yet make a QSO using DV! If we do it will be my first in that mode.
73 Phil G4OBK
PS Heard 57 on 145.450 FM called but no response…