I had an idea that I thought would be a great activity for SOTA. I’m still very new to the group but I want to contribute. “Fresh Blood Moves the Most Muscle!”
I know SOTA is not a contesting activity, but I was thinking of trying to start a SOTA activity day contest based around the concept of SOTA on un-activated peaks.
Some general contest “rules” I would propose:
Objective: SOTA activators around the world are to look for and activate peaks with an emphasis on activating summits that have not been activated prior, with SOTA chasers attempting to contact as many activators as possible.
Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6 and VHF/UHF bands legal in each area
Exchange:
for Activators: Honest RST, Summit Identifier, and power in watts (ex. 5W, 100W, 1500W)
for Chasers: Honest RST, State/Province/DX, and power in watts (ex. 5W, 100W, 1500W)
Entry Categories for Activators:
- First Activator - Must operate from a summit that has not been activated before, or was first activated no earlier than 7 days before the contest (in case someone activates your summit prior to the contest or to allow for scouting trips).
- First Activator QRP - Same as above but must operate with less than 5 watts (10 watts SSB???)
- Repeat Activator - An activator on a summit already activated by the 7 day deadline.
- Repeat Acitvator QRP - Same as above but must operate with less than 5 watts (10 watts SSB???)
Entry Categories for Chasers
- High Power - > 100 watts
- Low Power - 6-99 watts
- QRP - <5 watts
Scoring for Activators:
1 point for each contact
(Any bonus points for S2S? Might be unfair?)
1 multiplier for each unactivated summit activated (unfair? to encourage multiple new peaks to be activated and make up for travel time)
Scoring for Chasers:
2 points for each contact with First Activator
1 point for each contact with a Repeat Activator
General Rules:
24 hour contest time and date to be determined
All SOTA rules and guidelines apply for activators
Spotting is legal and encouraged
(Feel free to add)
Prizes:
Certificates for each association in each entry class
So let me know what your think. FOBB inspired me to design something that would be fun and get a lot of people out, all over the world, on the same day.