Invalid Activation W4C/EM-085 Pilot Mountain

[K2JB]

Keith,

All is not lost. You can claim your S2S contacts as chases. I will update my log accordingly. Dean ~ K2JB

[VK1DA]

I sympathise with the disappointment and applaud your frankness in acknowledging the problem.
73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH

[NY4G]

Exemplary spirit of integrity Keith.

Ariel NY4G

[F8CZI]

Hi Keith,

Indeed the deception is understandable, but one learns a lot from one’s mistakes.
Thank you for pointing that out. Look for you on the next one !
73’s and HNY
Laurent de F8CZI

[KH2TJ]

Keith, I worked NW2Z yesterday from there also. Was he with you guys?

Thanks.

73, Todd KH2TJ

[WW4D]

@KR7RK

I’m so sorry to do this but my activation today of W4C/EM-085, Pilot Mountain in North Carolina, was NOT a valid activation due to a misunderstanding, and I won’t be uploading my Activation or Summit-to-Summit logs.

Thanks, Keith! It is an unfortunate situation where the activation zone of W4C/EM-085 - Pilot Mtn will probably never be legally accessible. Unfortunately, yesterday seems to have been a banner day for Pilot Mtn, with 5 activators in two different groups out on the mountain (KR7RK, WF4I, KW4CZ, NW2Z, KN4RBN). So, any contacts made yesterday with activators on W4C/EM-085 are not valid SOTA QSOs. There are two previous activations logged for Pilot Mtn (09 Mar 2018 & 20 Sep 2018) which are also unlikely to be valid activations, but will need confirmation from the activators first.

73, pat - KI4SVM

[K3TCU]

Thanks Keith for the information. Logs are adjusted. It sure was easier for me to nulify than for you guys!

HNY es 73,
Gary K3TCU

[AC1Z]

I just deleted S2S contacts from 12/28/19 with NW2Z and KN4RBN Ref W4C/EM-085 when I was on W1/NL-024. Thanks for letting me know. There is another Pilot Mt. W4C/CM-021, which I assume this one is valid?
Bob AC1Z

[EA2IF]

Thanks Keith for the information and for being so honest.
I have deleted from the SOTA database my SOTA QSO with Gordon @KW4CZ, but I’ll still keep it in my main log because we had a valid and very nice ham radio QSO.

You can see there’s no ref. on the SOTA REF field and I put a comment explaining the unfortunate fact of the activation being invalid.
73,

Guru

[WW4D]

@AC1Z

There is another Pilot Mt. W4C/CM-021, which I assume this one is valid?

Hi Bob, that summit is valid but has a steep climb to get to the top. The rewards are nice views of the Blue Ridge Parkway area.

73, pat - KI4SVM

[KH2TJ]

Thanks for the info Pat…NW2Z was also working a POTA activation from there as well, so if you guys chase WWFF or POTA, and he uploads his log to either of these programs, they would be valid for those…

[N4LAG]

I did the same sort of thing on Scott Mtn, W4C-CM-156. K2JB kindly suggested I was not in the AZ, based on his activation there. I had eyeballed the 75 feet and got it wrong. Had to come back and re-do it a few days later. Got in the AZ that time!

73,
Andy, N4LAG

[MM0FMF]

What is this 75feet people talk about?

The AZ is 25m in W4C. Or 82ft

[G4TJC]

@KR7RK

GPS unit and checked the elevation, and sure enough we were approximately 140-150 feet below the summit.

In addition to Andy’s comment be wary also of simply checking the elevation difference. It is necessary but not sufficient that your elevation is within the 25-m interval. But also the drop (by minimum descent) between the true summit and your position must not exceed 25 m. In other words the AZ does not extend to a nearby island of within-the-AZ elevation. It covers only the contiguous area down to the enclosing contour 25 m below the summit.

[G4AZS]

There is also a discussioin on using GPS devices for checking elevation here:

GPS height accuracy?

Hi all, I carry a basic Garmin ETREX 10, it doesnt include any maps, but gives me an accurate grid ref in poor visibility. (I have also downloaded a track from SotaMaps, just to prove that I could, which worked very well)! Anyway, on Black Mountain GW/SW041 a couple of days ago, I walked past the trig point at Hay Bluff, and onwards along the ridge until I was somewhere near the spot height of 703 metres shown on the map. Stupidly, I didn’t think to check the GR on the GPS, but I did notice, w…

[K6HPX]

Thanks, Keith!
Ken

[NR3E]

Thanks, Keith, for your honesty. That is a great indication of your integrity. I made a S2S with NW2Z on that day and have removed it from the database. But I did leave the contact in my activator log as it would simply be a chaser working me. NW2Z would have worked me portable, which is perfectly legal. It just wouldn’t be a S2S.

Ron, KI4TN

[NR3E]

@MM0FMF

What is this 75feet people talk about?

The AZ is 25m in W4C. Or 82ft

You are exactly correct, but personally I use 75 feet to be sure I am in the AZ. If I hold a GPS unit in my hand, the elevation of the ground would actually be 4 to 5 feet lower than my reading. That is also assuming that the GPS is accurate to within one vertical foot, which it is probably not, so I feel safer by using 75 feet instead of 82.

But that is just me; I prefer to err on the side of caution. For a new summit, I like to go all the way to the top. For one that I have activated before and have already seen the view, the AZ is good enough. But I still go well above the 25 meter line.

Ron, KI4TN

[KC7MSU]

This is another example of why its great to be part of the SOTA community. Thanks Keith for your demonstration of being a great activator!

[K9PM]

Keith, I was simply happy we were able to QSO trans Atlantic—that was enough for me!

73,
Paul CT7/K9PM