I am fairly new to Sota compared to the other “Old Hands” and because of my illness I am confined to Chasing, and this I have done constantly day after day for the past 18 months. Just in the last 8 months I have amassed over 6,000 points only to be told that I haven’t. Apparently over 150 who I claim to have had contact with , with an audio of 5 both ways have not logged our QSO. Ok admittedly possibly because I am not well known like others some of the activators couldn’t even be bothered to say 73, I must stress these are few, but to not log me …WHY I can accept there could be a few that forget to log but come on " Over 150 " I know I have definately had those contacts and to those who have logged our contacts I say Thank You from the bottom of my heart.
This will probably get deleted but at least I tried.
Best 73 de 2E0AGB Allen
I’ve heard a few activators don’t submit logs but I hadn’t realised this meant their chasers can’t claim the points.
However, my knowledge of the SOTA rules is sketchy so I hope someone can confirm this is how it works.
John
SOTA is based on a trust basis. There is no check on matching activator and chaser logs.
Reasons are various why activatiors don’t log .
- Logging errors
- Errors in coping paper logs
- QSB kicking in or pile-up madness and activator not sure the QSO was complete
- Just not submitting logs at all
- Typos
- Various others
So Allen don’t worry about that deviation. Your loggings are fine and count just as they are done with best possible care on your side.
73 Joe
The thing is Joe I won’t even bother calling if it is under a 4 audio
Hope you’re ok mate
Best 73
Allen, That’s a pity. I’ve found that sometimes an email to the other station can jog their memory. If the Op. is on qrz.com, their email is easily obtained.
It’s helped me a couple of times, eg when it’s a summit to summit with 2m handhelds. It’s easy to forget to log it. Different scenario to your predicament, I know.
Anyway, I’m out tomorrow, braving the winds. Might get you another 4 points!
All the Best,
Fraser
Ok Fraser will listen out for you mate Thanks
Hello Allen.
I know you as a hardworking and patient chaser. And I look forward to your call, which goes without saying, for almost every one of my activations.
That is precisely why it happened to me in the hustle and bustle of the pileup that I did not write down your call.
I’m sorry, but doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it. On the contrary.
The same thing happens to me from time to time with a very familiar Swedish OM (Hi L.).
73 Chris
well to me your callsign is very well known … i’m pretty good in remembering callsigns but very bad with remembering names. just had a look at my log and found 14 contacts in the last months. for me as a activator every single qso is a pleasure, regardless who is calling me. i’m sure that the vast majority of activators will agree with me on that!
i work ssb only, one thing that i often notice on my activations is when chasers cannot hear me well they think it’s their turn … although i am speaking to another station. then two chasers giving me their reports at the same time. i try to solve the problem by making it clear that i only called “XX0XXX” and try to work the other station right after i finished the qso. but quite often that operator (who thinks he just worked me) is not listening anymore or has left the frequency already. then i can only log one qso …
maybe this is a possible explaination for some of the missing qso entries in the database. but 150 is a huge number …
73 martin, oe5reo
Hi Allen,
As the others have said, don’t worry about not being logged by an activator - if you are sure you made the contact, log it in your chaser log.
What you can do is look through the activator log in the database and look at the time when you made the contact and if there is a callsign similar to yours there that you think the activator has misheard (or more likely misread from his/her hand-written, possibly rained-on, log sheet after arriving home and entering the contacts into the system). Send the activator a private message via this reflector or an email to their qrz.com listed email address and normally it will get corrected. However, as the others say, it doesn’t actually matter when it comes to accruing the chaser points - there is an element of trust in the SOTA scheme.
By the way, don’t expect same-day upload of logs from activators. I try to do it within 24 hours but I don’t have to. Normally within a week, all activators have their logs loaded except if they are on a “SOTA Tour” and away from home for a week - then it can take longer!
By the way, you are in my logs of DM/BW-695 Teck (8 points) and DM/BW-078 Römerstein (10 points) from Thursday.
I suspect a lot of the problem is the volume of chasers and the size of the pile-ups these days. On Römerstein I worked 64 chasers in 30 minutes, including two band changes, so the pile-up was huge. When I first heard your call sign on both summits it was difficult to pull you out of the “noise” but once I managed it, your signal alone was a clear 5-7 (on Römerstein) and 5-8 (on Teck) signal.
I must also say, however, that some chasers, obviously fighting the combination of QRM, OTHR and QSB respond when I have asked for a different chaser and sometimes, I suspect they think they have worked me, when in fact they haven’t. These are not valid contacts and won’t appear in my log and if the chaser enters them in his/her log, they are in fact invalid.
If a chaser is unsure whether they have worked an activator or not, it’s better that they call again (even though this makes the pile-up worse) and explain the confusion or contact the activator later for confirmation. If it turns out that the activator definitely hasn’t worked the chaser, the chaser should remove that contact from his/her log.
I find it very strange (as you do) that there are 150 discrepancies. You might want to analyse if these are all related to a small number of activators or generally spread across all activators.
73 Ed DD5LP.
Thanks for all your kind words .Maybe you have noticed that when there is a pile-up I always wait until it has been dealt with, If I don’t get in straight away then I know I’ve no chance, so sit and wait patiently until it has quietened down.
73
I have noticed that you are often my first log entry after a change to 80m 
18 entries in the log for 2E0AGB.
Shared activations often result in my going QRT before I have used either 80m or 40m especially if it is cold, damp or the 2m pile-up was brisk and brief. I usually start with 60m because I find it works well more often than bands stuffed with contests or QRM and I am less often swamped by a QRO station.
Catch you again before long, I hope.
Take care Allen, 73,
Rod
I don’t even know how to check which activators have logged our QSO? I take it that I have to go through the database link & it’s on there somewhere? Does anyone care to enlighten me, please?
You need to look at the activators logs where there is a “Show who chased me” button.
Thank you for that info, & sorry for being a bit thick, but where do I find the activators logs? I apologise, but I am very new to all this.
Hi Glyn,
In the Database, go to the “Activator Roll of Honour”
Find the activator callsign that you are interested in (you can use the search function on your computer - on my Chromebook it is Ctrl F)
Click on “View log” in the right hand column.
This will show all the activations that have been uploaded by the activator.
Click on “show log” for the activation you are interested in.
The “see who chased me” button is towards the top of the screen.
Note that you have to be logged in to do this.
This is where to start:
73
Adrian
Perfect, Thank you Adrian very much for that information, very much appreciated.
Hi Allen,
Yes, the advice above is good. Well worth you going through the list of unconfirmed (if you have been provided with it) and checking to see if you are in the log.
The usual reason a chaser is NIL (not in log) is that they haven’t been worked. It can and does happen. I have heard it myself many times on my own activations and while listening in to other activations on air. A chaser is convinced that the activator has called them and is working them - but in fact they are working someone else. I have heard it happen with highly experienced chasers and newcomers alike.
If I hear a chaser incorrectly think they’ve worked me on one of my activations, I make a note of the callsign in my logbook. A few days later, I check on the “Show who chased me” feature, and if indeed that chaser has logged a contact with me, I email them and let them know that we were never in contact.
There are several reasons why a chaser callsign does not appear in an activator log, but I would say it would be highly unlikely that the chaser WAS worked but then omitted from the submitted log - so if this APPEARS to be the case, it’s definitely worth checking.
Another reason I’ve also come across a couple of times (Could be more but I don’t always check!) is the person I logged isn’t interested in SOTA, and simply wants to have a quick RST and move on. Because they didn’t do any chasing, or activating they were not bothered or did not think about logging me.
What does “audio 4” mean?
4, as in 1,2,3,4,5 the readability scale, I presume.
73,
Fraser