Private challenges

Gd, GJ, GU are not part of the UK but Crown Dependencies.

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I did not know that!!

To add to our global civics lesson here is a list of possibly unknown US island territories…

5 populated territories

9 unpopulated territories

2 disputed territories

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My challenge is to enjoy the qrp radio technology in nature as much and as long as possible.

To have contact with the many nice chasers and activators.

And to get to know one and the other personally

73 Chris

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FL/VO-001 and surroundings spring to mind. A bit far from Scotland, though :frowning:

My personal goals:

  • activate all 24 Swiss cantons that have SOTA summits
  • get to the 1000 points needed for a “mountain sloth” (my very personal trophy)
  • get better and better (and lighter, both in personal weight as well as in stuff carried around)
    I am advancing on all three goals on a very slothy way :slight_smile:

73 de Martin / HB9GVW

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Wow! Drive up 10 pointers! Maybe something more local to begin with however…:wink:

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10 summits in 2 days is easily feasible. Plus enjoying french cuisine in the evening at the hotel.

73 Jens HB9EKO

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After achieving Mountain Goat, I decided to use SOTA as a personal fitness programme, considering training effects of my sports watch for the planing rather than points for the summits.

73 Jens HB9EKO

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The UK has only 4 SOTA associations. :wink:
This pandemic is shrinking everything!!!

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Nice topic Armin.

My first challenge was the obvious one, to achieve Mountain Goat. If memory serves, it took me 13 years to achieve MG. At the same time as discovering SOTA, I also started a relationship and not long after marriage and children came along.

After achieving Mountain Goat, it felt a bit hollow that my score was made up from quite a high percentage of bonus points. My second challenge was to achieve 1000 activator points, not including bonus, which I achieved earlier this year.

I’m not sure what my challenges are now, really I just enjoy getting on air and being in the hills.

I would like to aim for 2MG, but I’m quite a way off yet.

73, Colin

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Hi Armin @DL6GCA,

Thank you for opening this nice topic.

SOTA is nothing without the people, that is why my goal number one is to meet in person as many SOTA people as possible. I am happy to know many of them nowadays and hope this direction will develop.

Goal number two is to activate as many unique summits as possible - I have 570 of them, 61 in this year.

Goal number three is to log as many contacts as possible, especially S2S.

Very important is health, without it we will not do anything - I wish you all good condition for many years.

73, Jarek

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My current goal is to hike every peak I have not hiked in Arizona, which will obviously never happen.

There is just something special about hiking a mountain I have never hiked before…the unknown, the adventure, the exploring, and the danger. I get a rush with the freedom I feel when I am in complete control of my little world while hiking a new summit…nobody to depend on, nobody to help me… but myself. Definitely some Adrenalin involved here…

Unfortunately I can’t hike a new one every Activation, so my goal on those days is to hike a summit to get out of the house, get some exercise, clear my mind, and just have fun.

My dog Shadow says he agrees with my goals. He told me so… :grinning:

Pete
WA7JTM

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The path is the goal, so I haven’t got a challenges in the SOTA. :wink:

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That’s quite remarkable given that you two were so prevalent for the 2019 SOTA Weekend.
Hopefully you will both make it again :wink:

My goal is purely Mountain Goat, but given that I still have a family for which I am responsible this is most likely to be (mostly) a Lake District based event. However, we are due to holiday in Malta in October so I am hoping to gain a point for the single summit on the island :rofl:

Cheers, Mark.

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My first target was to activate a summit with a homebrew rig which I have now achieved. The next goal is to have enough points to get an activator certificate before the end of the year. That’ll make me one tenth a mountain goat (a mountain kid?).

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A mountain lamb?

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My current traget is to activate the Scottish southern uplands as defined in this SQL statement.

where [SummitCode] like ‘gm/ss%’ and [Latitude] < 55.9441 and [Longitude] > -5.05 and [ValidTo] > CAST( GETDATE() AS Date ) and [SummitCode] <> ‘GM/SS-153’ or [SummitCode] = ‘GM/SS-280’
and [ValidTo] > CAST( GETDATE() AS Date )

i.e. All SOTA mainland Scottish summits between the Forth Clyde canal and the southern Scottish border.

73 de

Andrew G4VFL

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I only really started SOTA this year, and I’m trying to learn and develop my skills, so my personal target is to activate all the 23 summits in my local region G/WB in the 6 months April-September. Two left now, so they are planned in for next week.

Rick

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Hi,
My private challenge is to achieve 2000 chaser points and / or 500 activations in my chaser log in 1 year (2021) with my 5W QRP and 3m long whip antenna.
73 Patrick ON4BCA

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Good topic, Armin!

one of my goals is to continuously improve my operating technique and optimise my equipment in terms of performance and weight. Both are ongoing processes with no end date.
Making as many S2S QSOs as possible during an activation is another permanent goal.

Every now and then I get enthusiastic about fun events like the HB15SOTA award (which ended in May this year).
However, as @HB9DIZ wrote, I too notice trends rather in retrospect. At the moment, I can recognise a shift in my destinations from low mountain summits to alpine peaks.

As SOTA is a hobby, my main goal, however, is to enjoy being active in beautiful environment. An activation is successful if my internal battery got charged a bit.

73, Roman

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