“Could another possible explanation be that the reduced amount of SOTA activity seems to coincide with the start up of an alternative scheme?”
Don’t think so, Mike, there hasn’t been a GMA spot since the 25th.
I still monitor the way I used to, but hear little at the moment: I put it down to a combination of poor weather discouraging activations, poor propagation conditions and perhaps a touch of SAD. Amusingly enough, Bill Oddie has an alternative and very appropriate meaning for SAD - S*d All Doing!
We have a Siberian blast of very cold air forecast for Monday, as it is en route I guess it might be chilling parts of the continent already.
Hi Roger referring back to when you mentioned about The Blue Danube, with the guitar and keyboard. Me and my Dad M1EYP have got a youtube video of me playing the chords on the keyboard and my Dad playing the melody on guitar. We were both playing The Blue Danube.
Is what we are witnessing nowadays a change in chaser strategy, eg too
many chasers have come to rely purely on the spots/webmon instead of
good old fashioned monitoring of the usual SOTA frequencies?
Possibly Mike. Spotting systems allow you to do something else until a spot alerts you to something of interest. That does mean you no longer have to be in earshot of a radio monitoring frequencies of interest. It does require at least one spot to be placed though or all the people elsewhere won’t get the signal to alert them. And the day there everybody is depending on someone else results in nobody spotting anybody.
Could another possible explanation be that the reduced amount of SOTA
activity seems to coincide with the start up of an alternative scheme?
If you mean there’ll be less spots of a few regular German stations because they are not on SOTA hills then yes.
I hope theres plenty of spots for us in GM next week - assuming the wx allows us on the hills. Ill try to phone a friend for a spot if need be. Try as I may, I can not get spotlite to work since I deleted the url`s for the old system.
They might do so, Mike, that is their right if they so wish, though I suspect that for many an international scheme trumps a local scheme. However, as I pointed out above, there has been no GMA spots since the 25th, so GMA is in the doldrums, too.
I wouldn’t worry about it, the days are growing longer, HF conditions will improve as usual in the spring, and cycle 24 spots are gradually starting to appear, things will get better - but it will seem longer if you fret about it!
If the activation being heard is a GMA-only summit, then indeed, that wouldn’t result in a SOTA spot. However, if it is also SOTA valid, then the chaser may spot on both systems, or may spot only on the GMA website. In the latter case, there is nothing to stop SOTA’s leading chasers - and I’m sure they will - from monitoring the GMA spots, checking for SOTA validity, working them and spotting on SOTAwatch.
So I would reason that spots for valid German SOTA activations will still appear on SOTAwatch even if not spotted there by the first chaser.
I put it down to a combination of poor weather discouraging activations, poor propagation conditions and perhaps a touch of SAD.
Cant say its, bad propagation on 145 fm or ssb, on hf bands yes, it could be very difficult to do anything, How many activators actully get out like they used to,
Its all fine for the chasers sitting down, i think the chasers should let us activators get some chasing points, lets start chasers on the air,
To Steve INK,
my mobile is ok for self spots if there is any coverage in the area, that’s fine on joint activations but not if you go on the summits outside my physical capability. In that case, I could always self-spot you as being QRV in X hours before you head to your summit.
To Brian,
I am most certainly not fretting about it, just offering my opinion on the subject. It is the quietest time I have ever experienced in SOTA activity since becoming involved. HF propagation did suffer for a couple of days but is ok now, there was a VP8 on 20m yesterday quite strong and as Steve M0SGB states, propagation won’t have a dramatic effect on 2m fm/ssb.
To Tom,
I meant that many German stations might decide not to spot anything in future even SOTA only activations since the GMA spots were unceremoniously removed from Sotawatch without any prior warning or official announcement being offered that Sotawatch was going SOTA only.
For the last few days a station near Lichfield that I exchange SSTV pics with has been almost inaudible on 144.575 FM, so for me 2m FM is below par, but an anticyclone to the NE is developing and may help.
“Its all fine for the chasers sitting down, i think the chasers should let us activators get some chasing points, lets start chasers on the air,”
Great idea - if we work four of them from a summit can we score some points?
Great idea - if we work four of them from a summit can we score some
points?
Sorry Brian, that puts extra pressure on the activators, some of whom have been hard pressed to get one chaser into their logs. Some have had to resort to “other measures”
However, as I pointed out above, there has been no GMA spots since the
25th, so GMA is in the doldrums, too.
Actually DL4MFM/P was CQing GMA on 7.032 earlier today. I was on my way out so didn’t take note of the ref as I assumed (perhaps wrongly) that it may not have been OK for SOTA. I didn’t spot on SOTA watch for the same, possibly erroneous, reason.
“Its all fine for the chasers sitting down, i think the chasers
should let us activators get some chasing points, lets start chasers
on the air,”
Great idea - if we work four of them from a summit can we score some
points?
73
Brian G8ADD
Although you say that tongue in cheek Brian, you do have a point.
I think the activator gets a very raw deal compared to that of the life of a chaser. The activator has the time element to consider, for some an 18 hour day, he puts in the physical effort and has to brave the elements, he risks damage to his radio equipment or himself, he adds mileage and wear and tear to his vehicle and he foots the bill for fuel and B+B sometimes, all during a credit crunch.
The chaser sits in a centrally heated shack, supping tea or coffee while watching a pc monitor.
1,000 chaser points to attain the shack sloth trophy has become a joke, however 1,000 activator points for Mountain Goat is still a very hard task and a well deserved Trophy!
In reply to M1EYP:
Yes Tom. I assumed that if that was the case then either the activator would so indicate in his CQ or probably I should get off my backside and find out. The latter was not an option this time as I was already late for a meeting. In view of the debate on GMA spots and as I’m not into GMA I decided to leave it to someone else to spot if they felt so inclined - but obviously no-one did.