Results of the 1st European SOTA Activity Day

Activation Reports
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The 1st European SOTA Activity Day: The results from a success story

Summary

My thanks go out to all the activators and chasers who took part in the 1st European SOTA Activity Day on Saturday, 19 September 2020. Overall, 288 activators made 3622 QSOs. 706 chasers made 6722 contacts with various activating stations either by design or by chance. Taken overall, all the activators were on the air for a total of 754 hours.

The following analysis includes only those activators and chasers who, according to the procedures listed on the reflector, uploaded their logs at the latest 14 days after the event.

The three highest ranking ops in the category for the most S2S QSOs are:

  • Stephan DL/HB9EAJ/P with 69 S2S QSOs
  • Jarek SP9MA/P with 67 S2S QSOs
  • Mark HB9BDM/P with 64 S2S QSOs

The three highest ranking ops in the category for the most chaser QSOs are:

  • Manuel EA2DT with 136 QSOs
  • Lars SA4BLM with 91 QSOs
  • Ivo 9A1AA with 78 QSOs

The three ops who braved the elements on a summit for the longest amount of time are:

  • Tom M1EYP/P for 19 hrs. 16 min
  • Kurt OE1KBC/P for 14 hrs. 35 min
  • Jarek SP9MA/P for 9 hrs. and 48 min

Although the weather on September 19 was not dry throughout all of Europe, there was certainly a higher level of SOTA activity than on an ordinary Saturday. The large number of participants and the many positive comments on the SOTA reflector would clearly seem to indicate that we should repeat this event every year. As the date for the 2nd European SOTA Activity Day , I thus propose 18 September 2021 . The long-term goal would be to eventually introduce a Worldwide SOTA Activity Day.

Results in the “S2S” category

In the S2S category, Stephan DL/HB9EAJ/P scored the top position with 69 QSOs. He was on the air for 8 hours and 14 minutes from Herzogenhorn (DM/BW-002). He completed his first QSO at 0743 GMT and his last one at 1557 GMT. I was surprised to learn that he achieved this result using only SSB and FM (and no CW). Manual EA2DT logged 136 chasers, which means that Stephan worked 50.7% of the S2S QSOs. He reports that he used 5W SSB from his FT-818, this time with an additional LiPo, which after about 6 hours was necessary when his internal Windcamp 33 Wh LiPo was used up. Conditions were “meh” and he didn’t even give 17m a try. On 2m FM he used his handheld with a Chinese RH-770 clone antenna with an SMA connector, and with this he reached from Germany far into the Swiss Alps.

As for second place, this was achieved by Jarek SP9MA/P with 67 QSOs. He operated from Skrzyczne (SP/BZ-008) in the three modes CW, SSB and FM.

Third place goes to Mark HB9BDM/P with 64 QSOs. He worked from his neighborhood summit Hochwacht/Homberg (HB/AG-012), which is at an altitude of just 788 m ASL.

Results in the “Chaser” category

Accounting for entries from around the world, Manuel EA2DT has the most chaser QSOs, and thus no surprise that he also won the 1st European SOTA Activity Day. In total, he chased 136 activators. He completed the first one at 0633 GMT with EA2IF/P and the last one at 16:44 with DL/PC9DB/P, which indicates he was on the air for 10 hours and 11 minutes.

Results in the “Duration” category

Tom wrote me that this is a great surprise for him! He was originally intending to do a full 24-hour activation in a bid for a Swiss knife. He was under the impression that other OMs stayed out even longer than him! He made his 1st QSO: 0001z and his last QSO: 1917z. He intended to stay out even longer, but the wx condx were bad with strong winds (causing mast breakages) and HF condx were not looking good for NA DX.

Acknowledgements

I would first of all like to thank Sylvia OE5YNN and Paul for doing translation work for the web and Martin OE5REO, who together with Silvia voiced their readiness to follow the suggestion of Juerg HB9BIN to take the date for the OE5 SOTA Activity Day on 19 September and expand that event to become the 1st European SOTA Activity Day.

I would also like to thank all the European association managers who informed their members about the event and encouraged them to participate.

A final thanks to Andy MM0FMF, who performed the QSO analysis.

73 de HB9BIN Juerg

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First of all, I want to express one more time many thanks to Juerg HB9BIN for the idea that allowed us to have a great fun on September 19, 2020.
It was really big pleasure to take a part.
Anxiously wait for next year event.

I received a knife for my S2S score - thank you very much.
I wrote about S2S dupes QSOs issue in another topic, no continuation here.

However, I have a question: is the second knife I won on its way to me ? :wink:

73, Jarek

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congratulations to everyone for perseverance at the tops…leszek

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Thanks again to the organizers and participants and of course for the knife that comes very handy!

Honestly, I never thought that I was that good in the S2S category, especially taking into account that I did not do CW, for which I passed a test some decades ago, but never used it really. I did the test back then mainly because I was interested in HF and it’s propagation, but maybe in the future, I get motivated to learn it again…

I still consider myself a SOTA greenhorn, since I’m only active for about 1.5 years, after a long ham radio break. There is so much interesting new stuff to be discovered and I’m very grateful of this marvelous SOTA infrastructure we can use freely as activator and chaser. Therefore, thank you to all hams that keep the infrastructure running!

73 Stephan

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Congrats to all Winners. Yes it was a great fun and very enjoyable day. It is definatelly event I would like to take part in every year. See you on the bands!!!

73 Marek

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Just arrived home from activation of G/SP-013 and found the excellent prize waiting for me.

Many thanks JĂĽrg @HB9BIN and team.

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Well deserved Tom. Also we have the same worktop in our utility room!

73 Phil

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Wow, such a nice prize: is there a built in Paddle included?

Thumbs up for the organizers, thanks for a nice idea and event to motivate and create good ambience.
73 de Ignacio

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Hi Ignacio,

I tested scissors for it on my one and they work :smiley:

73, Jarek

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First of all, many thanks to all participants, to JĂĽrg for the idea and the nice Swiss souvenirs as well as to Andy for his workload.
I struggled with myself if I should write a comment here. Well, due to my self-destructive tendency and lack of social intelligence I decided to do so.
According to the initial rule “i.e. the period from the first to the last contact.” I had my first QSO at 00:00 and my last QSO at 23:59. I understand that this was not the intention and “ops who braved the elements on a summit for the longest amount of time” is by far the better fit. But playing my Viennese practical joke against Swiss accuracy I seriously calculated some chances for the knife receiving a place of honor in my collection.
I accept the jury’s decision in this case, no question. Congrats to you, Tom! But you may admit kind of faint disappointment, as I performed to the requirement - maybe some minor acknowledgement? Well, ce la vie. Just kidding to forget about the real problems for some minutes…

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Traditional Austrian “Feitl” (folder knife)

I will fire up my forge and make a nice carbon steel knife - as a prize for the next sota-challenge.

I want to say thank you again and apologize for my inherent nature to spoil things that work fine for everyone else (Lucky I didn’t say anything about the dirty knife…).

Stay healthy 73 Martin OE3VBU