As many of us know, SOTA NA has enjoyed remarkable growth in the last couple years. With the influx of so many newcomers, both chasers and activators, it may very well be that some do not recognize the significance of “S2S” on CW, meaning a “summit to summit” contact/caller.
For example, earlier today when I left work to grab some lunch at home, I was chasing a couple summits. In one case I thought I heard NA6MG, who was on another summit, in the pile-up calling the summit. I sent a quick S2S to alert the other activator to the fact that Dan was calling, both before and after I worked the summit. But, to make a long story short, I think it was not recognized for what was intended.
We all have gone through the learning curve to get where we are, and in light of the fact that nobody was born knowing all this stuff, we sometimes need to slow down and make sure everybody is “on the same page”. Much of that kind of info is on the SOTA website, but some may not have discovered that yet. I guess it will take time, but we can help them by directing them to the great resources available. I like to send a QSL card to an activator (with SASE) the first time I ever work him/her on a summit - probably a good chance to offer him/her a tip as appropriate.
On a related note… I was first exposed to this addiction called SOTA less than three years ago and it was all new to me then of course, including terms like “S2S”. As a result of the efforts of all the activators, I’ve been able to push past 5300 points running exclusively QRP with my operating time limited to weekends when not traveling on business (and an occasional lunch break from work!). I really appreciate the tremendous efforts of all those that have played such an important role in developing the organization, in EU, VK and NA and elsewhere in the world. And the website is incredible. And of course thanks to all the activators who do the hard work for the contact! (I wish I lived closer to some summits so I could do more activating!)
(I wish I lived closer to some summits so I could do more activating!)
A quick analysis of what appears to be your home state i.e. MN would indicate that it would qualify as a P100 state with approximately 32 qualifying summits. All we need is someone to come forward to take up the role of Association manager. It wouldn’t be an onorous task as once documented and set up it would simply be a task of advising people who have questions about the association. So you could have SOTA summits closer than you might expect.
MN as P100 may have 1 10 point summits and a bakers dozen of 8 point summits as well as a potential winter bonus of 3 points for some summits based on the weather/temperature profile. It just needs to be established.
May be you could seek help from others (perhaps via nasota) who have been active in setting up associations such a Guy, Mike, Dennis, Christian to name just a few who spring to mind.
73 Jim G0CQK
It is interesting that the S2S idea was driven by participants in the early days of SOTA rather than by the Management Team. This was years before any S2S award was considered; another activator would call in the pile-up, the cry of “summit to summit” would go out and everybody would stand by or do what they could to assist - all very gentlemanly, or gentlewomanly because from the start there were prominent female activators and chasers. An S2S contact was prized above all others and gave pleasure to the chasers who heard it. Eventually we in the MT caught up!
Chasing a whole set s2s, is very rewarding as well as time consuming and extremely frustrating.
As Rod pointed out, the one big problems is that the s2s chaser has no control. You can pick and choose when you want to activate a summit, you can’t pick and choose when you wish to chase it.
Also, not everyone alerts their activations and this is a real headache for the s2s junkie.
Knowing what I know now, if I was asked to chase all 76 GW/NW summits as s2s contacts again, I would think long and hard before tackling it.
No chaser has control, Mike, not just the S2S chaser. Its the nature of the game, the activator is king!
I don’t usually alert my relatively few activations, either. There are several reasons for this: mountains that I skipped up thirty years ago are hard work now I am in my seventies, without alerts I don’t suffer a bad conscience if I summit late, turn back or even change my plans because of bad weather, diminished motivation or the whim of the XYL. Similarly I can no longer predict how long an ascent will take - and often it is the simplest one-point summits that take the longest because those are the ones my XYL will tackle with her bad knees!
I don’t think it is any hardship to chase for un-alerted activations, if anything it is more fun! I must confess that whilst I follow the Spots fairly assiduously whilst in the shack, I barely glance at the Alerts.
Thanks for the note and encouragement. Unfortunately right now time is a real issue for me personally, largely with work and related travel. And I’m in the process of replacing all my home antennas which were damaged in a terrible ice storm in April - another story! There certainly are some folks here here in NASOTA that would be great resources to assist me, so we’ll see. Steve, WG0AT has also “goated” me a bit to get involved with setting up an association here in the Upper Midwest. Maybe it’s something I can look at later in the year (but not on big contest weekends when I will be furiously throwing my flea power signal into the ether!)
There are several folks on this side of the pond like Steve and the guys you mentioned, and others, that have done so much and worked so hard on this thing that I enjoy so much. There’s no doubt that I’d like to try to repay a bit of that debt I owe them by setting up an association too.
I’m surprised that Minnesota would have 8 and 10 point summits! I’d also be very curious about the prospects for Iowa, since that is my native state and I’m actually more familiar with much of that state. I’m a fairly recent transplant to Minnesota and live in the far SW corner, just 10 miles from the Iowa border and 50 miles from the South Dakota line.
In reply to ND0C:
Ooooh! Iowa appears to be rather short, as I can see only two qualifying summits which could both score 4 points - Carroll County HP & Pilot Knob.
There was a proposal from Steve to set the Dakotas as a separate association which would also qualify as a P100 association which would significantly increase the number of summits for the Dakotas. All we neeed is for someone to decide to take it on.
72 Jim G0CQK
If you have time can you look at Kansas and see if there is any hope of having a summit or two in the state? On the east end of the state the average elevation is somewhere around 800 feet but as you go west towards Colorado the elevation at the highest point in the state is somewhere around 4000 feet. I don’t know of any high points that could qualify as a P100 but there may be.
OK - now you definitely have my attention! Certainly Iowa, at least much of the northern half is consistent with its reputation of being relatively flat and covered with fields of corn (maize) and soybeans. But one of the 4 point candidates, Carroll Co. H.P., is only about 25 miles from where I grew up.
I’m still pretty foggy on the whole prominence criteria and point value scales. According to Peakbagger.com, Carroll Co. H.P. and Pilot Knob have clean prominences of 320’ and 319’ respectively. This would be just under 100 meters. I obviously don’t fully understand the criteria and need to study the website more!
In reply to ND0C:
Clean prominence is very pure mathematically and can miss summits that can qualify. We tend to use the prominences that are listed in listsofjohn which is in fact the basis of almost all NA associations. You will see many attributions in NA ARMs to John Kirk who is behind those lists and he does have the most comprehensive analysis of prominence in the US. See IA Peaks List 1,000 to 1,999 feet where both summits show prominence of at least 330 feet or 100 metres. So net a 2 summit association in IA is possible just like we have a 1 summit association in W5M Mississippi.
73 Jim GM0CQK (currently north of the border)