After almost a year wtih no activity due to the pandemics I did three activations in the last two weeks.
It’s very nice to be up on the hills once again.
All 6 points summits next to my place.
In the first activation two weeks ago I was able to make contact with some europeian stations and I was very happy for that although I couldn’t answer/decode all stations that I heard. Sorry guys, I have to practice more my CW RX.
And it’s very interesting how after spoting it in SOTA Spotter, many stations appear to contest you!
The last activation, yesterday I went with the whole family! It was amazing.
But on Saturday, after the second activation when I uploaded my log into sotadata I saw something that made me really sad.
After clicking on the “who chased me” button I saw an entry of a chaser with whom I didn’t make any QSO. And it was obviously so wrong that the one put PY1LL instead of PY1II (india india) in his log. It’s a common error when you just read my callsign because the II can be two major -i or two minor -l.
I would say that the guy could participate in the SWL ranking instead, but this error shows that he just (wrongly) read the spot in the app and put it in the log. He didn’t even heard me! Because in CW II is completely different from LL.
Earlier in the same day for example I didn’t get the entire call sign of ?4WBN in SSB due QRM and bad propagation at that moment, but then, later on, we could make the QSO in CW and it was F4WBN. What we did? We only entered the second contact of course.
Well, I would have also good facts to talk about the three activations, but will let it for the next topic soon. 73, Douglas.
Hi Douglas,
Glad to read you have been able to get back into SOTA activating.
The problem you mention of finding a chaser that logged you when you didn’t actually made QSO with him/her is a very common problem. Some chasers are too eager about logging a new chase in their logs and imagine or dream that the activator is responding to them when they are not actually copying the activator due to QSB, skip or poor propagation. Or they partially hear the activator but they don’t understand what’s going on and they don’t understand the activator is making QSO with somebody else. I often hear chasers making phantom QSOs while I’m chasing and also, while I’m activating and making QSO with one station, I hear others presuming I’m making QSO with them and thus sending their report, 73 and so on making QRM on the actual QSO between me and the other station. The problem is always the same: LACK OF LISTENNING!
Don’t worry about that. It’s their problem, not yours.
Welcome back to SOTA and enjoy!
73,
Thank you Ken! I heard a K station in the first activation this year in a mini pileup and after answering two europeian stations that I could decode immediately I asked for the K station, but propagation has gone…
Yeah, every day a step forward training RX. But I’m now a little bit stuck. :-/
Best 73, Douglas
Of course, there is the posibility they may not be able to read their own writing. ( i - l )
I learned decades ago how important this is. I still write with pencil and small letters.
E.g…
The i gets a dot (to distinguish it from the l).
The zero gets a slash (to distinguish it from the o).
The q gets a slash (to distinguish it from the 9)
And that’s how I still do it today. I’m sure there are still some careless mistakes when transferring the data to the SOTA database.
I agree, Armin, it’s important learning how to hand write properly not letting room for missinterpretations.
In my 1st year of industrial engineering, we had to practice the industrial printing to write on drawings in a way that there will never be a doubt or missinterpretation.
Careful, proper hand writing is always very useful, particularly when logging QSOs.
73,
And that’s how I still do it today. I’m sure there are still some careless mistakes when transferring the data to the SOTA database.
I am just on Armin´s opinion and think the “II” was a pencel problem. Still some people (like me) are logging with a pencel and make the morse code with a key, not with F1,F2, etc
F4WBN is a good operator and he can hear very well. I worked him on CW recently during few last activations. During the last activation I also did not copy his prefix, because a lot of US stations called me, but I replied just with his suffix, and I was able to pick up the complete call sign during his next transmission. What is a pleasure to make contacts with EU from the West Cost of US! But credits for those contacts are going to F4WBN due to his excelling operating skills, equipment, antennas and right timing.
Hi all,
only to be as clear as possible: the problem was not with F4WBN that, as some colleagues said and I repeat, has amazing operational skills.
The problem was with another colleague and I don’t think it was a writing / transfering issue. I just didn’t hear him during the activation.
Anyways, I don’t want to polemize.
73, Douglas
… but I am faster with small letters 