SOTA booth at the HAM RADIO 2023 in Friedrichshafen

Notices Events
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Dear SOTA Community :wave:

From June 23rd to the 25th HAM RADIO in Friedrichshafen is opening their doors again, and this year SOTA shall be represented with an own booth. The idea was born last year at the HAM RADIO and further developed since then by a number of ā€œlocalsā€.

The booth could serve as a meeting point for all SOTA enthusiasts for the common exchange around our hobby.
Additionally, SOTA as an interesting award scheme shall be presented to visitors, who donā€™t know much about this programme (ā€œWho are those people? Why do they do that? What are the rules? Can you win something? What equipment do I need? ā€¦ā€).

Therefore, information material could be laid out (flyers, presentations, equipment, backpacks, antennas, accessories, guestbookā€¦). On top of that, activations to one of the local summits (DM/BW-854 or DM/BW-348) could be organized from there.

All SOTA associations and groups are invited to join. You are welcome to meet there, introduce yourselves, display and distribute your flyers, etcā€¦ The booth is registered as an information and presentation booth, nothing may be sold, though.

A few weeks ago we began looking for people interested in manning the booth. For this we started a survey:
https://bitpoll.de/poll/OT54TlX5wT/
(If you scroll down, the website can be switched to English).

Would you like to join us at the booth, introduce yourself or your association or just volunteer? Then simply register (bindingly, please). If you donā€™t want to commit, you are of course invited to join us at the booth at any time :+1:

The expenses for the booth and all shall be covered by donations. Any money left over will be donated to the SOTA infrastructure. Additionally, a part of the funds will go to a charitable organisation in Friedrichshafen (details to follow.)

This thread will be updated regularly with the latest information. So keep checking back from time to time.

We look forward to seeing you all again in Friedrichshafen! You will find the booth under the SOTA flag hanging from a tall fibreglass pole.

In the meantime, stay healthy and see you soon in a QSO.

73 on behalf of all volunteers who have already signed up!

Marcel (@DM3FAM) and Roman (@DL3TU)

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Hello Marcel & Roman

This is great news that SOTA will be officially represented at Friedrichshafen in 2023 in their own booth, similar to the many other clubs and organisations within the hobby. Whilst I am unable to attend the show this year, I would be happy to make a small donation to help fund the cost of the booth. Please publish details of how this can be done.

73 Phil G4OBK

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Thank you very much for your feedback, Phil. Itā€™s a pity that we wonā€™t be able to meet in Friedrichshafen!

We are very grateful for everyone who wishes to support the project. We have set up a Paypal account to which donations can be made under hamradio2023@sota-bw.de.
We will inform you about the status of the donations in due course. Donors who donā€™t wish to be named should indicate this.
Additionally, there will be a fundraising box at the rally.

73, Roman

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Thank you Roman. Donation made. I used the PayPal Friends & Family category as SOTA is like being part of a family, and I have made many friends because of SOTA also!

73 Phil G4OBK

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For those in Germany at the time, there will also be a ā€œGipfelfunkā€ table at the upcoming ā€œAmateurFunkTagungā€ meeting in Munich on March 11th & 12th ( Amateurfunktagung MĆ¼nchen - DARC).

Marcel also asked me if I would be organising the ā€œSOTA Dinnerā€ at Friedrichshafen this year. I wonā€™t be, as I wonā€™t be there in the evenings (I will commute daily from home as Iā€™m only 90-120 minutes away). If someone else wants to agree on a location and time (and reserve the table) for SOTA fans to meet - I have (of course) no objection.

73 Ed.

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As the booth is collecting donations for the SOTA infrastructure (mainly IT server fees) my suggestion is to motivate visitors to make more/bigger donations by offering a small give-away.

I was thinking on something most activators might need. A small (obviously) red pencil with ā€œSummits on the Airā€ written on the side. I think this is also a nice and useful souvenir for activators to grab.

For the generation smartphone a stylus pen (for use with the phone/tablet touchscreen) might be another - but more costly - option.

What do you think about that? Other ideas ? Objections ?

Content wise I think instead of a lot of posters a monitor with images, video snippets and information might be helpful. Combined with some (potentially DIY ) equipment this will raise interest for the booth.

73 Joe

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If you have a give away, can I suggest you put the date upon it. Then if you have another stand in 2024, you can have 2024 dated item. Suddenly it becomes a collectible item and you can ask ā€œHave you got the full set?ā€

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I guess thatā€™s a way. But what will you do with 500 left over pencils stating ā€˜SOTA Hamradio 2023ā€™ ?
If it is not dated just use them next year.

But letā€™s hear more opinions.

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Hire a laser engraver and add the date as each item is collected :wink:

That way you never have left over items.

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Hi,
Itā€™s good news to know that SOTA will have its own booth.

If things are properly aligned, Iā€™m trying to attend Friedrichshafen this year.
It will be great to hear the familiar voice of some of my friends and be able to shake hands realtime!!

Iā€™ll provide some details when approaching.

I support Joeā€™s proposal and add another one: what about a small SOTA PIN with the Logo?

Label Pin
Label Pin711Ɨ447 26 KB

Manufacturing is easy with internet dealers once you send the Logo.jpg. No year required hereā€¦

73 Ignacio

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Bages are already available from the SOTA shop - no need to increase the profits of online suppliers!

badge web

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Right Barry, I didnā€™t know we have these bages.

73 Ignacio

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As Great Britain is slowly drifting out into the ocean and away from Europe in search of greener pastures, Royal Mail seems to have problems with deliveries. I suggest a G* ham brings along some merchandise to the booth.

73 de Martin / HB9GVW

Edit: Now I read that this has nothing to do with Brexit, it is just a normal, classic Cyber attack :slight_smile: Anyway, I just couldnā€™t resist the pun. Sorry.

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Off Topic:
People make backups.
They make regular backups.

Until you have restored your backup to prove it works you donā€™t have a backup process, just used disks.

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ā€¦and they still have not sorted the Post Office interface so I cannot despatch anything :rage:

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Hopefully that is already arranged (providing one of my MT colleagues has not been on too much Malt Whisky since agreeing :rofl:)

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Wait, what? There is SOTA Malt Whisky? Sign me up for a bottle! :crazy_face:

73 de Martin / HB9GVW

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ā€¦ take care that it must not been drunk at the customs already, hi.

73, Markus

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Too late Andy @MM0FMF has already consumed all known stock :rofl:

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Great idea, we are already looking forward to the time at the standā€¦
Jean-Pierre and Anita
HB9HBV & HB9HBU

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