I know alerting on the reflector is now disallowed under the new VHFCC rules, however are there any activators looking to be on Sunday for the backpackers?
In reply to M0LKB:
Of course the rules only apply to people who intend to enter the contest. Anybody can participate, disregarding any rules including this one, as long as they don’t submit a log (or, better, submit a check log).
In reply to M0LKB:
The rules don’t/can’t stop us as sota chasers spotting a station on a sota summit, if they are in a contest or not?
The activator would surely be innocent of breaking any rules and therefore not penalised if he was spotted by a non contest participant? ?
Mike GW0DSP
In reply to GW0DSP:
The rules don’t/can’t stop us as sota chasers spotting a station on a
sota summit, if they are in a contest or not?
Correct. What is forbidden, to people who wish to enter the contest, is self-spotting or soliciting spots.
In reply to M1MAJ:
Exactly! Nuff said, hi.
Mike
In reply to M1MAJ:
LOL…
I was mearly asking if any activator is going to be active in the contest but was not adding an alert for fear of breaking this new rule… Surely its perfectly fine to be discussing it.
e.g.
I was considering being active from LD-049 on sunday for the contest, would anyone have some advice on how to ascend this mountain
In reply to M0LKB:
Surely its perfectly fine to be discussing it.
Of course. I was attempting to give encouragement.
I was considering being active from LD-049 on sunday for the contest,
would anyone have some advice on how to ascend this mountain
I think that’s fine. That’s not a “spot”. I’ve looked at the VHFCC rules, and I’m sure you can discuss advance plans. What you can’t do is self-spot an actual operation, which generally means giving your frequency.
In reply to M1MAJ:
ok so if I was suggest that I should be active from LD-049 for the duration of the contest on the usual freq of 144.225 I would have excluded myself from being eligable to enter
In reply to M0LKB:
No need to fear anything re: rule breaking Andrew. If a sota chaser happens to hear you and spot you on sotawatch and/or the cluster, purely because you are on a recognised sota summit, you would be totally innocent of any contest rule breaking whatsoever, provided you don’t request a spot yourself.
Enjoy your contest Andrew and let’s hope a sota chaser happens to here you on a summit.
73 Mike
In reply to M0LKB:
ok so if I was suggest that I should be active from LD-049 for the
duration of the contest on the usual freq of 144.225 I would have
excluded myself from being eligable to enter
Fortunately I don’t have to adjudicate! As a personal opinion, I think I would say that giving that much detail isn’t in the spirit.
In reply to GW0DSP:
If a sota chaser happens to hear you and spot you on sotawatch and/or the
cluster purely because you are on a recognised sota summit, you would be
totally innocent of any contest rule breaking whatsoever, provided you
don’t request a spot yourself.
I agree there is no doubt about this.
Enjoy your contest Andrew and let’s hope a sota chaser happens to here
you on a summit.
Oh, I wont be active, just discussing with hypothetical examples.
I gave up entering in the backpackers as so much bending of rules takes place.
Just looking to support those who are still trying on the uneven playing field
For the definitive answer, search for the thread entitled “RSGB contest - new rules” and read John G3WGV’s message dated 16th April.
73 de Les, G3VQO
In reply to G3VQO:
I will be active tommorrow from Winter Hill (SP-10) in the backpackers contest.
That is not breaking any rule as I am not pointing anyone to any particular frequencies. I am just saying I will be active. Just as I might say in my local club that I will be active. If someone wants to spot me without any prompting from me, then thats fine.
On a similar but different point; if the RSGB want people to be active from “various hilltop locations” (as stated in the backpackers rulles) , then it good practise to tell someone where and when you are going for obvious safety reasons. If this cannot be done within the rules of the contest then the RSGB should not promote hilltop activity.
Ian
G7ADF - G0HRW (for contests).
Member of - CAMRBAC - Campaign for real backpackers 
In reply to G7ADF:
On a similar but different point; if the RSGB want people to be active
from “various hilltop locations” (as stated in the
backpackers rulles) , then it good practise to tell someone where and
when you are going for obvious safety reasons. If this cannot be done
within the rules of the contest then the RSGB should not promote
hilltop activity.
Ian
Of course it can be done within the rules of the contest. If you tell your mum (or wife) where you will be, no rules will be infringed.
Safety is of paramount importance on Winter Hill. If you turn your back up there, some oik will pinch your hubcaps 
73
Richard
In reply to G3CWI:
Of course it can be done within the rules of the contest. If you tell
your mum (or wife) where you will be, no rules will be infringed.
If I tell my wife I’m going sitting on top of a hill in the pouring rain passing strange message to other like minded nutters for 4 hours, I wont be allowed out of the house. As we all know, most accidents happen in the home, so that would be more dangerous. 
Ian
In reply to M0LKB:
I know this is an very old thread, but I’d like some advice on operating (on a Marylin) during Backpackers, PW etc… one of my ‘good intentions’ is to try these contests this year!
I mean I’ll tend to call “CQ Contest”, or reply to calls of “CQ Contest”, but when exchanging details i.e. RST/Serial/Locator/Postcode, is it acceptable to say, “this is also SOTA G/SB001” (or whatever)?
I can appreciate some stations want as many contacts as possible and may object to ‘time wasting’… but I like to offer up the SOTA points, and will certainly claim my activator points if I have enough contacts!
Any advice, much appreciated
Rob (G1TPO)
In reply to G1TPO:
Tom frequently operates these contests and says something similar to your suggested wording. Nobody complains as far as I know, but the Backpackers, PW and Activity contests are more relaxed than the HF band melees!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G1TPO:
I dont see any issue at all with that, unless there is a manic pile up wanting you in the contest then by all means give the sota ref too, after all you do not need to exchange the locator but mearly give sufficient information for the station to work out your location, so the SOTA ref is enough in my view.
VHF contests you always have 30 seconds to say more than “59001 73”
Andrew M0LKB (using G6’s computer)
In reply to G1TPO:
I think your exchange would be fine Rob. You should get a mix of contesters uninterested in SOTA and SOTA chasers uninterested in the contest. You should have bags of time to tag on extra info without appreciably slowing down the exchange rate!
You might want to consider modifying the CQ call to every 5th or so call being:
CQ contest CQ contest located SOTA
People who want the SOTA ref will ask if they’ve not heard you give it. As long as you don’t make any prearranged QSOs there’s no problem giving extra info. When I was super keen at VHF contesting I was often asked for the old QRA ref if I knew it plus sundry other bits of info.
And if I remember the reference manual correctly, you don’t have to exchange the SOTA ref in each QSO for the QSO to be valid for SOTA. It’s nice to get it but not mandatory.
Best of luck anyway.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Many thanks for the comments…I was pretty sure it wasn’t a big issue but wanted to check opinion.
I’ll just tag the SOTA ref on the end
As an aside…I now have a Caravan in the Scottish Borders, which we’ll be using every other weekend in the warmer weather(??) so will be activating the hills in the region of Ettrick Pen, Ward Law, Broad Law, and about a dozen others in the area,…at the moment my plan is to use 2m FM/SSB… please give me a shout if you hear me!!
I’ll try and post Alerts, but it may not be possible…
73s Rob G1TPO