SOTA NEWS JULY 2015 - Part 2 of 2
NORTH AMERICAN SOTA REPORT from Skip K6DGW
Greetings Summiteers!
Summer is in full bloom here in North America, schools are on holiday, and families are vacationing. That may account for the drop in our statistics for June. The last half of the month has been marked by a very active region transiting the earth-side of the sun. We had numerous high range M-class X-ray flares accompanied by large and very energetic mass ejections which have played havoc with the geomagnetic field, and HF bands. This too could be a reason for an activity decrease.
All is not bad however. Severe geomagnetic storms usually include dense auroral conditions, and 6 meters got smoking hot a couple of times during all the solar hijinks.
STATISTICS: NORTH AMERICA TOTALS
Total Activations: 347 [487]
Nr Unique Activators: 125 [161]
Total Chaser QSOs: 1620 [3407]
Nr Unique Chasers: 157 [213]
Unique Summits: 474 [483]
2m: 77 (4%) [185]
6m: 4 (0%) [3]
10m: 25 (1%) [37]
12m: 0 (0%) [12]
15m: 128 (7%) [227]
17m: 92 (5%) [192]
20m: 907 (55%) [1839]
30m: 79 (4%) [240]
40m: 302 (18%) [670]
60m: 0 (0%) [0]
80m: 0 (0%) [0]
160m: 0 (0%) [0]
Unk: 6
CW: 1042 (64%) [2110]
SSB: 500 (30%) [1111]
FM: 75 (4%) [184]
AM: 0 (0%) [0]
Data: 0 (0%) [0]
Other: 2 (0%) [1]
Unk: 6
AWARDS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Topping our list of accomplishments this month are three new hams.
Two call Todd, W7TAO, “Dad.” Tanner who is 10 is now officially KG7URC, and his big brother Mason who is 13 and officially KG7URD have joined our ranks. Todd advises that they both will go the vanity call route, but for now, they’re legal and ready to activate … on their own.
Congratulations guys, welcome to the greatest hobby on the planet… and to SOTA!! In Todd’s correspondence with me as they were waiting to appear in the FCC database, I got the distinct impression that Dad is “somewhat” proud of his sons 
.
And similarly, Dad Dave, N5XL reports:
"Collin is a brand new Technician and makes his first SOTA contact with his own call, KG5IBL, from North Table Mountain (Denver metro), W0C/FR-109, June 20, 2015.
Weapons of choice:
Hand to hand combat: Yaesu FT-60R (2M FM) Long gun: Elecraft KX3 (10m SSB).
Thanks to AG5CQ and WA6MM for the S2S contacts. Collin, can I have my
KX3 back?"
Congratulations and welcome to the hobby Collin, and trust me, it’s a good idea to share the radio with your Dad.
Kevin, K4KPK, did a little research and came up with some interesting
achievements:
"I looked at 2015’s top chasers on SOTAData today. The top 5 for 2015, worldwide, all bands:
DL3HXX, 6568 points, 1654 activators
W0MNA, 6491 points, 1380 activators
N4EX, 6473 points, 1407 activators
W7RV, 6361 points, 1317 activators
W0ERI, 6235 points, 1299 activators
These chasers are successfully chasing about 250 times a month.
Absolutely amazing! Platinum Slothdom on an annual basis. FB indeed."
Thanks Kevin, that is truly amazing. And, what really caught my attention is how close all 5 are in points. I’ve never been to Europe, except for one business trip to London [no radio] in the late 90’s, but Mike, KD5KC, tells me that, whereas 20 meters is our money band, 40 meters in Europe is a zoo of stations.
NEWS:
Etienne, K7ATN, reminded me of the MT’s 2015/2016 Official SOTA Challenge. This time, it’s 10 and 6 meters. I recommend keeping track of the “weather” in space, it’s pretty easy with the Internet, a good site is
http://www.solar-storm-warning.com/NOAA_Solar_Storm_Space_Weather_Prediction_Center.html
It’s a busy site, but just go to Products and Data, click on Observations in the drop-down and you’ll get a menu. The most interesting to all of us are the Planetary K-index [Kp], GOES X-ray flux, GOES Magnetometer, and possibly the GOES Proton flux.
High values of Kp will put HF in the tank, but could be a real upper for those pursuing a 6 meter challenge. Really active regions on the sun often reappear again. The sun rotates once in about 27 days, and if the region is still active, this might be your chance.
The Pacific Northwest held an S2S Fest with details at pnwsota.org Some very impressive activity was recorded. These regional activities are becoming common, and foster a great deal of camaraderie.
The NA SOTA Weekend [9/13-14] was a huge success last year. Picking dates is tough, a myriad of contests each weekend in the fall/winter, dicey weather in the summer. Elliott, K6EL, reminds us that we need to be discussing dates for 2015. Now is a good time to look at your calendar and enter a discussion on the NA SOTA Group.
EPILOGUE:
An era in Andrea’s and my lives is coming to an end … we’re going to move. We’ve been talking about it for several years but doing nothing.
We live on almost 5 acres in a semi-rural area, our kids all grew up here, and there’s plenty of room for Andrea, “The Kamikaze Gardener,” to plant. Alas, we all accumulate birthdays, and our accumulation is now sufficient that we can’t keep up with the place. Our oldest daughter and husband want to buy it, so we’ve purchased a home in Sparks NV, not far from youngest son and family. We’ll be moving over July and maybe part of August.
Elliott, K6EL, has graciously volunteered to fill in as the NA SOTA Reporter Dude for two months while I deal with uprooting after 38 years and begin again as a citizen of the Silver State. Thank you Elliott!
The report will be missing the statistics, they come from a home-grown Perl script that only I know how to run and really doesn’t belong on Google Play or the AppStore.
We will have a new experience in a Home Owners’ Association although I’m told by new neighbors that this one is fairly benign and benevolent. It will take me awhile to get back on the air, although if you work W7RN in an NAQP, it might be me running remote from home. I’ll be back, I really like keeping up with the SOTA activities, just need to spend some time concentrating on moving.
73,
Skip K6DGW
North American SOTA Reporter Dude
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Congratulations to Scotty KG3W
Good morning Roy, Just wanted to say that I hit the 25K mark as a chaser on June 11th. It will be 3 years chasing in late August of this year. All QRP here and just a 44 ft. doublet at 25 ft. Wish I had a beam but that is not going to happen anytime soon.
All the best ! 72 and 73 de Scotty KG3W
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SOTA AUSTRALIA - from Allen VK3RA
Dave VK4DD became VK4’s first Sloth. In true sloth form it’s taken two years to get there. That may seem a bit slow, but with the majority of the weekend activity being on 40m around the South East Corner of VK, not a lot of those signals get as far as Brisbane at that time of day. Dave VK4DD is also top of the activators list for VK4 but SOTA activity is still a bit slow. Fortunately there are a few new call-signs appearing in the VK4 Activator and Chaser stats pages of the database. Thanks must go to those activators (Phil VK2JDL, Gerard VK2IO and Andrew VK1NAM) that ventured out to West and Central VK2 and further North allowing Dave to achieve Slothdome.
With the slow start to snow season activators have been out taking advantage of the bonus period;
Gerard VK2IO completing a 3-day SOTA trip with 7 activated summits: VK2s CT-004, CT-002, CT-011, CT-001, CT-031, CT-042 and CT-007.
Rik VK3EQ with Mitch VK3XDM have made a pass down Snobs Creek road during the week picking up some Winter Bonus Points. Summits activated included VK3/VN-001, VK3/VN-004, and VK3/VN-005.
Rob VK2QR and Rod VK2TWR are back out playing the goat after a long break again activating across the Alps: VK2/ST-007 , VK2/SM-093, VK2/SM-059 and VK2/ST-001.
With SOTA fully entrenched in the physic activators are taking radio on business and holidays;
Tony VK3CAT is currently in VE and intends to operations from Whistler. Watch for alerts.
There has been a steady stream of VK activations of Ansan HL/SL-008 in Korea by VK activators. Two separate operators Andrew (VK3ARR) HL1ZIH & Glenn (VK3YY) HL1ZIB have escaped winter to experience temperatures around 30 degrees with high humidity. A real change from current VK activations!
Ansan is a relatively small mountain at 296m, is in comfortable reach of Seoul. A absolute target for activators visiting Seoul.
Glenn (VK3YY) HL1ZIB deployed a FT-817ND with small 25 watt amplifier on 15 metres feeding an almost vertical end fed half wave. After a couple of practice runs Glenn qualified the summit with VK contacts: VK4AAC, VK2IO, VK3PF, VK6NU and VK3FQSO.
Ansan, HL/SL-008 Seoul Revisited | VK3YY
Andrew (VK3ARR) HL1ZIH deployed a Buddistick vertical for 10m, using an ATU instead of the supplied coil, and the FT-857, set at around 50W. After calling CQ for a while, he was faced with silence. This was a bit disconcerting for Andrew after a recent WWFF activation of Jimbasan-Takaosan in Japan, where silence ruled, but finally there was a low down VK station. As the QSB took the signal higher and it was revealed to be Tony VK3CAT. They then attempted to confirm the contact but eventually had to give up and wait until conditions improved. Glenn VK3YY then came up confirmed a contact with 21 reports both ways. As Glenn had activated Ansan earlier this gives him a SOTA Complete. The band opened up during the QSO with Glenn, and Tony was able to come back and complete his contact. Shortly afterwards, Ron VK3AFW gave Andrew three VK contacts from the summit. There was suddenly a distinct chance of Andrew being able to qualifying the summit with VKs however conditions were not to stay. The summit was qualified with local contacts HL1SB.
Seoul Summits – HL/SL-008 and HL/SL-006 | VK3ARR's SOTA Blog
Minimalist SOTA or Ultra QRP
John VK2YW qualified Wagra Mountain VK2/RI-003 using a Pixie transceiver. A total of 6 contacts with it VK2, VK3 and VK7 thereby qualifying the summit on CW. He then went on to work the rest with the 817. John is looking forward to doing it again with keyers and possibly of VFO’s being added to the Pixie. Ultimately the intent is to carry the station in a couple of pockets and hike to the top of a summit for activations.
Morialta Conservation Park (VKFF-783)VI5MCP special event station celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Morialta Conservation Park will be operating between the 11th and 26th July - Lots of details of proposed times and bands on my Bobs website - vk5fo.com and the AREG Website - www.areg.org.au.
Allen
VK3HRA
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CW REPORT FOR JUNE 2015 - by Roy G4SSH
The first half of June saw the summer weather finally arrive in EU and the consequent increase in the number of activations, with daily spots exceeding the 200 mark on many days.
These included the unique anniversary call S5100ISONZO active throughout the month by Jurij S57X, multiple activations by Chris CT9/ON6ZQ, Sake DL/PA0SKP, Wolf OE/DL4MHA, Stephan OE/DL1ME, JĂĽrg OE/HB9BIN, Kurt HB9AFI in France, Hans OK/DL6UHA, Dan F/HB9IIO, Bob DL/F5HTR in Germany, Gerald F6HBI, Tof F5UBH, Alain F8FEO, EJ/ON4TA on Aran Island, Hans CT7/PB2T, Tom as HB0/HB9DPR, Cesar as EA4/K1TNT, Geet as DL/PA7ZEE, Andy MM0FMF on his Benelux expedition from PA, LX, F and ON, Vic EI/GI4ONL, David GM0EVV in the WS region, Phil GM4OBK and John GX0OOO in the Lake District.
Saturday the 13th June was the 10th Anniversary of the Swiss SOTA Group and I have never before heard as many HB9 calls active on a single day. I managed to work 16 different HB9 calls on CW only and there were perhaps as many using SSB. It was a magnificent effort on behalf of the Swiss SOTA Group.
The second half of June produced very variable propagation conditions with some bands closed for extended periods and deep QSB. John GX0OOO struggled on an expedition to G/NP-011, recording just 18 contacts for an entire day, with no UK stations on 40m
The annual trips to Friedrichshafen resulted in increased activation from surrounding summits as SOTA enthusiasts travelled to the venue. Rowland G4APO was heard active as SV8/G4APO on the morning of the 18th from SV/IO-002. Hans DL/HB9BQU was very active from Germany, as was Andy DL/HB9JOE, Tom DL/HB9DPR, Mike/KD5KC and Markus DL/HB9BRJ.
Kurt F/HB9AFI did an expedition around the AB region of France, whilst a joint team of Zoli YO2BP and Adrian YO2LIW were active from S5-land and HB/LZ2CWW was active from Switzerland.
Gerald F6HBI, Roger F5LKW, Andre F5UKL & Alain F6ENO were also very active towards the end of the month.
Geert PA7ZEE started an expedition on the 24th taking in DL, OE and HB0 whilst Angel was active as DL/M0HDF, LX/M0HDF and OE/M0HDF.
Marko OH9XX commenced a fishing trip on the 29th with a promise of multiple OH summits for one or two weeks.
73
Roy G4SSH
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THE 2015/2016 OFFICIAL SOTA CHALLENGE
SOTA Activators submitting entries to the data base for 10m and 6m during June 2015 -
This file produced on 30th June 2015 - from Kevin G0NUP.
Mode: SOTA CW on 28MHz: activity for June 2015
DK1WI/P, DL/F5HTR/P, DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL/HB9JOE/P, DL/OE5EEP, DL6AP/P, EA2BD/P, EA2BDS/P, EA2IF/P, EG2UNA, F5LKW/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, F8FEO/P, G4OBK/P, G4OOE/P, GM4OBK/P, GW4TJC/P, HB9/F5HTR/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BRJ/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9CMI/P, HB9CZF/P, HB9SVT/P, HB9TVK/P, K1JD, KT0A, M1EYP/P, MM0FMF/P, MW1EYP/P, N5XL, OE/HB9BIN/P, OE5EEP/P, OK1DVM/P, OK1KT/P, OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2PDT/P, ON6KZ/P, S51RU/P, S52CU/P, VK2IO/P, W6AH
Mode: SOTA CW on 50MHz: activity for June
DL/HB9JOE/P, F5LKW/P, F6HBI/P, G0HIO/P, GW4TJC/P, HB9/F5HTR/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CMI/P, HB9CZF/P, HB9SVT/P, HB9TVK/P, K1JD, K1ZK, KD7WPJ, M1EYP/P, N7CW, N7UN, NN5K, OE5EEP/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2PDT/P, S5100ISONZO, S52CU/P, VK2IO/P, VK2UH/P, W7USA, WB5USB
Mode: SOTA FM on 28MHz: activity for June
DG7ACF/P, GW4TJC/P
Mode: SOTA FM on 50MHz: activity for June
F5LKW/P, F5OZK/P, G4TJC/P, HB9ASV/P, KK4OSG, OE3EMC/P, OE3YSC/P
Mode: SOTA SSB on 28MHz: activity for June
AC4M/P, AE4BL, AE7AP, DB7MM, DB7MM/P, DG7ACF/P, DH7FK/P, DL/HB9FPM/P, DL/OE5EEP, DL/OE5HFM/P, DL/OE9HRV/P, DO1DJJ/P, DO1JC, EA2BD/P, EA2BDS/P, EA2BSB/P, EA2CW/P, EA2DCA/P, EA2ECA/P, EB1CU/P, EB2AOC/P, EB2GKK/P, EC2AG/P, EG2UNA, EJ/ON4TA/P, F/ON7DQ/P, F5LKW/P, G0LGS/P, G0VWP/P, G1INK/P, G4OBK/P, G4OOE/P, G4TJC/P, G8JSM/P, GM4OBK/P, GW4TJC/P, GW6DTN/P, HB9/F5HTR/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9EIV/P, K5RHD, K7ANT, KG5IBL, KI4AAU/P, KJ6NHF, KK4QML/P, KK6QMS, LB8IG/P, M0OAT/P, M1EYP/P, M6EUW/P, M6VAR, MM/VK1MA, MM0FMF/P, MM0YCJ/P, MW1EYP/P, N5XL, OE/HB9BIN/P, OE/S57MS/P, OE5AUL/P, OE5EEP/P, OE5IRO/P, OE5JKL/P, OE5PEN/P, OE5RTP/P, OE7FMJ/P, OE9HRV/P, OK2PDT/P, OM1AWS/P, S52CU/P, S52ON/P, S52Q/P, S55KM/P, S56LXN/P, S57MS/P, SQ9OJN/P, SV3IEG/P, VE6IXD, VK1DI/2, VK1NAM/P, VK1RX, VK2DAG, VK2IO/P, VK2JDL/P, VK2MWP, VK3ERW/P, VK3YY, VK5CZ, W6AH, W7USA, WB7ATA, WB7ENX, YO9IRF/P
Mode: SOTA SSB on 50MHz: activity for June
AE4BL, AE7AP, CT2IUV/P, CT2IWW/P, EA2BSB/P, EC2AG/P, EJ/ON4TA/P, F4ESK/P, F5LKW/P, F5OZK/P, F6HBI/P, G1INK/P, GW4TJC/P, HB9/F5HTR/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9EXF/P, HB9PMF/P, HB9TNF/P, K1JD, K1ZK, K5RHD, K6EL, K7ATN, K7MJC, KD7WPJ, M1EYP/P, M6EUW/P, MW1EYP/P, N6KZ/P, N7UN, NA6MG, NJ7V, OE/S57MS/P, OE1KLA/P, OE3EMC/P, OE3NRC/P, OE3YSC/P, OE5AUL/P, OE5HFM/P, OE5IRO/P, OE5JKL/P, OE5PEN/P, OE5RTP/P, OE5YYN/P, OE9HRV/P, OK/OE3EMC/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2PDT/P, ON7DQ/P, S52CU/P, S52Q/P, S55KM/P, S56LXN/P, S57MS/P, SV2NCH/P, SV2OXS/P, VE6CCM, VE6IXD, VK1DA, VK1DI/2, VK1NAM/P, VK1RX, VK2IO/P, VK2MWP, VK2UH/P, VK5CZ, W6AH, W7TAO, W7USA, WB7ATA, WH6LE, WW7D
Regards
Kevin G0NUP
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SOTA News is normally published on the last day of each month, but there will be occasions when the Editor is not available at this time, in which case it will be published as soon as possible afterwards. It can only be as interesting as the items submitted, so if you think your particular field of interest is not being covered then please submit an article by the 25th of the month. Have you a favourite SOTA? favourite mode? favourite rig, antenna, or favourite band? How did you find your first day / month / year as an activator or chaser? Your comments and experiences will be read by SOTA enthusiasts all across Europe, the USA, Australia and beyond, in a total of 24 different countries. Your input will be most welcome.
I receive many e-mails during the month containing details of activations, milestones reached and general SOTA news. Unless advised otherwise I will use this information in the next edition of SOTA News. It is important therefore that you advise me if any information is not intended for publication.
SOTA News Editor
g4ssh@tiscali.co.uk
U.S. and Canadian reports to:-
Elliott K6AL k6ilm@arrl.net
(Welcome to Elliotte as a Temporary replacement for 2 months for Skip who is moving QTH in July/August).
Australian input to:-
Allen VK3HRA
VK Reporter
arharvie@gmail.com
South African input to:-
Dennis ZS4BS
zs4bs@netactive.co.za