SOTA NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2013
EDITORIAL – by Roy G4SSH
Welcome to the September 2013 edition of SOTA News. My thanks go to the following contributors:- Jim G0CQK, Barry GM4TOE, Rolf HB9DGV, Martin DF3MC, UU4JIM, Paul HB9DST, Chris SM5KRI, Allen VK3HRA, Skip K6DGW, Hans PB2T, Ignacio EA2BD, Juerg HB9BIN, Paul HB9DST, Mark G0VOF, Kevin G0NUP.
NEW ASSOCIATIONS - by Jim G0CQK - SOTA Summits Manager
After a very busy month, with some new association managers and their teams/helpers working their socks off (does that translate outside the UK?) we have a bumper month - 1st September - for new associations. A new US call sign association which is classed as belonging to the Oceania continent, will launch as Hawaii KH6. Follow SOTAwatch for activations from Elliott K6EL who is travelling to the islands to activate on the very first UTC day - mid afternoon local - W6/NC-423 (Mt. Davidson) will be feeling deserted. This is a real opportunity in particular for US chasers pursuing Mountain Hunter awards to ratch up their score. Back on mainland US, W4A Alabama with Joel Black W4JBB as AM and W8O Ohio with Levi Binegar W7AMF as AM will also launch. Then turning everything upside down, we have two new VK associations. VK4 Queensland with Dave Clodd VK4OZY as AM and VK2 New South Wales with Andrew Davis VK1DA/VK2UH as AM will launch This must be the greatest number of new associations launching in any one month so far - maybe South America, Asia or Africa can beat that.
Jim G0CQK
SOTA Summits Manager
SOTA AWARDS - AUGUST 2013 by Barry GM4TOE - Awards Manager
The month of August was, yet again, really busy with claims in all categories of awards. Congratulations to Mountain Goat HB9DST and Shack Sloths SQ8RFM, G3VXJ and N6KZ. Friedrich, DL1FU, is racing along in the Chaser stakes with 75000 points and is there with the other front runners; who will be the first to 100k? Completely out of the blue came two Spanish activators claiming the Gold Mountain Explorer award (EA2DCA and EA2DNO) while very active SOTA activators (and chasers) Martyn and Caroline, M1MAJ and M3ZCB claim the second and third SOTA Complete awards.
Congratulations to all awards claimants on magnificent achievements.
Trophies
Mountain Goat
HB9DST Paul Schreier
Shack Sloth
SQ8RFM Wojciech Jaworski
G3VXJ Robert Rylatt
N6KZ James Zimmerman
Certificates claimed
Activator
HB9CZF Dominik Bugmann 1000 points
HB9CZF Dominik Bugmann 500 points
OE6PKF Kersten Pischler 250 points
VK3YY Glenn Sneddon 250 points
HB9CZF Dominik Bugmann 250 points
OK8CCC Mario Fietz 100 points
GM7GDE Andy Hood 100 points
VK5PAS Paul Simmonds 100 points
IZ5GHD Raffaele Capineri Tosetti 100 points
Activator Unique
HB9CZF Dominik Bugmann 100 summits
Chaser
DL1FU Friedrich Winzer 75000 points
G4WSX John Fogden 25000 points
N4EX Rich Homolya 25000 points
ON4FI Karel Naessens 20000 points
M0IML Barry Vile 10000 points
S52CU Mirko Curk 10000 points
G6LUZ Steve Morgan 5000 points
ON6ZQ Christophe David 2500 points
VK3PF Peter L. Freeman 2500 points
SV2OXS Christos Tzioutzias 1500 points
VK3TCX Ian Hoffman 1000 points
N6KZ James Zimmerman 1000 points
S53EO Milos Oblak 500 points
VK5LA Andy Williss 500 points
NE4TN Walter Beaton 500 points
SQ9KFW Miroslaw Kulawik 500 points
VK5HCF Col Huon 250 points
S56DE Denis Flisar 250 points
NE4TN Walter Beaton 250 points
SQ9MEP Maciej Dziedzic 100 points
Chaser Unique
IK3GER Paolo Corsetti 2500 summits
W0MNA Gary Auchard 1000 summits
SQ8RFM Wojciech Jaworski 250 summits
Mountain Explorer
EA2DCA Alberto Diaz Gold
EA2DNO Iratxe Urizar Gold
HB9CZF Dominik Bugmann Bronze
Mountain Hunter
SQ8RFM Wojciech Jaworski Gold
Summit to Summit
S52CU Mirko Curk Silver
VK1NAM Andrew Moseley Bronze
SV2OXS Christos Tzioutzias Red
SQ9OJN Bartosz Cuber Red
SOTA Complete
M1MAJ Martyn Johnson 100 summits
M3ZCB Caroline Blackmun 100 summits
This month provided me with a real headache. Early on I was advised that there was a file placed on the website which contained a trojan virus if clicked, this was removed but shortly afterwards the site was subject to a vicious phishing attack and the only way to overcome this was for the site to be taken down and disinfected by the hosting company and then a clean copy installed from my backup held elsewhere. This meant the site was unavailable for a number of days while I tried to ensure that all things were secure again. No orders were lost and, hopefully, things are back to normal.
Once again I have had several orders which could not be processed. The ordering system is geared to using Paypal as the main payment gateway as this allows for payment in your local currency and means that I am not involved with processing credit cards. There is an alternative option to pay by cash, direct payment into the SOTA bank account or by cheque; this last option is really only of use to somebody with a UK bank account. Can I ask that when you check out of the site you ensure you have been directed to the Paypal site for payment otherwise I cannot process your claim unless you send payment to me directly.
The other problem I face is the claimant’s records not being on the database – unless you upload your log to the database you cannot claim an award. No exceptions, that is the way it is!
Now, who is looking for a new challenge? The Management Team have been approached with a proposal to introduce an award geared specifically to operations in the microwave bands (23cm and up). Some basic 10GHz equipment may be available, on-loan, to anybody who would be interested in taking up this challenge. If this rings your bell then please email me direct (gm4toe “at†btconnect.com) so that I can assess the potential interest in such an award. Although the equipment will only be available in the UK the award will be available to any participant – both activator and chaser – anywhere with a valid SOTA Association. I know of several activators who would be keen to take up this challenge, are you one of them?
That is just about it for this month. The weather is fairly settled here in the Cairngorms so hopefully we will have a spell of fine autumnal weather with some good tropo propagation for those of us with an interest in VHF operating. If the sun plays ball perhaps there will be enhanced HF propagation too. Meanwhile, for activators in the Northern hemisphere, it is time to check that you are properly equipped for the coming winter and the bonus season.
Be safe on the hills
73
Barry GM4TOE
SOTA Awards Manager
SOTA News also congratulates the following:-
Don G0RQL on passing the 40,000 Chaser points milestone.
Karel ON4FI for achieving more than 20.000 chaser points.
Dave N5XL on gaining Shack sloth on the 4th August, to become only the 4th Sloth in W7A.
Jim N6KZ on gaining Shack Sloth on the 21st August, to become only the 5th Sloth in W7A.
Roger F5LKW on gaining Mountain Goat
Hans HB9BQU on gaining Mountain Goat
Mike 2E0YYY for reaching his 250th SOTA activation on SP-013 on the 27th August.
Walt G3NYY who also reached 250 activations on the 27th August.
Paul HB9DST on gaining Mountain Goat
Jimmy M0HGY completed 500 activations- Slemish GI/AH-007, 20th August 2013.
Rolf HB9DGV is active from Gozo between the 22nd August and 8th of Sepember.
From UKRAINE by UU4JIM
Congratulations to Victor EN7JHF (UU7AX) who was first in Ukraine to reached 100 Activator points in Crimean mountains! This is big result for our area with average point rate 3.75, and all SSB/QRP contacts!
http://cqdx.com.ua/download/P7210023.JPG
Keep listening Victor on 24.947 SSB
SOTA-DL by Martin DF3MC
All summits in SOTA-DL’s region AM (Ammergauer Alpen) have now been activated.
In the beginning of 2013 only four summits of the DL/AM - region never had seen a SOTA-activation. All of them require considerable mountaineering skills.
In June Frank, DJ2FR climbed to the top of Geiselstein, DL/AM-028. This 1881 m high summit sometimes is called the “Matterhorn of the Ammergauer”, resembling the Swiss mountain both in form and in steepness.
In August there was a long and stable period of warm and sunny weather and the remaining mountains were conquered within 2 weeks.
Vorderscheinberg, DL/AM-018 is quite remote and exposed, it was reached in a bike-and-hike tour by Martin, DF3MC.
Hoher Straußberg, DL/AM-029 was the target of an expedition of Wolfgang, DL4MHA. There is no well-marked path up to this mountain - so a lot of orienteering was necessary. Later he also visited Ahornspitze, DL/AM-030.
The final summit again was reached by Frank, DJ2FR, who was successful on Gumpenkarspitze, DL/AM-027 on Aug 18. This summit is visited very seldom - the log-book on top of this mountain dates back to 1968 - and it is filled only half.
Altogether - 16 activators had their share in the first-activations of the Ammergauer Alpen and it took nearly ten years - starting in 2004 - to reach all of the 52 SOTA-summits. Some fotos can be seen on the SOTA-DL website (www.sota-dl-alpen.de).
Good luck to all of you - and vy 73
Martin DF3MC
SOTA SWEDEN - From Chris SM5KRI
SM/VN-004 Hammarshöjden has had restricted access by the military for a long time. I recently received information on this.
This summit has not been activated before so any attempts to access for an activation is at own risk.
There will be a note in the next version of SM ARM regarding access.
I have been very busy with a lot of hard work, no ham radio activity and other commitments. I hope to get some relief and begin the process of updating and adding new peaks in the charts during the coming winter.
The Reference Manual for Sweden is still relevant.
73
SM5KRI Chris
Krister Eriksson
SOTA AUSTRALIA from Allen VK3HRA
Hi all,
It has been a wet and windy couple of weeks but with the end of winter
we are expecting the weather to improve. Whilst there have been quite a
few drenched activations in the last couple of weeks, the enthusiasm has
not declined in-fact the increase of 40M activity is being seen by many
non SOTA players as positive. Whilst a bit hard to quantify, SOTA has to
be contributing to the health of not just the amateurs involved but to
the hobby generally.
The highlight of this month was VK1 celebrating 6 months on Sunday 11th.
The weather started foggy but after that evaporated there was a fairly
calm sunny winters day. Not content to wait for VK2 to be launched, Ed
VK2JI, Rod VK2LAX and Jim VK2LC joined Andrew VK1DA, Ian VK1DI, Glen
VK1FB, Matt VK1MA, Andrew VK1MBE, Mark VK1MDC, Andrew VK1NAM and Al VK1RX qualifying 9 VK1 summits.
There were with more S2S contacts than you could poke a stick at and on
completion of the mornings activations the majority of VK1 activators
reappeared at a cafe back in Canberra and enjoyed a late lunch whilst
having a good chinwag. By all reports a great day was had by all.
Looking forward, the much anticipated launch of VK2 (New South Wales)
and VK4 (Queensland) both on Sep 1st will only add to the activity. This
will bring nearly 1500 additional summits and a yet unknown number of
new activators and chasers. If the increase of activity as additional
associations are launched are any indication, 40M will not be big enough
for all the activity. Other bands have to be addressed to cover the
distances involved.
VK4 launches with over 400 summits and Dave Clodd VK4OZY as Association
Manager. VK2 launches with over nearly 1100 summits and Andrew Davis
VK1DA/VK2UH as Association Manager. There are far to many involved to
mention here and not wanting to miss people, congratulations goes out to
all involved with bringing more SOTA fun to us, your efforts are
appreciated.
Plans are already being formulated for a big launch.
So as the available regions and experience increases combined with
improving weather, expect more adventurous activations.
Three new sloths in the one day is a good indication of how healthy the
SOTA project is here in VK. The three new Shack Sloths, including one
claiming the title of first for VK2 are, Andrew VK2UH, Tony VK3CAT and
Ian VK3TCX
with three new activators,
Terry VK3UP
Colin VK5HCF
Glen VK1FB
100 Point Activators,
Ian VK5CZ
Al VK1RX
Paul VK5PAS
100 Point Chasers,
Mike VK3XL
Phil VK3BHR
Brian VK5FMID
Expect greater activity from down under.
73’s
Allen
VK3HRA
CANADA / U.S. REPORT - by Skip K6DGW
Hi All from North America,
SOTA continues to grow here in the New World, this month’s news includes
four new Associations: W4T-Tennesee; W4K-Kentucky; W9-Illinois,
Indiana, Wisconsin; and W8M-Michigan [I don’t think all of them made the
statistics this time, the database will catch up for September].
On 1 Sep 2013, the KH6 Association will launch. While Hawai’i is
technically not part of North America [in the radio world, it’s part of
the “made-up continent” of Oceania], we’re going to claim it, at least
for now. Hawai’i does not observe Daylight Saving Time [good for
them!], and someone commented that “Hawai’i time” is UTC-10, similar to
central KL7. Having spent a number of vacations on Maui when our
daughter lived there, “Hawai’i Time” is also slang for “whenever.”
STATISTICS: Note that I was forced to submit the July report quite
early due to our granddaughter’s softball tournament schedule, and
consequently, the last month numbers in brackets don’t really mean much
this month.
NORTH AMERICA TOTALS
Total Activations: 404 [28]
Nr Unique Activators: 123 [19]
Total Chaser QSOs: 5215 [1056]
Nr Unique Chasers: 200 [95]
Total Summits Activated: 1221 [28]
Unique Summits: 380 [27]
2m: 177 (3%) [26]
6m: 3 (0%) [0]
10m: 0 (0%) [0]
12m: 22 (0%) [2]
15m: 62 (1%) [10]
17m: 118 (2%) [15]
20m: 3772 (72%) [762]
30m: 185 (3%) [30]
40m: 873 (16%) [211]
60m: 0 (0%) [0]
80m: 0 (0%) [0]
160m: 2 (0%) [0]
Unk: 1
CW: 3442 (66%) [607]
SSB: 1592 (30%) [423]
FM: 177 (3%) [26]
AM: 0 (0%) [0]
Data: 0 (0%) [0]
Other: 4 (0%) [0]
Unk: 1
Our 123 unique activators managed an average of 3.28 summits apiece.
What isn’t obvious from these numbers is that in many cases, a given
activator put more than one summit on the air in a single UTC day. The
number of S2S contacts is rising rapidly too.
For the 200 unique chasers, the mean number of QSO’s is 26. I’m not
quite sure how we got 1,221 Total Summits Activated out of 404 Total
Activations, it’s on my list to look into my program.
CW QSO’s made up 2/3 of the total, and 20m still leads the bands by a
very large fraction, however 40m is beginning to step up which is good
for the closer-in chasers.
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS:
Barry, N1EU, has become a Super Sloth with 10,000 chaser points !!], an
outstanding achievement. Makes one wonder what percentage of all NA HF
activations do NOT have Barry in the log.
Gary, W5ODS, made it to Shack Sloth in the middle of the month.
Dave, N5XL, reports becoming the #4 Shack sloth in the W7A Association.
He coupled that with 17 S2S contacts on Saturday, 3 Aug.
Congratulations to all!
NEWS:
Regarding the new W8M Association, Dave, N8LBF, the Manager reports:
“SOTA’s newest Association, W8M, is now active. The new Association,
covering 97 summits in two regions in the US state of Michigan, will
regionally complement the W9 Association just to our west. Like W9, W8M
encompasses the awesome Great Lakes, with some summits offering special
vistas of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, in particular. A number of
summits actually are on islands within the Great Lakes - North Manitou
Island, South Manitou Island, and Isle Royale. In the heart of Lake
Superior, the latter is the US’s most remote National Park, and it’s
four summits should be very rare catches for Chasers (not to mention
high adventure for activators, as well).”
This will likely be over before you read this but KH7AL, KH6/K6EL, and
what is billed as a “surprise operator” will be operating from
KH6/OH-025 on the island of Oahu on Sunday, 1 Sep, opening day for the
KH6 Association. There are strong rumors of one or more activations
from the island of Hawai’i also [see bottom].
REPORTS: I have a huge number of reports and it’s impossible to publish
all of them. Todd, W7TAO, is the pick this month, a short description
how Dad and his kids got some time together on a SOTA expedition:
“THANK YOU CHASERS! The boys and I returned safely last night from our
5 day SOTA Expedition. We activated six 8-point peaks then woke up to
cold driving rain yesterday with no end in sight so we hiked out one day
early. Even though we were over 7 miles from the trailhead and many
miles from the nearest town, it was great to know that help was only a
call away thanks to this great SOTA community. Everyone was extremely
supportive in updating my alerts, posting reference numbers and even
sending a welfare message home to my family. Big thanks, what a great
group of hams.”
“Activations were a blast thanks to strong signals this week. In fact,
I would say that many of you were “Goat Chair” copy. See the first
photo in this set for proof:
Horseshoe Basin | Flickr”
TU es 73,
Todd, Baker, Boyd and Briggs
W7TAO"
And, with the activation of the KH6 Association, NA SOTA will claim a
new first. A little background – Some mountains just “look like
mountains,” you know – like kids draw with crayons … Kilimanjaro for
example, Hood, Ranier, Shasta in the Northwest and N. California all
come to mind. Mountains that rise in near isolation from the
surrounding terrain and make you want to say, “Now THAT’s a mountain!”
On the other hand, W6/SN-001 is the highest point in the contiguous 48
states however from a distance, it’s almost impossible to pick it out
from its neighbors, almost as high. Denali, highest in NA, is easier,
but it is still part of a very large and high mountain range system.
We already have elevation and prominence in our vocabulary, if we define
“tallness” as the difference between the elevation of the peak of a
summit and the general elevation of the terrain from which it rises, the
new KH6 Association will take the prize. Mauna Kea rises from the
flat-ish floor of the Pacific, almost in isolation, almost 11,600 meters
[38,000+ feet]. Should there be “tallness” points in SOTA as well as
elevation points? :-))
73,
Skip K6DGW
Canada/US SOTA Reporter Dude
SOTA FROM ESTONIA by Hans PB2T
A group of 80 young radio amateurs from 15 different countries gathered in Tartu Estonia for the Youngsters on the air 2013 event from 5-12 August. As IARU Region 1 President I was invited to attend the final presentations and I used this opportunity to activate two of the three Estonian summits. Estonia is on the SOTA program since 2012, but so far no SOTA activity has been reported.
A few weeks before my trip I contacted the Estonian SOTA manager Gary ES1WST an American living there. His US call sign is WS4T. Gary told me that when he set up the program he was dreaming of hiking a bit there, but that because of other commitments he did not activate a peak yet. Gary sent me the Association Reference Manual that for some reason is not available on the SOTA website. Being a resident of another flat country I liked reading Gary’s document that gives a good background on the Estonian summits.
On the day of my arrival I checked in at the hotel in Tartu, said hello to my hosts and drove an hour to the South. Kuutsemägi ES/ES-002 is a small ski resort. There was a big party going on at the bottom of the ski slopes. Lots of people, cars, tents, music and beer. I was waived through at the gate and started my ascent to the top, where ski lifts come together. I set up my Elecraft KX3, DX-wire 10 meter mast and attached the PAR EndFedz EFT-10/20/40 trail friendly antenna. ES6/PB2T/P made a disappointing 19 QSO’s, which isn’t a lot for a first time activation. Blame it on conditions and antenna? Not after the QSO with VE1WT. It must have been the time of the day. Most of you were having dinner I think. With all the mosquitoes and nasty bugs on the summit I didn’t want to stay until you were back in the shack. It was interesting to notice that after spotting myself, I got responses even before my first CQ.
On Sunday I played with the idea to go to the highest Estonian spot Suur Munamägi, but decided to leave this activation for Gary.
On Monday I headed back to Tallinn airport with a stop at Emumägi ES/ES-003 166.6 m asl, the highest peak in Northern Estonia. From the small carpark it was an easy walk of 300 meters up the hill. There is a small park with an observation tower. The entrance fee is 80 Eurocents. Change for the 20 Eurobill I presented was no problem. The 21.5 meter high wooden observation tower with 115 steps was used to support my antenna. In less than two hours ES4/PB2T/P made 70 contacts mainly on 20 meters. Surprisingly there were no contacts on 40, just two on 30 and one on 12 (for which I put up the 12 meter endfed), a S2S with HB9BCB/P.
73
Hans PB2T
ACTIVATIONS IN SPAIN - by Ignacio EA2BD
Hello Dear SOTA friends,
Some months ago, during May and June 2013 I had to reduce my SOTA activities, both as a chaser and especially as activator. The strong work load of upgrading my engineering bachelor degree forced me to devote less time to SOTA than I had previously given.
Being a teacher here in Spain, the arrival of my summer holidays meant that I could spend more time and recover my “SOTA-shapeâ€, so in July and August I traveled around Spain and took the chance to activate some mountains in associations far from where I live.
I took my homebrew Vertical SOTA whip, which is purposely made compact enough to fit in my suitcase and composed of a collapsible fish pole 58 cm long, plus wires, center coil and base feeder. Such compact equipment makes my wife very happy as in the past I used to travel with much more ham gear, hi hi.
In July I activated EA3/TA-007 in the Mediterranean coast. It is so delightful to find a way to climb up in an unknown mountain and to be able to set up and operate by the sea side, well, some meters far above… It was nice to meet again with some frequent chasers and hear the familiar dit dah’s of a SOTA activation.
In August we traveled to Andalucia, in southern Spain and I activated for the first time the summit of Plata, EA7/CA-017 where it was rather difficult to find the way up; with little information for climbers available on the web. I finally started climbing next to a coastal lighthouse and walked through an eucalyptus forest and was somewhat surprised to find myself in such a lovely green area, as I had expected a much more desolate place, due to the hot weather climate there.
Mid way to the summit I was delighted so see an eagle sat on a stone some meters ahead. I stopped walking and we observed each other for a while. What would he have thought of me, carrying a fish pole on my back so far from the sea?
I reached the summit and again I enjoyed exchanging with my sota friends.
To finish with my long summer, I activated some more summits in late August, including a repeat of EA1/BU-046 for the second time this year. Last year’s experience was real frustrating; when I arrived in the summit I discovered my pole had fall out of my rucksack and I could just hold a wire in my mountain sticks, which enabled me to obtain a few QSO’s. This year I arrived with all my gear in place and had a normal activation.
My last summit was the activation of EA1/BU-023 in HF, which had never been done before on those bands. It was a 50 minutes stay only, as a dense cloud formed on the summit and it quickly became very wet, but I had time enough to exchange both SSB and CW contacts on 20 meters.
A couple of mountaineers arrived there during my activation and I briefly explained what I was doing. Although I talked to them about ham experience I felt inadequate in some way; how could I explain to them the joy I obtained when in every activation, I meet with my friends in so many different countries, ready and waiting to chase me and others?
It has been a pleasure to have so many S2S QSO’s this summer, although I found the propagation to be quite variable at times. On some summits I transmitted on the 40m band when I had spare time because it is the only way to work my EA friends, where higher frequencies have a longer skip.
All these activations raised my Mountain explorer status to Bronze level. I will need to travel abroad now to upgrade to the next level.
Thanks to all who chased me and I hope to keep my steady summit activation rhythm going.
Now back at work…
VY 73 es CU. Take care
Ignacio EA2BD
From Jürg HB9BIN
Dr Roy
On the 24th July 2013 myself and HB9BQU (Hans) were on the highest mountain in Europe (Üsseres Barrhorn HB/VS-078) that you can walk up without climbing. The altitude is 3610 Meter. HB9BQU had a QSO with you on 30M. Then we walked to HB/VS-092. From this one I had a QSO with you on 40M. And this summit, HB/VS-092 was my 500 unique! Both activations were first activations (uniques). We only did a few QSO’s due to the sudden wx-change from good to bad
Here is the report, translated by Google.
73 de HB9BIN, Jürg
The initial SOTA activation of the highest mountain in Europe, activated by HB9BQU and HB9BIN - by Dr. Jürg Regli, HB9BIN.
Hans, HB9BQU and I have known for years of the Upper Aargau USKA section, HB9ND, a SOTA Tour and the recruit in the military as a classified secret “Morse stronghold” Jassbach. Individual “knights” of that time (HB9AFH, HB9BAB, HB9BAT, HB9BHW, HB9CMI, etc) after their military discharge with their Morse knowledge were attracted to joining in the SOTA program where their CW skills were resurrected. Order without Morse knowledge does not deter any newcomers; I wish to emphasize that many SOTA QSO SSB radio operators only drive.
For a year we both discussed activating the Ãœssere Barrhorn in the Summits on the Air (SOTA) program. SOTA is a worldwide popular program among amateur radio operators, where stations are operated from mountain peaks on UHF, VHF or shortwave radio.
Our Goals.
Our first destination was the Üssere Barrhorn Turtmanntals at the end of the canton of Valais, which with 3610 meters above sea level is the highest mountain in Europe. Secondly, we wanted to ascend the Schöllihorn with a height of 3500 m above sea level, which is near the Üsseren di-rectly Barrhorn. The beautiful Summer of 2013 allowed us to realize our dreams on 24/07/2013. Added to this was a further motivation in that no SOTA has been activated from these two peaks. Performing Erstaktivierungen in Switzerland is becoming increasingly difficult. Due to the increasing popularity of the SOTA program most of the summits have already been activated in this country by a radio operators on VHF / UHF or HF. Only for alpine climbers, it has still many open Erstaktivierungsmöglichkeiten in the cantons of Bern, Graubünden and Valais.
As part of the SOTA program every mountain has a unique reference which identifies it to the chasers and which is constructed as follows: First comes the Lan-deskennung, followed by the canton, and a sequential number for each SOTA mountain. The Üssere Barrhorn carries the SOTA reference HB/VS-078 and Schöllihorn HB/VS-092. Both mountains are for the climbers (Activators) but also for the amateur radio operator at home (Chaser), which credits 10 points for a QSO.
The difficulty of the hike
In the Alpine hiking area all mountains are divided into six categories T1 to T6, where T1 is the easiest and T6 is the most demanding classification. The Ãœssere Barrhorn is classified with T3 +. Under T3 refers alpine hiking on a white-red-white marked path. This was always marked clearly visible. The plus sign stands for an exposed location. On the way to Ãœsseren Barrhorn this is at an altitude of 2641 meters above sea level and is called “Gässi”. Although this steep route is secured with several fixed steel cables, one should be careful of heights, and crush proof of the commission. To my mind you would when entering a calm or two fixed steel cables can install more.
The Turtmannhütte
Most useful as you climb the Ãœssere Barrhorn hikers by dividing the rise for two days and stayed in the Turtmannhütte. This is at an altitude of 2519 meters above sea level It can be reached depending on the pace in two to three hours from the parking lot at the end of Turtmanntals. The specification of an hour on the website of Turtmannhütte’s probably a bit unrealistic for regular hikers. Also, the official figure of 2 hours on the yellow hiking sign is sized just for amateur radio operators with full pack and radio equipment.
For me, this was the first two-day hike with an overnight stay in a SAC hut had reserved by phone at Hans for us. This was also urgent because the cabin was full. As a teacher I liked the tight regime of SAC hut as the prohibition of wearing the shoes in the mountain hut, the fixed allocation table at dinner and a night’s rest by 22 clock. It would be nice if I could enforce them even with my students Canton / interior project in weeks.
We chose the first option breakfast at 05.00 and started our hike at 0615. A short time later we passed the “Gässi” and arrived around noon the tip of the Ãœssere Barrhorn. I did not have to use crampons. The snow had mostly melted.
Our radio operation
During the ascent of the weather had changed from good to bad. Upon reaching the summit, it started to drizzle. It was cold and very windy. The Ne cable and the clouds prevented the view of the immense glaciers and more than 25 four-thousand, which is by Üsseren Barrhorn normally sees. Because of the cold, we moved quickly to warmer clothes and gloves. Due to the bad weather conditions we decided to 30 yards to spark because there according to experience failure on the pileups less than 40 meters. Hans fortified its 30 meter dipole at the summit cross, cabled his Yaesu FT-817ND with tuner and began to spark. Since I had problems with wearing my new 60 liter backpack, I left my radio equipment including PC back in Turtmannhütte. After half an hour we broke us up and I began to keep a paper log for the first time since the beginning of my three-year SOTA time.
As we had announced in our Erstaktivierungen at SOTA reflector, it was impossible because of the bad weather, the huge pileup worked off. After half an hour I could not grope for cold hands with the bow. It was like in the winter. We apologize to all frustrated chasers, which did not get through the pileup. After about an hour we stopped with sparks, because we wanted to have the nearby Schöllihorn at 3500 meters above sea level erstaktivieren. There the wind conditions were more difficult. Worse was to come, as there was only a small rock pile and no real attachment for an antenna on the top. So I held the GfK masts and Hans spanned a 40 meter dipole in around 10 meters height. We opted for the QRG of 7.032 MHz, as we in the SOTA reflector could not mock us because of the lack of mobile-phone reception. This frequency is monitored during the day and is where there are most chasers listening. If it is free it takes only a few minutes until you are discovered and spotted as a chaser.
It stuck! One always had to hold the poles, so that the other could spark because of the strong winds. Again, it was impossible to completely work through the pileup.
For me, the sparks from Schöllihorn had a special significance, since it was my first ascent of 500 SOTA mountain. It was a very special moment when the SOTA Award Manager Barry, GM4TOE on a GM SOTA trip to Scotland I had the corresponding diploma handed over personally for me this week. Single men need diplomas or rankings, and other women do not (Note my XL)!
Our return
Who travels a lot in the mountains knows that the descent of the condition forth is feasible in number. First, you need a rule of thumb for only half the time of ascent. Climbing the mountain secondly always gives me so much strength and the activation from the summit so much satisfaction that I have always managed to descend until now. Moreover, thirdly, that after a certain time you reach a point where you just marches, no matter how long it will take to reach the car or the train station. In our case, nor was the fact that the weather in the late afternoon went from bad to very good again. So we reached according to GPS after 14 hours, and 25 km at 20:15 and drove the car back safely alternately home. I now retain many positive memories and new experiences despite the abrupt change of weather.
My thanks and wish
Finally, I thank Hans HB9BQU, very much for the use of his radio equipment and for monitoring on our second tour. Under DX-ren wont you to ask “Where do you go next?” We really do not know yet, but it will certainly not be our last SOTA Tour and in the meantime I have purchased a lighter radio.
On my last HB radio article about the ascent of the SOTA volcanoes on Lanzarote a year ago, I managed to win at least another amateur radio operator for the SOTA program. He at the time was outed after Publizie-tion by e-mail to me and to this day according to the SOTA database world’s most QSOs made or well over 3,500 points for the corresponding under-mountain Activators (S2S QSOs) Diploma collected. If I have succeeded with the application of this Article, to win another amateur radio operator for the SOTA program, perhaps the antenna damaged and / or a few surplus pounds carries around, then have the new one and I reached the goal. He will start ERS take and I may have gained a new memo member for the club SOTA Switzerland. One does not begin with the same climbing volcanoes or hiking the highest mountain in Europe yes!
73
Dr. Jürg Regli, HB9BIN
SOTA ON TOP BAND - Mark G0VOF
Hello everyone & welcome to this month’s edition of SOTA on Top Band.
August was a quieter month for Top Band activations with only two activators venturing on to the band.
As mentioned in last months News, John G4YSS spent the last few days of July in North Wales & after activating a few lower summits he paid another visit to GW/NW-001 Snowdon on the morning of Thursday 1st August. Unfortunately for me, despite an email from Roy G4SSH the night before I didn’t open my email or check Sotawatch until I was about to leave for work so although I did manage to hear John on 80m CW I missed him completely on Top Band.
Others were more fortunate & despite John running QRP this time, he made two QSO’s on 160m using CW with several more on 80m & 40m. I would have bee interested to see if I could hear John using 5 Watts as I have chased him on Snowdon before when he was running QRO. My normal HF loop antenna may well have been too noisy but I may have made it using my 50ft vertical.
As with all John’s activations he has provided a very comprehensive activation report, which can be found here:
http://secure-web.cisco.com/auth=11LKgPPuR6fSCTpRWKyD3XLr3aAo56&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sotawatch.org%2Freflector.php%3Ftopic%3D8412
Thanks for the excellent report John & my apologies for missing you!
The next activator to give the band a try was Klaus DF2GN/P during an activation of DM/BW-228 Hummelsberg. This took place on the evening of Friday 2nd August & this time I was in the shack waiting for him. Top band was very noisy here in Blackburn, with both QRM & QRN & try as I might I just could not pull any of Klaus’s signal out of the noise. It seems I was not alone, as Klaus did not manage any QSO’s on the band. As well as the heavy QRN there was also a powerful LA station calling for DX very close in frequency, which didn’t help matters. Fortunately for those who stayed around, Klaus QSY’d to 80m CW, which was much better although still noisy, before giving 20m & 30m a try.
Klaus later realised he had made a fundamental error when setting up his antenna, but I will let you read about that for yourselves as Klaus has added a very detailed activation report to the topic below. Scroll down to his post dated 3rd August:
http://secure-web.cisco.com/auth=11VIV64eVsOYzhfFb4tSZMeFEXnw_P&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sotawatch.org%2Freflector.php%3Ftopic%3D8044
Thanks for the report Klaus & very nice to work you on 80m CW despite the antenna problem Hi!
Klaus again tried 160m during his activation of DM/BW-156 Lindenberg on the evening of Sunday 4th August but without any takers. He did however have a very successful activation using all bands between 80m & 20m. A report on this activation using a different type of antenna can be found further down the topic above, dated 4th August.
Thanks again Klaus!
And thanks to both John & Klaus for giving 160m a try this month!
At the time of writing, those were the only Top band activations during August that I am aware of, if I have missed any others please let me know.
On 1st August, John G4YSS (Using GC0OOO/P) activated G/NW-001 Snowdon & made 2 QSO’s using CW.
As always, If you do have any suggestions on things that you think should be included, or if you wish to contribute tips, ideas or anything else that you think may help others on the band please email them to me at mark@brownhill.demon.co.uk
Until next month,
Best 73,
Mark G0VOF
I got my Edelweiss Award – How close are you? by Paul HB9DST / AA1MI
This year, the Swiss SOTA Group HB9SOTA has introduced an attractive series of diplomas to reward those who have worked at least two summits in all of the cantons/half-cantons in the country. There are three categories: Activator, Chaser and SWL.
There are three levels of awards based on the number of cantons you work, all three being named after mountain wildflowers:
- Alpenrose (6 cantons)
- Enzian (14 cantons)
- Edelweiss (25 cantons)
To check your status and/or claim your award, go to the HB9SOTA website (www.hb9sota.ch), click on the “HB9SOTA diploma” link, set the “activator” or “chaser” radio button, enter your callsign into the field and click on “check”. The fee for a diploma certificate (sent electronically) for non-members is CHF 10.00 (no charge for members of HB9SOTA), and banking details are provided on the information sheet that you can download on the awards page.
Personally, I have focused my energies this year on earning my Edelweiss Activator, which I recently completed, being the first to do so (Edelweiss Activator #1). I also examined my list of “top activation chasers” who have worked me during my activations, and many of you are quite close if not over the top (status as of 30 August, early evening):
Edelweiss: DL1FU and DL2KAS
Enzian: DK7ZH (needs 1 more for Edelweiss), G4SSH (needs 1 more), DJ5AV (needs 2 more), DF5WA (needs 2 more), DL3HXX (needs 3 more), OM1AX (needs 3 more), ON4FI (needs 4 more) and PA0SKP (needs 9 more).
Congratulations to DL1FU and DL2KAS for the sweep, and I expect many others will join them soon.
Things to keep in mind about the program:
-
Only summits after January 1, 2013, are valid.
-
Normally you need 2 summits from a given canton. There are a few things, though, to note:
a. The Canton of Geneva has no SOTAs (it’s too flat). So, when you work 2 summits in all the other cantons, you get this one as a freebie.
b. One canton, Basel Stadt, has only one SOTA, so you must work HB/BS-001.
c. Two cantons, Schaffhausen and Zug, each have only two SOTAs, so you must work all of these: HB/SH-001, HB/SH-002, HB/ZG-001 and HB/ZG-002.
d. Of the remaining cantons, one where you will hear relatively little activity from is the Canton of Uri. Although it has many SOTAs, the majority are quite difficult to access and only a few are “readily” accessible. Specifically, of the 74 summits in Uri, 58 have never been activated, and only one summit has been activated more than twice. Keep your ears open for HB/UR-xxx.
In earning my Edelweiss Activator award, I found it almost as satisfying as getting my Mountain Goat; there are few really easy summits in Switzerland. Even many of the 1- and 2-pointers can take significant effort. Meanwhile, I wish all of you good luck in earning this award!
73
Paul HB9DST / AA1MI
THE VIEW FROM THE NORTH 56 - by Rob and Audrey G4RQJ
This month’s activity will turn out to be quite a short tale as will be explained later!
Firstly the recipients of our little “G4RQJ all GD Summits Award 2013†have been extracted from the logs and their certificates are in the post. Only nine winners this year, band conditions did not help. The successful ones were G6LKB, M6LKB, G4BLH, G4ZRP, MW3PZO, G6ODU, 2E0XYL, G1OHH, EA2DT. All but one are fairly local VHF chasers EA2DT being the only one outside the UK. This reflects the poor state of the HF bands during several of the activations. Slieau Freoaghane being particularly bad with no HF contacts in spite of an hours calling on one visit!
N4EU came close with four out of the five but Slieau Freoaghane eluded him on both trips. We’re booked for next year so there should be another chance.
The following Sunday was taken up with a family visit to London so it was Sunday 8th Aug when w got out to activate little Muncaster Fell This is always a nice little walk from the car park at the Castle. Non SOTA members may prefer the Castle gardens and house tours. Muncaster claims to be the home of Court Jesters having a chap called Tom Fool who was the first one. His party trick was to sit beside the road and chat to passing travellers. If he did not like them he would direct them onto the paths across the sands of the estuary with fatal results. This was of course the beginnings of reality television. Our path is a long straight bridle way (honestly) that starts from the main road a few hundred yards on the Barrow side of the car park at a sharp up hill bend and leads up hill, eventually past a pretty man made tarn on the left and out onto the open fell with the little peak straight in front of you. No shelter on the top but it’s reasonably pointy and so easy to get out of any breeze by hiding down the appropriate side. HF conditions made for deep qsb and 7MHz wouldn’t work at all but a decent haul on the rest. VHF can be hard work from here but today was rather better than usual with quite a few stations south of Black Combe making it into the log.
This week the fun started! On the way home from the radio club we had to stop suddenly as a hooded black clad unlit cyclist shot across our bows. We stopped, the chap behind nearly managed to. The cyclist of course vanished into the gloom.
We decided on nothing too adventurous for Sunday 18th so had a go at Dent (no pun intended) Nice walk up but a cool breeze on top needing coats for a long stay. A lot of coast to coast walkers passing through so a lot of chats and some Australians took photos presuming this was a particularly English form of stupidity. Towards the end a lady arrived, addressing us by name which quite fooled us until she identified herself as Liz M6EPW who lives close by. She accompanied us on the descent for a very pleasant chat. Nice to meet you in person Liz.
This week the insurance roared into action, carted our car off to Kendal, best part of 30 miles for repair and a courtesy car arrived. This turned out to be brand new and much wider than our own car, no great problem apart from the fact that we’re off to Shropshire at the end of the month to attack some of the Welsh Border SOTA’s. Many folk will know that the lanes in Shropshire are almost wide enough for a cyclist to overtake a goat without dismounting providing he can avoid the overhanging brambles or falling off an edge, all of this will be good fun in a brand new, wider than usual hire car.
Saturday morning as we were thinking about getting out of bed a clanking announced the arrival of the builders to replace the house roof. We gave up!
As I write this, Tuesday27th the builders are knocking seven bells out of the roof above and the car is still waiting parts but may be back by Friday, all antennas are down to accommodate the work. The hire car is still as wide. Hope to catch you all next week and at Telford. Look out for the old SOTA tops with old folks inside of them.
Take care out there.
73
Rob and Audrey
G4RQJ
CW REPORT FOR AUGUST 2013 - by Roy G4SSH
The summer holidays are over and many activators have returned to school or university. There was a noticeable reduction in spots during the last week of the month but August 2013 probably saw the greatest number of SOTA spots generated in a single month in the history of SOTA.
Klaus DF2GN continued to delight chasers during August by operating on as many bands as possible whilst experimenting with antennas, often in the dark. From the 14th he commenced activating numerous summits per day using a limited number of bands instead of a single activation lasting many hours.
Jurg HB9BIN took time out from his usual European activations to visit Scotland and was very active as MM/HB9BIN during the first week of August.
Between 18th and 25th August Tom M1EYP and family activated several GI summits during a family holiday in Northern Ireland.
Gerry PA1AT was working the pile up split (up2) from LX-003 on 7030 KHz, and PB2T was heard activating in Estonia as ES4/PB2T giving many chasers a new unique summit and a new country.
The wide band multi-tone which started transmitting on 40m on the 24th July continued to cause QRM between 7028-7033 KHz resulting in many SOTA activators having to move to 7035, 7028, or 7015 KHz. It finally moved away during the first week of August.
Hans HB9BQU activated summits from HB, DL, ON, PA and LX.
SOTA continues to grow, with new activators and chasers appearing almost daily. This is very noticeable at weekends, especially on CW where the sheer number of chasers in the pile up’s have resulted in it becoming increasingly difficult to fully complete a valid QSO with an activator. This is compounded by the RBN spots which bring an instant pile up before the activator has finished his initial CQ call.
The exchange usually goes as follows
CQ SOTA DE DF2ABC DM/BW001 K
G4SSH
G4SSH GM ROY UR 579 BK
R GM Lutz UR 559 73 TU
At this stage I have acknowledged the activators report but I need a simple dit-dit as confirmation that he has received mine. I rarely get this because the chasers in the pile-up hear my 73 then all hell breaks loose as everyone sends their call at the same time. I often have to check the activators log at a later date to confirm the contact as valid.
It is also difficult to hear your own callsign from the activator as the chasers in the pile up become frustrated and begin to tail-end the tail-enders. By the time you hear the activator he is sending a report to an unknown station, prompting a flood of jug handles ???. Some of the more experienced activators such as Juerg HB9BIN repeat the call of the chaser after giving the report, which is much appreciated.
The 12 challenge continued to be very popular with propagation quite unpredictable. Openings on this band were typically brief and unstable. The best plan is to keep checking the band and many activators were heard checking at regular intervals.
As an example of how quickly the band can change - on the 13th, Klaus DF2GN was calling CQ SOTA on 24904 KHz CW for about 20 minutes with not a whisper at my QTH. Klaus then went to 24.945 SSB and shortly afterwards Mick M0MDA reported good sigs from Klaus in Leeds (about 50 miles distant from me). I waited until Klaus had cleared the SSB pile up then worked him cross-mode, with me on CW and Klaus on SSB. Klaus then said he would return to 24.904 CW in a few minutes, where we exchanged reports on CW at 579 both ways.
Thank you to all who expressed concern about the illness of my son. Your kind words were very much appreciated at a difficult time. He is now stabilised and is back at home, albeit with a life expectancy of only 6-12 months. We shall make the most of the time that is left.
SOTA CW ACTIVATORS SUBMITTING ENTRIES TO THE DATA BASE ABOVE 7 MHZ DURING JUNE 2013. By Kevin G0NUP
This file produced on 26/Aug/2013
Mode: CW on 10MHz: activity for August
AD5A, AE5KA, AF9W, DF2GN/P, DF3MC/P, DF8KY/P, DJ2FR, DK1IO/P,
DK4OHA/P, DK6YM/P, DK7MG/P, DL/HB9AGO/P, DL/HB9BQB/P, DL/HB9BQU/P,
DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL/HB9DST/P, DL/OE7PHI/P, DL/ON6ZQ/P, DL2RVL/P,
DL3VTA/P, DL3VTL/P, DL4FCK, DL4MHA/P, DL8DXL/P, DL8MBS/P,
DM3SWD, EA7HAA/P, EO5JFF, ES4/PB2T/P, ES6/PB2T/P, F/HB9AFI/P,
F5LKW/P, F5MNO/P, F5PLC/P, F5SQA, F5UBH/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P,
F8FEO/P, G0HIO/P, G3VQO/P, G3WGN/P, G4ASA/P, G4AZS/P, G4OBK/P,
G4RQJ/P, GM0BPU/P, GM3YTS/P, GW0HIO/P, HA/ON6UU/P, HA2VR/P,
HA5LV/P, HA5MA/P, HA6QR/P, HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BHW/P,
HB9BIN//P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BRJ/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9CPS/P,
HB9DGV/P, HB9DST/P, HB9EWO/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9SVT/P, HB9TVK/P, IK5XCT/P,
IV3RJH/P, K0JQZ, K2UFT, K3EL, K6EL, K7ATN, KB9ILT/0, KR7W, KU6J,
LA1EBA/P, LA8BCA/P, LX/HB9BQU/P, LX/PA1AT/P, M/DK2JK/P, MM/HB9BIN/P,
MM0ROV/P, N1EU, N6JZT, NA6MG, NM5S, NS7P, NX1P/P, OE/DF3MC/P, OE/DK7MG/P,
OE/DL4MHA/P, OE/S52CU/P, OE2SNL/P, OE3CHC/P, OE5EEP/P, OE6RDD/P, OE6SMF/P,
OE7PHI/P, OK/DL8RL/P, OK1CZ/P, OK1DDQ/P, OK1DO/P, OK1DVM/P, OK1LV/P,
OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2BMA/P, OK2BTK/P, OK2HIJ/P, OK2PYA/P, OK2QA/P,
OK2SAM/P, OK2TRN/P, OK2VWB/P, OK3EQ/P, OK4IT/P, OK8DDR/P, OM3CUG/P,
OM6TC/P, ON/HB9BQU/P, ON/PB2T/P, ON4FI/P, OZ/LA1KHA/P, S5/OE6WIG/P,
S52CU/P, S53XX/P, S543EB/P, S57X/P, S57XX/P, SM/LA1KHA/P, SM0GNS/P,
SM0HPL/P, SP/OM3CUG/P, SP/OM4WY/P, SV1COX/P, TK13RNB/P, VA2OTA, VA2SG,
W0VLZ, W6AH, W6UB, W7TAO, W7TR, WB5USB, WD4EXI, WS0TA
Mode: CW on 14MHz: activity for August
AD4IE, AD5A, AE5KA, AF9W, CT1BWW/P, CT1DRB/P, CT7AEZ/P, DF2GN/P, DF3MC/P,
DF8KY/P, DK1IO/P, DK6YM/P, DL/HB9AGO/P, DL/HB9BQB/P, DL/HB9BQU/P,
DL/HB9BRJ/P,
DL/ON6ZQ/P, DL1DXA, DL2XL/P, DL6WT/P, DL8MBS/P, DL8WJM/P, EA1AER/P,
EA1XN/P,
EA2BD/P, EA7HAA/P, EO5JFF, ES4/PB2T/P, ES6/PB2T/P, F5MNO/P, F5SQA, F5UKL/P,
F6HBI/P, F8FEO/P, G0HIO/P, G3NYY/P, G3RDQ/P, G4ASA/P, G4OBK/P, G4RQJ/P,
G6DTN/P, GM0BKC/P, GM0BPU/P, GM3YTS/P, HA/ON6UU/P, HA2VR/P, HA5LV/P,
HA5MA/P,
HB/F4CMC/P, HB9AFH/P, HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BIN//P, HB9BIN/P,
HB9BQU/P, HB9BRJ/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CKV/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9DGV/P, HB9EWO/P,
HB9HVK/P,
HB9IAB/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9TVK/P, I2/HB9IAB/P, IK5XCT/P, IN3/DL1ASA/P,
IZ5GHD/P,
K0JQZ, K1JD, K2UFT, K3EL, K5DEZ, K6EL, K7ATN, K7NEW, K7SO, KB9ILT/0,
KD7WPJ,
KE5AKL, KF4LXB, KK1W, KR7W, KU6J, KX0R, KX7L, LA1EBA/P, LA5XTA/P, LA8BCA/P,
LX/HB9BQU/P, LX/PA1AT/P, M/DK2JK/P, M0IML/P, M1BUU/P, MM/HB9BIN/P, MM0FMF/P,
MW0BBU/P, N0PCL, N1AW, N1EU, N5XL, N6IV, N6IZ, N6JZT, N7RR, NA6MG, ND7PA,
NE1SJ, NM5S, NM5TW, NN5E, NS7P, NX1P/P, OE/DK7MX/P, OE/DL6WT/P, OE/S52CU/P,
OE4UFB/P, OE5EEP/P, OE5EIN/P, OE6PKF/P, OE7PHI/P, OE9AMJ/P, OH6FQI/P,
OK/OE5EIN/P, OK1AXB/P, OK1CZ/P, OK1DO/P, OK1DVM/P, OK1LV/P, OK1MLP/P,
OK2BMA/P, OK2BTK/P, OK2PYA/P, OM3CUG/P, OM4WY/P, OM6TC/P, ON/HB9BQU/P,
ON/PB2T/P, ON4FI/P, S5/OE6WIG/P, S51RU/P, S52CU/P, S53XX/P, S57X/P,
S57XX/P, S58R/P, SM/LA1KHA/P, SM0GNS/P, SM0HPL/P, SP/OM3CUG/P, SV1COX/P,
TK13RNB/P, VA2OTA, VA2SG, VA2VL, VA2VL/W1, VE2TLH, VE2UFT, VE3EMB, VK5CZ,
W0AO, W0CCA, W0VLZ, W1PNS/1, W4EON, W4TZM, W4ZV, W5ODS, W6AH, W6UB, W7TAO,
W7USA, WA7JTM, WA7NCL, WB0USI, WB5USB, WH6LE, WN1E, WS0TA
Mode: CW on 18MHz: activity for August
AE5KA, DF2GN/P, DL/HB9BQU/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, G4ASA/P, HA2VR/P, HB9BCB/P,
HB9BIN//P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BRJ/P, HB9CPS/P, HB9CZF/P, HB9IIO/P,
IK5XCT/P, K3EL, KD7WPJ, KU6J, KX0R, MM0FMF/P, N1EU, N5XL, NA6MG, NM5S,
NX1P/P, OE/S52CU/P, OK1CZ/P, OK1DDQ/P, OK1DO/P, OK1DVM/P, OK1LV/P,
OK1MLP/P,
OK2BDF/P, OK2BMA/P, OK2PYA/P, OM3CUG/P, OM6TC/P, S52CU/P, S57X/P, S57XX/P,
SM0GNS/P
Mode: CW on 21MHz: activity for August
AD5A, DF2GN/P, DK1IO/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, HA5MA/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BQU/P,
K7NEW, KU6J, KX0R, N1AW, NE1SJ, NX1P/P, OE5EEP/P, OK1CZ/P, OK1DVM/P,
OK1MLP/P, OM6TC/P, S52CU/P, SP/OM3CUG/P, VK5CZ, W4ZV
Mode: CW on 24MHz: activity for August
DF2GN/P, DJ5AV/P, DL/HB9BQU/P, DL4MHA/P, EA2BD/P, ES4/PB2T/P,
F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, G4ASA/P, G4AZS/P, G4RQJ/P, G6DTN/P, HA5MA/P,
HB9BCB/P, HB9BIN//P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9CZF/P, HB9TVK/P, K3EL,
K7NEW, KU6J, M1EYP/P, MI1EYP/P, MM0FMF/P, MW1EYP/P, OE/DL4MHA/P,
OE/S52CU/P, OE5EEP/P, OK1DVM/P, OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P, S52CU/P, S57X/P,
VK3CAT/P
Mode: CW on 28MHz: activity for August
F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, OK1MLP/P, S57X/P
CONTESTS DURING SEPTEMBER 2013…
The following scheduled contests are expected to cause severe QRM to SOTA activity, especially on the 40m band. Activators should plan accordingly with alternate spots / bands. This is not a complete list of contests.
7th only 1300-1600 AGCW Straight Key party
7th-8th 0001-2359 All Asia SSB DX contest
8th only 0001-2359 SKCC CW weekend sprint
14th-15th 0001-2359 WAE SSB DX Contest
14th only 0001-2359 FOC CW QSO Party
21st-22nd 1200-1200 Scandinavian CW activity contest.
28th-29th 0001-2359 CQ World-wide RTTY DX contest
SOTA News is normally published around noon UTC 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.
73
Roy G4SSH
SOTA News Editor
g4ssh@tiscali.co.uk
U.S. and Canadian reports to:-
Fred K6DGW [aka “Skip” on the radio]
Canada/US SOTA Reporter Dude
Auburn CA
k6dgw@foothill.net
Australian input to:-
Allen VK3HRA
VK Reporter
arharvie@gmail.com
