I’m interested in SOTA mainly, because I’m interested in portable operation, as this is the only way I can operate. In August I’m traveling to Luxemburg for three weeks to cycle and hike. Now I’m thinking about activation of the summits in Luxemburg and maybe one in France, as we are close to that summit as well.
As I can’t activate in the future, maybe only on vacations, I’m curious if it makes sense to only sporadically activate a summit.
Only operating portable I feel pretty comfortable setting up efficient antennas. I mainly use EFHW, doublets, linked dipoles and sometimes a PAC-12. As a rig I would take may KX-3 160-2 or my IC-705, but more likely the KX-3.
So my question, I is worth doing SOTA, if only a few times a year?
vy 72 Christian DK5CH
YES!
Also if activating only once in a year (in my opinion). You and some chasers will enjoy this.
73, Ludwig
Absolutely Yes!
Not all of us have local hills. Look on the positive side - if you can only get to activate a few times a year, those will be special occasions that you’ll enjoy and remember. Don’t worry about collecting points, there’s many of us that will never reach the fabled ‘goat’ status. But that doesn’t matter at all, SOTA is about personal enjoyment and challenges, its not a competition.
Jonathan
Hi Christian, as a chaser yes we will be vary pleased to work you when and wherever you can activate. SOTA is not a contest but a leisurely activity to be
enjoyed by all. Look forward to working you, do if possible put your alert and spot on sota watch to ensure a good following. 73 Don G0RQL.
Thanks for your encouraging words. So I’ll will do my first SOTA activations in August. As soon as I know, when, I’ll share my plannings and with OUTD Log I should be able to spot myself.
Christian
YES, absoletely worth it, even if it is just a vacation activity!
I bet you will be hooked and over time you will increase your frequency of activations. I don’t know where you are living, but what is holding you back to activate summits around your home QTH?
EDIT: Just checked your qrz entry and I have seen that you live in Essen. Not too many summits for day trips…
73 Heinz
Hello Heinz,
you are right, there are not many summits around, and all require a longer ride, however, we have plenty of COTA locations, which is also nice.
Servus Christian,
As the others have said, yes - it is worth activating a SOTA summit occasionally. There is no time limit on accumulating points to get to the level where a certificate is available. SOTA is your challenge for yourself NOT against others.
If you are interested in COTA, then SOTA is rather similar in that it is not a contest, rather it is whatever you make of it. There are no costs involved to use the wonderful SOTA facilities as you have found with this reflector (Forum/ Notice board). One facility you will use to spot yourself when on the summit is SOTAWatch3 and as well as the spotting page, it also has an alerting page - I would definitely recommend that a few days before your activation, you put up an alert in SOTAWatch3 - it doesn’t have to be totally accurate as you don’t know how long the summit will take to walk up - so it’s common to put something like “weather dependant, Time ± 1 hour” in the comment field.
The main thing is HAVE FUN!
73 Ed DD5LP
A new callsign activating SOTA is always a wonderful thing to see - no less so than a new summit. So from the chaser’s viewpoint - absolutely yes - you will add something for everyone.
For yourself, it’s about your own sense of challenge and enjoyment. So long as it’s fun for you - just do it!
Matt
Hallo Christian,
probiere einmal Deine SOTA Aktivierungen bei Deinem Urlaub in Luxenburg aus. Wenn es Dir gefällt warten auch im Sauerland und im Teutoburger Wald viele Berge auf eine Aktivierung. Die kannst Du auch locker am Wochenende von Essen aus erreichen.
Viele Grüße aus Remscheid
Lutz DL3SBA
Hello erverybody,
just a short update on this topic. I‘m still in Luxemburg for two more days and tomorrow I‘ll be activating my last LX summit LX/LX-005. So far I activated four summits, one in France which was my first summit ever and three in LX.
Once back home I‘ll write a more detailed activations report with some pictures and some first impressions.
Just wanted to thank everybody who encouraged me to try SOTA and especially the SOTA chasers.
I definitely got hooked.
Christian - DK5CH