Now seeking advice about how we two Americans can catch the Italian Fabio at the top of the S2S all-time list. Or is it already a lost cause?
K6EL
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You could try sending a SWAT team to pick him up and exile him to a flat island. Be careful, though, because he has an arsenal of BNC connectors, banana plugs, and clips.
The problem is, he only lets himself be caught on CW or SSB.
Good luck guys!
73
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I’m not 100% on this but there might be a way as its all tied up with how the database works and I could be completely wrong (a strong possibility that I am).
It would require you moving to Italy, or at least shadowing Fabio on each summit expedition and then working all the STS that he would get before he worked them. Fabio would still get the contact count but not get get the points thus stalling him while advancing yourselves.
The above is based on the bottom entry in the honour roll that shows an entry with 1 STS contact but zero points. There may be several reasons for this so the above strategy might prove a very expensive waste of time but do let me know how it goes 
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Sorry Elliott, I don’t quite understand whether this is a serious question or just an attempt to get attention 
The simplest solution would be to view things exclusively through the eyes of a SOTA enthusiast - that is, to set aside the perspective of one’s own ego tied to a nationality.
Of course, it is perfectly understandable that, given the current geopolitical climate, this is an inconceivable proposal.
One might therefore ask: What makes these S2S QSOs - which, in the vast majority of cases, are easily achieved thanks to the sheer number of activators and the generally high quality of technical equipment available - so special to some people today?
Is it perhaps a kind of sporting ambition, a mindset spread by the manufacturers’ clever marketing, or something else rooted in human nature?
Hopefully, everyone will have an answer to such questions from a purely personal perspective, and that should really be enough 
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No problem El, you just have to stop taking days off. Me, DJ, and Rich did 3 summits yesterday and no K6EL in the logs.
Well done Fabio, you are crushing it! 
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Hi Eliot,
Ever since I became a ham radio operator, I’ve had a passion for DXing.
During “Version 1.0” of my amateur radio career, I achieved great results using a vertical antenna, always barefoot
There were sleepless nights waiting for expeditions to rare counties to go on air, and patient waits amidst frenzied pile-ups to seize the perfect moment to make the contact.
When I discovered SOTA—after a QRX of over ten years—my enthusiasm returned, partly because I’ve always loved hiking.
Making an S2S contact isn’t always easy with a QRP rig; it often feels like reliving the thrill of working a “new country” more than thirty years ago.
S2S is the icing on the SOTA cake… and being at the top of the rankings isn’t a bad feeling at all!
73 Fabio
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Glad to be one of your s2s QSO’s yesterday from Dirrington Great law GM/SS-225.
I can’t chase from home so s2s is a fair proportion of my “chaser” points and for me it’s a like minded individual sitting on a hilltop too.
Andy
MM7MOX
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Both activators would get the points. Different activators, same summit.
A chaser contacting both (during the same 24h UTC period) would only be credited the once for that day.
I have yet to meet a chaser though who would purposefully not make a contact because they already made contact with someone on the same summit that same day. All chasers I have had the pleasure to meet on the air are all very supportive.
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Be cool, forget the race, just relax and enjoy life on the summits!
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Of course, people compare themselves… and naturally, they check the various leaderboards to see where they stand. Me too.
It would be a lie to claim that SOTA doesn’t thrive on that aspect, too.
There was a time when Chris (@DL1CR), Stephan (@HB9EAJ), and I were constantly swapping places on the S2S leaderboard. Stephan is an avid S2S operator; Chris, unfortunately, only has 1-point summits nearby (which makes his achievement all the more impressive!); and for me, an S2S contact is more of a bonus—something picked up along the way. Consequently, our paths naturally diverged.
You should find your own personal challenge… completely independent of what others achieve.
After all, everyone starts from a different position—so, in reality, performance levels can’t really be compared directly between individuals.
73 Armin
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Well, yes and no I think. If contacting big QRO stations with directive antennas is not surprising, I still find S2S contacts a little exciting. Each operator on a summit with no more than a little wire and a few hundred grams radio, completely off grid, is kind of thrilling. And not that predictable, despite the technology involved in our radios.
So I can totally understand that some of us live the hobby through S2S contacts. Well done Fabio !
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Hi,
Are the results of a European station and those of a North American station comparable?
I don’t think so.
Fabio benefits from the proximity of activators, numerous every day, notably from DL, HB and OE.
Moreover, he is outside almost every day and stays on the summits for a long time to chase the S2S, with insistence.
So, it’s hard to catch up with him…
Treat yourself far from the competition.
73 to all.
Chris F4WBN
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I find S2S and completes the stimulus now. Myself and Paul W6NEA were on our way back from Friedrichshafen a few years and we flew Edinburgh<>Geneva. We stayed the last night in a hotel in France just 15mins across the border from Geneva. I’d spotted a few easy summits within 30mins drive and we activated Le Grand Piton F/AB-485. I thought at the time “that’s a summit I’ll never complete”. So when I worked Kurt HB9AFI 2 years later I was surprised to see the summit ref was for this summit and it was now a complete (an S2S complete too). That is much more rewarding to me than being top of the table. Then I managed an S2S with Ben GW4BML when he was on Soay in St. Kilda. That was just being in the right place and right time because Ben only had 2 S2S QSOs amongst all the people calling for a QSO. I wont be completing Soay and probably wont hear anyone on it for many years, if ever. But I have chased it and that’s a win for me in my book.
I don’t care that some people are super keen and competitive because I can “hang from their coat tails” picking up S2S contacts and sometimes completes. That’s a win-win situation, a win for me getting more S2S/completes and win for them getting higher in the tables. There’s no downside for me.
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