This may appear to be a fairly insignificant post but it may evoke some resonances!

Activation Reports Pre-Planning
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The other day, on a whim I thought I would make a significant step towards my 100th activator point. Significant in that I have been an activator since 2002 and have moved at a snail’s pace. My mountain goat aspiration remains however and I need to get my skates on with 904 points to go.

Armed with good intention and my version of a CW QRP lightweight kit I set off complete with flask, apple and biscuit to activate GW/SW-020 (Graig Syfyrddin - Edmund’s Tump) A favourite of mine, a short sharp climb with the soft, rolling green velvet hills of Wales and England to enjoy.

Well on the way from Hereford to crossing the border into Wales my pre-activation dopamine rush was intercepted by a realisation that I had left my mobile phone at home. Zounds!

No probs I thought but wait, what is the SOTA summit reference of said Edmunds Tump? Don’t know, don’t need to? Why not? My phone tells me all. You haven’t got it, duh!

Fortunately I do have pencil and paper, my stone age logging preference so I am not totally dependent on the my techno-umbilical tether.

I could find a telephone box, unlikely, and I do not carry actual money and as for remembering phone numbers? Not a feasible option.

I am thus detached, memories of my 1950’s childhood, independent. I had to make my own decision. Brain racked I could not find a way to find the summit reference and sadly aborted the mission.

Not entirely though, I had in my notebook the SOTA reference of G/WB-022 (Seager Hill) and detoured cross country to this alternate summit which satisfied my SOTA addiction needs and found myself happily calling CQ with a view of the Malvern Hills and sunshine to boot.

Memories of earlier activations of Seager Hill, then using an Elecraft K1, endfed wire, travelling clock, flask and logbook.

Without my phone I could not spot myself and relied on checking the frequency, calling CQ SOTA and hoping and trusting that someone would a. hear me and b. spot me. After repeated attempts a kind and astute G callsign offered to spot me and this opened up the activation to a successful completion of 4 QSO’s.

This activation style is how I began my SOTA career and although not a Luddite or especially nostalgic for those days I did find this particular activation refreshing in that it is still possible to enjoy what might be described as an analogue SOTA activation. Also proof that if you do forget your phone, like me, you can still complete an activation, but do write down the summit reference before you go.

Incidentally, I didn’t get that point towards my first century as I have already activated Seager Hill this year! And no photos.

Is there anyone else who has had this unintended return to basics or prefers to operate free of internet support?

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I think my phone is the one thing I haven’t (yet) forgotten. Having said that I have certainly visited places without a good phone signal. In fact I live in one :grin:

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Another advantage of using CW. Post your alert before you leave home and let RBNHole do the rest. No phone required :wink:

Glad you had a good activation despite the challenges!

73

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If you alert you don’t need to spot when RBNHole picks you up.

I always write it down. Phone coverage can be poor on summits (although it is getting better all the time) so having a phone is no guarantee you can access the information.

I do usually still have some notes with me but it is incredibly rare for me to open my wallet. Not because I am mean but because I always use contactless on the phone. I rarely use a card (the only exceptions are pay at pump and online purchases). If I am travelling by train then the ticket is on the phone too. So forgetting my phone would be a disaster!

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I try to remember to write the summit reference on my paper logging sheet(s) prior to leaving the house for (almost) the same reason: I hadn’t forgotten my phone but there was no mobile reception at the summit. On that occasion I wasn’t going to abandon the activation having gone to all that trouble to be there, I so deliberately started on 2m FM first and asked if anyone listening would look up the summit reference – a bit embarrassing but someone came back quickly with the answer. In your case, with only HF CW, that’s much harder to do.

I always alert before the activation (usually the previous day) but often there’s no phone coverage on summit to self-spot. With HF CW that’s no hardship when a RBN picks up your CQs but a nuisance if SSB only. When unable to self-spot for 2m FM I ask chasers if they can spot me.

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Ask the first chaser to look it up for you? :grin:

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since there is no real requirement to exhcnge SOTA references you actually didnt need it as its not a requirement of the qso exchange (strong recomendation for obvious reasons). Now I doubt that saying something along the lines of “I’m on a sota summit but you are going to need to triangulate which one to claim the points” would not go down too well but it would not stop you claiming the activator points.

I am fairly sure the first chaser to find you would provide the information. Not being proficient in CW I have no idea how easy or hard that summit name would be in CW if sent in full, but something along the lines of “GW/SW-??? Graig Tump” would identify it perfectly. Any one of the four words in the name are unique to that summit in the GW/SW region so going with the 2 shortest would be almost foolproof.

Sometimes sort of. I tend to post an alert, but rarely post a spot (I mainly stick to VHF and up). I do try to watch spots when on a summit though for potential summit to summits. Having said that, don’t take my MO as normal, running at almost an equivelent points/yr as yourself (131pts since 2003) and activating the same summit 6 or 7 times out of the 12 or so I get to go out in a year means I can do things differently and not worry about actually qualifying my local one pointer. I also do multiple hour stays so again qso rate isnt a factor.

I’ve found it can be quite surprising what can be achieved when you don’t place a spot on sotawatch and just chill and scan the bands.

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SOTAgoat app. This doesn’t help if you left your phone at home but with my case above (don’t know my summit reference and there’s no phone reception) SOTA Goat operates mainly offline using the GPS signal to locate summits in the area. You need phone reception only when using it to self-spot [or for other data transfers].

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Yup. SOTAGoat is for Apple only, so if you are on Android checkout https://sotamat.com/

Not only can it tell you the summit ref (doesn’t require service, it stores the summit database on your phone) but it can help you get spotted when there is no cell service (requires a radio capable of xmiting SSB).

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if they know the summit name, any competent cw operator can send the name in plain text. The letters “Edmunds Tump” are all included in the usual alphabet, so it’s no problem at all.

eg. I would send “sota ref Edmunds Tump” and “pls spot me (on sotawatch)” if I wanted the chaser to spot me.

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One great feature for CW ops is RBN it will Spot you if you have put an Alert on SW3 previous to venturing out. It has helped me a couple times when I have had bad phone reception on summits. I was working with a fading 4G phone signal last time I was out which is slightly better than no phone at all.

Regards Ian vk5cz :goat: :goat:

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Thank you everyone for your thoughts, ideas, advice and experiences.

73’s all

Ian
G4WTF

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I have several maps and I have marked all the SOTA summits with their points and the SOTA ref. Im assuming you use a paper map.

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Thanks, I shall do that. Yes, I always carry a paper map and compass. Invaluable.

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