Paul, W0RW was pedestrian mobile today on the rim of Capulin Volcano. I stumbled across him on 20 SSB and he was quite loud with his back-pack rig and 10’ whip. He wasn’t sure of the SOTA reference number and somebody gave him an incorrect ref and spotted it, based on an erroneous elevation number. I looked it up and gave Paul the correct number for Capulin Mountain on the air and spotted the correct reference, but a third spot changed the number to the incorrect code. So there was a fair amount of confusion!
I have since corresponded by e-mail with Paul and he confirmed that he was on Capulin Mountain (not Sierra Grande) and the elevation was 8182 feet. The correct SOTA reference is W5/SG-009.
BTW - I’ve been chasing summits for a year and a half now using exclusively QRP (5 watts or occasionally 3 watts) and am having a blast. It is an extremely well-organized program and the web site is outstanding. Good job to all of you that work so hard to make this thing go. I hope to activate some summits myself in the near future.
Paul had a booming signal into Smoky Lake Alberta from Capulin Crater also. I had the pleasure to work him as well and had been “reading the mail” about the SOTA ref number. Thanks for the clarification Randy.
In reply to ND0C:
Paul also appologized to me for stating he was at 8700 feet. He was looking Southeast at Sierra Grande and got confused. It’s easy to get distracted up there, as the Ranger pointed out 5 visible states to me when I was there.
At any rate, both summits are 8 point counters, and SG-009 is the final-final. He made over 5 times the needed 4 contacts on both SSB and CW using a center fed 10 foot vertical extending up from his PRC319 backpack. Do we get 3 bonus points for winter??
I’m glad that Paul worked a lot of guys - it was fun to work him!
I think your question about the winter bonus points is a good one Elliott. I’m pretty unclear on that topic. Is there anything written on it and I’ve just missed it? Or am I just a little dense? (No responses needed!)
Based on another recent thread, it sounds like the “winter bonus” is only valid in G land. For the NA summits that now require heroic measures to be activated, I think at least the activators should get some bonus points!
I just did a little more digging and I see that there is a 3 point “seasonal bonus” at the discretion of the association manager. But apparently UK activators only qualify for a 2 point bonus on summits of at least 2 points. (I think that’s where I was getting mislead that only UK got the bonus.) Am I getting closer on this?
There is either a winter bonus (1st January to 30th April)& a summer bonus (1st June to 30th September) available for W5 summits above 4000 feet ASL dependant on the region it is in. I would assume it will be 3 points as in other associations, & the above activation certainly qualifies.
See the association reference manual for more details:
Summits in the W5 association that are at least 4000 feet ASL, get either a summer bonus or a winter bonus depending on region. All the information can be found in the Association Reference Manual on the site http://www.sota.org.uk
In the case of Capulin Mountain W5/SG-009, this qualifies for a winter bonus of 3 points between 1st January and 30th April.