Foundation call gives others a target to beat!
Ben VK3FTRV activated all of the following summits today:
VK3/VT-034
VK3/VT-016 Mt. Useful
VK3/VT-013 Mt. Selma
VK3/VT-022 Connors Plain
VK3/VE-068 Mt. Shillinglaw
VK3/VE-091
VK3/VE-031 Mt. Skene
Could this be a record for the number of Summits activated by a single activator in one day?
In reply to VK2JI:
Ed
I think on the day that Wayne VK3WAM achieves Mountain Goat, using the words ‘puts others to shame’ is a little harsh!
Andrew, VK1NAM
In reply to VK2JI:
A few years ago a team attempted to activate all 23 G/WB summits in one day. I can’t remember how many they got, not all, but most.
73 Jim G0CQK
In reply to VK1NAM:
It looks to me like Ben is on track for a Goat.
Andrew
VK1DA
In reply to G0CQK:
Hi Jim,
Did that team go from summit to summit together or spit up to cover all 23 summits? It’s really the single operator angle that I am impressed with and I’ve amended my post now to reflect that.
We’ve had more than seven summits activated in one association at the same time, however that was by different people going to different summits of course.
I’m impressed with Ben’s determination going from one summit to the next, one after the other and activating.
In reply to VK2JI:
I have done a bit of digging and you can see the details of 24 WB summits (as there were then now 23) on 23rd June 2007 starting at 00:05z on G/WB-001 and ending on G/WB-010 at 23:38z
http://www.sotadata.org.uk/ActivatorLog.aspx?userid=410
There was a second attempt but I can’t find the details of that just some of the planning at http://www.sotawatch.org/reflector.php?topic=1081 and Hiking in the mountains: tips for beginner hikers - Mountain Day
73 Jim G0CQK
In reply to G0CQK:
Hi people,
It would be good to know the outcome of the 24/24. A nice idea to raise money for charity. As it apparently hasn’t become an annual event I suspect it was physically harder than the team expected.
I believe Ben did a full walk in and set up on HF for each of these summits so it was no 2 m handheld with rubber duck and four quick qso’s event. He did it without team support. Some might say he slacked off as he actually got some sleep overnight after 7 peaks. Such a view ignores the dangers of climbing some of these peaks in darkness. Dying on a peak stops you building up your score.
To wind down he did two more peaks on the way home today, staying on one for a couple of hours to allow people far and wide to have a chance for a few points.
73
Ron
VK3afw/AX3AFW
In reply to AX3AFW:
They failed the 1st time because they ran out of fuel in the car. ISTR this was because someone forgot to fill up rather than due to distances travelled. The second time was a good go, the activators were 2 fit guys and I think they did 18 summits in the end. A considerable achievement by any measure. As to whether you can really activate all 24 in 24hrs is open to conjecture.
You need a team to do the logistics, drivers, chasers etc. You have to push the rules and have your own chasers so you can work 4 and be away in a couple of minutes. I don’t think there is enough time to put out general calls etc. so you have 4 chasers waiting on a prearranged frequency. Ascend as fast as you can, activate as fast as you can, descend as fast as you can, drive to next summit as fast as you can. Wham, bam, thank you mam!
You also only have to be in the AZ, you don’t need to reach the summit and you can start the clock as soon as you start transmitting. i.e. you can climb the 1st summit and descend the last summit outside the 24hr window as the challenge was to activate not climb and return to the car in 24hrs.
If you activated everything you did in SOTA that way you wouldn’t curry much favour with the chasers. But this was a special event so I don’t think anyone would complain they didn’t get a chaser QSO. Well I wouldn’t!
Andy
MM0FMF
24/24…it was also an event mired in dispute and not without it’s dubious claims.
73 Richard G3CWI
In reply to MM0FMF:
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the update on this. So 18 in 24 hours, Bloody Good Effort… This equates to 9 in 12 h, so Ben is equal to their tally rate and on HF and without pushing the rules and no support team.
It’s exhausting to think about this. I’m off to bed.
73
Ron
In reply to VK2JI:
Hi Ed and other Sota enthusiasts,
Thanks for the congratulations. It was a fun excursion done for no other reason than for the enjoyment of going bush and playing with radios. I wasn’t aware there were records to be broken nor was I attempting to push the envelope. It just seemed like an obvious link up of summits in the time available. Comparisons with Wayne’s mountain goat achievement are not warranted. I’m personally in awe of the sheer effort required to clock up 1000 points in the Victorian High Country.
When activating summits, I like to take as much time as needed to let all chasers get the points and have a chat. If I’m going to lug a 9AH slab with me you can bet I’m going to get some use out of it! Over the 2 days I was able to make 171 Sota contacts. I’m pretty happy with that outcome.
Best 73
Ben vk3ftrv
In reply to MM0FMF:
Interesting thread.
I would venture to say that an organised team as you describe Andy is VERY different to a lone activator activating multiple peaks in one day and as others have said, each of the activations that Ben did was a “normal” activation - climb, set up all gear mainly 40m but also other bands, work ALL chasers that want a contact, then pack up, walk back down the hill and progress to the next one.
This all done without any support team to prepare sites or even prepare food for him.
I still think this might be a record for such a set of SOTA activations by an individual, but I haven’t seen anything in the responses from European Alpine activators - that’s where I would have thought something similar between linked by a walking track, summits might have occurred?
In any case well done to Ben again. If only in Australia, this has set a high standard, which I know I personally will never come close to - my best is only two activations in a day.
73 Ed VK2JI / G8GLM
P.S. My comments were never meant to detract from Wayne VK3WAM’s great achievement of becoming the first ever Australian Mountain Kangaroo - sorry Goat. It says a lot about the health and progress of SOTA in Australia that we have both of these achievements happening coincidentally on the same day.
In reply to VK2JI:
I would venture to say that an organised team as you describe Andy
As they ran out of petrol the first time, organised isn’t one of the words that readily springs to mind.
Of course Ben’s achievement is remarkable. For a start he did it upside down!
Andy
MM0FMF