Hi All,
Trying to pre book holidays at work! Can anybody tell me when Winter bonus starts and finishes please, and the criteria for qualifying peaks?
Had a look in the rules and it said something about the association managers deciding the criteria.
Cheers
Tim
G4YTD
In reply to G4YTD:
You need to check each association manual. In the UK it’s December 1st to March 15th and all 2pt hills have a bonus. There’s no Winter Bonus in W6-land but instead there is a Summer Bonus.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
…and all 2pt hills have a bonus.
…and of course the 4pt, 6pt, 8pt and 10pt summits. The 2pt summits definitely offer max VFM and (in general terms) minimum risk.
No truth in the rumour that the VK Association (Hi) has a night time bonus - it was 37C in Melbourne last night so I see on the news.
73, Gerald
Nice edit Gerald, the " - 37C" really threw me for a moment!
Tom M1EYP
In reply to G4OIG:
Sorry trying to do too many things at once on many computers and failing miserably at just about all the tasks. 
What I meant to say was that “all 2pt hills and above have a bonus.”
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
You know me Andy - any opportunity to extract the amber liquid! Even my Barn Owl gets teased, so I don’t see any reason why you should be exempt
73, Gerald
Cheers chaps
That clears that up!
Holidays booked, just need to get the project plan signed off by the blonde person now. She is usually pretty good about these things if chocolate from the Friary in Keswick is involved…
Have fun - I am still at work
73
Tim
GM4YTD
In reply to G4YTD:
Hello All
Not really to relevant to the original post of this thread, however I did not want to start yet another topic!
Just a quick question to anyone that knows. If you have already activated a hill with winter bonus points and claimed the points for the hill ie a 2pointer. If you were to go up the hill again in winter time, do you get nil points for the activation but 3 points for the winter bonus??
I look forward to the replies
73 Matt 2E0XTL
In reply to 2E0XTL:
Yes Matt. You can get the basic score for WB-002 to 005 in summer and the three points for winter bonus again around now.
73
Dei M0YDH
Indeed:
http://www.sotadata.org.uk/ActivatorLog.aspx?userid=69
Check 27 May 2003 and 30 December 2003.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
Does this same idea apply if you have already activated the hill in a period of winter bonus! I activated WB-004 in Feb 2010 claiming 5 points so can I have the winter bonus points in December 2010 as well I.e. 0 points for activation but another 3 for doing it in winter again?
Matt 2E0XTL
In reply to 2E0XTL:
No way, Jose!
One set of activator points, one set of winter bonus points per summit per year.
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
Cheers Brian!
Good to have cleared that up!
In reply to 2E0XTL:
If you don’t ask, you don’t get!
73
Brian G8ADD
The nearest 400 m summit is over 400 km from my home and at least 200 km from my parent’s place, so no winter bonus for me…
However, I still might go for a winter solstice activation of Leihuvaara, OH/KU-053. It is quite close to my parent’s house, where I also used to live back in the days. I’m going there next week, and if the temperatures are suitable, I might try the summit. It is a familiar place, but I haven’t been up there for years.
If I go, it must be around noon, since the day is only a few hours long. Hopefully some chasers are off work, so someone will be there to listen to me. 
73,
Jaakko, OH6FQI
I must sympathise with Jaakko. Based on “all 2pt hills and above have a bonus”, from London it would seem I would now have to travel at least 360 miles return
trip to obtain a winter bonus.
Having frozen myself fairly solid in winter on Firle Beacon on the South Downs (a 180 mile round trip for me), a rather exposed location at the best of times, I am somewhat reluctant to do it again for 1 point.
The full winter bonus of 3 points would indeed seem unnecessarily generous, but a bit of incentive would help.
Or, in the vernacular, Blimey mate, giv us a break in the Sarf! :))
Seasons Greetings to All
from
Alan M0DDC,G8AQO
In reply to M0DDC:
I don’t really care that much about the winter bonus. If it was the score I was after, I probably wouldn’t bother with OH-SOTA anyway, since the closest summits with more than one point are hundreds of km away.
But in a sense, if the rationale for the bonus points is the amount of snow, cold weather and lack of light, it’s not such a big difference, whether the summit is 200 or 500 meters above sea level, -25 is mighty cold on both hills, especially with a little wind…
About the winter solstice activation, I may have to skip it for this year. I have to give a lift to my sister on Wednesday and the forecast for Thursday is -27 at the moment. I could do CW in those numbers, but keeping log would cross the line for me. But I’ll just have to wait and see.
73,
Jaakko, OH6FQI
In reply to G8ADD:
One set of activator points, one set of winter bonus points per summit
per year.
So if I activate a 2 pointer on 31st December, and again the following day, I get (2 + 3) + (2 + 3)?
In reply to M6ADB:
Yes. How generous is that!
People have camped out in past years to benefit from this New Year’s Present from the SOTA MT.
Like many things in SOTA, the Seasonal Bonus is very simple - but achieves what was intended. And also like many things in SOTA, it is discussed and dissected every year!
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G3CWI:
Well Norby LX1NO seems to have taken the Arctic Challenge by gaining the winter bonus in a hard way. I have local QRM and do not copy him on 20 m. My QTH antenna improvement is delayed by a cold after staying too long outside yesterday. It might help on the QRM too.
73, Jaakko OH7BF/F5VGL