@G0VOF wrote:
SOTA NEWS AUGUST 2017 - Part 1 of 2
Editorial - by Mark G0VOF
Welcome to the August 2017 edition of SOTA News. My thanks go to the following contributors:- Barry GM4TOE, Skip K6DGW, Roy G4SSH, Kevin G0NUP, Rob and Audrey G4RQJ, Warren ZL2AJ, Toru JH0CJH, Luc ON7DQ, Bob F5HTR.73, Mark G0VOF
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The July 2017 edition of SOTA News was viewed more than 1,210 times.
========================================================SOTA AWARDS July 2017 from Barry GM4TOE - SOTA Awards Manager.
July has been a very busy month (again) for awards but, in particular, trophies. Stock was briefly reduced to zero but our supplier managed to supply replacement blanks in a reasonable timescale. Most will have been shipped but a couple are still with the engraver. Congratulations to all Mountain Goats and Shack Sloths, your achievements are remarkable. Unfortunately DS3FYA is not listed on qrz.com so I do not have your name for a name-check in this report.
Amongst other achievements that I am highlighting this month M0JLA with 2500 Activator points, OK2QA on 25k Chaser points, with hot on his heels prolific Chaser Karl, M3FEH, on 20k (and 3k Unique summits too) – no mean achievement when limited to just 10 watts, SSB only and simple antennas. Having spent some time this month actively chasing (OK, from a very northerly location in the UK) I can appreciate how hard it is to accumulate high points when the Sun is not playing.
One other certificate worth mentioning is the Microwave Award for VK1AD at over 300 km on 23 cm – not easy to do especially with limited equipment (although I gather the other station had “big ears”!)
Trophies Issued
Mountain Goat
K9PM Paul M Mueller
N0TA John Reilly
KE7BGM Katherine McDonough
AC1Z Robert Daniels
WG0AT Steve Galchutt
OM6TC Jozef Stefik
W6PNG Paul GacekShack Sloth
LA3NGA Henning Theodorsen
HL3ANE Harry Cheong
DS3FYA
JP3DGT Katsushige OijiCertificates Issued
Activator
M0JLA Rodney Archard 2500 points
CT2IUV Nuno Freitas 1000 points
OM6TC Jozef Stefik 1000 points
VE2DDZ Malcolm Harper 500 points
WC9G Ron Burns 250 points
KY7S Douglas Henderson 250 points
AA0BV Joe Olson 100 pointsChaser
OK2QA Rudolf Klvana 25000 points
M3FEH Karl Kruger 20000 points
G8VNW Nick Daniel 10000 points
SV1QED Michael Panagiotopoulos 2500 points
K5QR Andrew Bonnot 2500 points
G0FVH David Dolling 2500 points
LA3NGA Henning Theodorsen 1500 points
MI0WWB William R Bradley 1000 points
VE2DDZ Malcolm Harper 1000 points
PE1PIC KeesJan Colmer 1000 points
JP3DGT Katsushige Oiji 1000 points
JS6TMW Steve Fabricant 1000 points
VK3WAR Craig Arnot Ward 1000 points
LZ2OQ Georgi Aleksov 500 points
YO8SSB Lucian Damian 500 points
K1LIZ Elizabeth Burns 500 points
K1LIZ Elizabeth Burns 250 points
N3FJ Rob Olszewski 250 points
M0PLA Paul Athersmith 100 pointsChaser Unique
M3FEH Karl Kruger 3000 summits
VK3PF Peter Freeman 1000 summits
VE2DDZ Malcolm Harper 100 summits
SV1QED Michael Panagiotopoulos 100 summitsSummit to Summit
M0JLA Rodney Archard Gold
VE2DDZ Malcolm Harper Silver
LA3NGA Henning Theodorsen RedMountain Hunter
VK3PF Peter Freeman Platinum
VE2DDZ Malcolm Harper Gold
K1LIZ Elizabeth Burns BronzeMountain Explorer
AK5SD Scott T. Dupuie SilverMicrowave Award
VK1AD Andrew Moseley 300 km 23 cmMerchandise stock levels are, for the moment, reasonably buoyant (except for Mountain Goat embroidered badges) and, because I have been able to negotiate on prices with our suppliers, selling prices can be maintained. However, the fee paid to our trophy engraver has not changed since the glass trophy was introduced but I will now be forced to slightly increase engraving prices to ensure that she continues doing the work. This will be reflected in the initial price of a trophy and also in the price of “add-on” lettering effective from the 1 August.
I would like to clear the remaining stock of Polo Shirts before introducing new, and different, stock later this year (there is only so much limited space in our spare bedroom wardrobe and the xyl wants to use some of the space – unreasonable I know but I have to live with her). Anybody ordering a Polo Shirt will be able to chose from a small list of other SOTA merchandise to be included free of charge with their order; just as an incentive to clear this stock. Once they are gone I will not be replacing them.
Before introducing new stock I plan to have a poll on the reflector to see what interest there is in various branded items. Suggestions from members of the SOTA community would also be most welcome.
Finally, just a reminder about the dates on certificates (and also the class of award you are claiming): I will take the award date to be the date you put on the order form and will no longer check whether it is correct or not. The only checking I will do is to see that you are qualified to make the claim; information to get the date correct is on your database record, please check before ordering. Adopting this procedure means that I have reduced my checking time by over 60%, which means I have more time to be on the air.
Stay safe on the hills and if you hear a weak GM, with very shaky CW call you – be kind to me
73
Barry GM4TOE
SOTA Awards Manager========================================================
NORTH AMERICAN REPORT from Skip K6DGW
Greetings all. Paul, W0RW, reports big news from Colorado this month. You can buy your very own 83,368 acre [33,738 ha] ranch for the paltry sum 105million USD. Why in the NA SOTA Report? Well, included in the deal, at no extra cost, is Culebra Peak, known in some circles as W0C/SL-002. It's a "14'er" at 14,044 ft [4,282 m], and has never been activated. Might want to rush in and make an offer, there may be a queue already. Full details with photo at:
www.mirrranchgroup.com/ranches/cielo-vista-ranch https://www.mirrranchgroup.com/ranches/cielo-vista-ranch/
STATISTICS:
NA Statistics for Jul 2017
Produced: 07/28/2017 at: 15:24:45 PDTTotal Activations: 739 [678]
Total Activators: 218 [207]
Total Chaser QSO's: 7027 [6502]
Total Chasers: 309 [268]
Unique Summits: 545 [480]BAND # LAST MONTH
3.5MHz: 31 ( 0.4%) [ 18 ( 0.2%)]
5MHz: 49 ( 0.6%) [ 120 ( 1.8%)]
7MHz: 1288 ( 18.3%) [ 1159 ( 18.0%)]
10MHz: 659 ( 9.4%) [ 841 ( 13.1%)]
14MHz: 4403 ( 62.8%) [ 3751 ( 58.4%)]
18MHz: 166 ( 2.3%) [ 237 ( 3.6%)]
21MHz: 13 ( 0.1%) [ 28 ( 0.4%)]
28MHz: 22 ( 0.3%) [ 29 ( 0.4%)]
50MHz: 14 ( 0.1%) [ 9 ( 0.1%)]
144MHz: 349 ( 4.9%) [ 209 ( 3.2%)]
220MHz: 1 ( 0.0%) [ 2 ( 0.0%)]
433MHz: 10 ( 0.1%) [ 12 ( 0.1%)]
1240MHz: 2 ( 0.0%) [ 1 ( 0.0%)]MODE # LAST MONTH:
AM: 4 ( 0.0%) [ 2 ( 0.0%)]
CW: 4503 ( 64.2%) [ 4563 ( 71.0%)]
Data: 4 ( 0.0%) [ 10 ( 0.1%)]
FM: 359 ( 5.1%) [ 217 ( 3.3%)]
SSB: 2143 ( 30.5%) [ 1628 ( 25.3%)]July was the highest activity month in 2017. It's been interesting that the 40 m/20 m and the SSB/CW ratios have remained fairly constant over the last several years. 30 meter usage has been slowly creeping upward andaccounts for some of the CW total but the "money bands" continue to be 40 and 20.
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS: Lotsthis month
The Mountain Goats continue to multiply. Darryl, WW7D and W7W Assoc. Mgrreports:"Please join me in congratulating Tim, KG7EJT, the first mountain goat earned in the W7W association. Tim earned his first activator point in Jan of 2015 and earned his 1000th point on Sunday while activating Tiffany Mountain (W7W/OK-029)."
The photo shows a moderately exuberant Tim , taken by his wife, just after his 4th QSO on Sunday. Congratulations Tim!
Tim KG7EJT
W7A welcomed three new Mountain Goats as well. Pete, WA7JTM, reports that Bud, N6CW; Kay, KE7BGM; and Paul, K9PM, made it 3 AZ Goats in 17 days in June. Kay is the 2nd female Mtn Goat, and Paul set a new recordNA achieving 1,000 activator points in only 100 summits. A SOTA Party was had for them on 11 Jul in Scottsdale AZ. Hearty congratulations to the three of you!
8 AZ Goats
Pete also made news himself, as reported inJuly QST, by capturing 4th place in the 2017 ARRL VHF Contest in the QRP Portable class:
“The Single Operator, Portable category in January is only for the hardiest ofsouls. VE3EG narrowly edged out lastyear’s winner, WB2AMU. WA7JTM putScarlet Mountain in DM33 on the air andtook advantage of the Summits on theAir (SOTA) program (and the abundanceof enthusiastic SOTA chasers in Arizona), to finish 4th place nationwidein the category. Maybe more SOTA activators will take the hint and activatesummits next January.”
And, unabashedly "Tooting His Own Horn," as he put it, Jack, KB7HH, has managed 15,000 chaser points.
Ryan, K70DX, started off the month with a "Utah Six Pack" ... 6 summits in one UTC day. Ryan isn't the first but he's in somevery rare company. I know of Tommy, WZ4M[then W4TZM], and Curtis, KC5CW, who have also managed this featwhich is an average of 3 hours per summit. Nice going Ryan!
Andfinally, while it's not an "officialaward," I can't end this section without mentioning good friend Todd, KH2TJ, whoappears on the cover of the ARRL Annual Report, reclining ... where else? ... on a summit. Todd drives Union Pacific locomotives to provide the family income,and has a strong connection to KH2, but ARRL chose a SOTA guy for the cover. Nice going Todd!
ANNIVERSARIES: My buddy Mike, KD5KC, emailed, "Happy Birthday W5-SOTA. Seven years old today. My, how you have grown." Indeed! SOTA started out slowly in the New World, and Mike was a prime mover to expand it. Initially, we had Associations based on call-areas, a few summits [California had something like 280]. Mike compiled the first W5 catalog of summits and he and several others began to realize that there were tens of thousands of potential summits in the western part of the continent and call-areas weren't going to work very long. Thanks to a LOT of work by a number of dedicated folks on both sides of the Atlantic, the North American summit catalog was expanded many-fold and re-organized on more of a State/Province basis, especially in the west. Anyone who has wrangled databases can appreciate the magnitude of this effort.
Thank you Mike and all of you who put so much time and effort into getting the summit catalogs correct,beating the database into submission, and the Association and Region Managers who stepped up to make this all happen.
NEWS:
From Etienne, K7ATN:
Summer! Time to get out and activate some summits! Consider August 5 and 6 for the PNW SOTA Summit-to-Summit Party.
Here's the latest Pacific Northwest SOTA Newsletter for July and August 2017:
http://www.pnwsota.org/sites/pnwsota.org/files/downloads/K7ATN/PNW%20SOTA%20Oregon%20Newsletter%20Jul-Aug%202017.pdfThere are links to the two SOTA presentations made at SeaPac this year and a story by Peter-K3OG on his activation of Mount Rainier.
EVENTS:
There will be a SOTA gathering at the Pacific NW DX Convention in Spokane WA the first weekend in Aug. Andrea and I are going, turning it into a "Road Trip" to country I've only seen from the air and she's never seen.
From Ryan, WG4I: Pat(KI4SVM) and myself (WG4A) have a planned Georgia/ Carolinas camping trip for October 20 – 22 at Sarah’s Creek in NE Georgia, see https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/conf/recarea/?recid=10497. The campground is primitive with pit toilets but at least onSOTA Awards Manager.
July hr cooking, charging batteries etc. I will be bringing my pop-up trailer if anyone wants to come but needs a place to sleep.
There are many SOTA summits within minutes of the campground. It will be an excellent opportunity to activate multiple summits in a day, contact others doing adjacent summits in the area and get your SOTA complete. It is under a 2 hour drive from Atlanta, Ashville, Charlotte, Knoxville, and many other areas.
Let me know if you are interested. Several of us will be getting there on the 19^th to get the good spots and reserve adjacent ones for those on their way. We should be able to put several tents on one site to split site cost.
That fills the newsletter for this month. If you're planning on visiting anywhere along the 21 Aug eclipse, and you have reservations, you are commended on your foresight. If you don't ... good luck [
![:slight_smile:]( ":slight_smile:")
73 and activate safely,
Fred ("Skip") K6DGW
Sparks NV USA
Washoe County DM09dn
NA SOTA Reporter Dude============================================================
SOTA France – Robert F5HTR
Hi to all,
Some news about French SOTA. July is usually a very good month to activate our summits.
Last year, July saw 117 summits activated by 28 different Hams.
This year, July represents a new all time record with 140 summits activated by 23 different Hams!
This is the first time SOTA FRANCE has reached such an amount of activity a month.
On 23rd of July, there were at least 14 activations in a day ! Another record.Some statistics for the F region :
F/AB : 290 summits done - Total of summit 567 = 51% sumits done in this region
F/AM : 420 done, Total 752 = 55%
F/CR : 91 done, Total 301 = 30%
F/JU : 86 done, Total 86 = 100%
F/MC : 118 done Total 200 = 59%
F/PE : 117 done, Total 315 = 37%
F/PO : 157 done, Total 252 = 62%
F association : 56% doneStatistics for FL association :
FL/NO : 64 done, Total 85 = 75%
FL/SO : 5 done, Total 5 = 400%
FL/VL : 70 done, Total 90 = 77%
FL/VO : 115 done, Total 153 = 75%
FL association : 81% doneThis month, ranking of best progression :
F4EGG : 12 summits - 120 pts
F5UBH : 9 summits - 88 pts
F6HBI : 10 summits - 84 pts
F5UKL: 14 summits - 56 pts
F5HTR : 6 summits - 36 pts
F5LKW: 10 summits - 30 pts
F4ESK : 3 sommets - 30 pts
F/JG1XMV/P : 3 sommets - 30 pts
F6FTB : 9 summits - 16 pts
F6HHK : 1 summit - 10 pts
et aussi F6ENO, F6IPR, F4FHV, F5IUZ et F8BBLTM10SOTA is over, we have done about 1015 QSO confirmed with LoTw and EQSL.cc
Activity with TM10SOTA could be more intensive of course. Many Hams were on the official list of operators and do not profit from it.
Administration allows us only 15 days of traffic with special call.We create two new association this month with the French Islands of Martinique (FM) : 14 summits and Saint Pierre et Miquelon (FP) with 4 summits.
All the team of SOTA FRANCE wish you a nice activation in our nice country. We stay at your disposal to give you more detail if you need.
Do not hesitate to contact regional chief about a summit.My best regards to all,
Have a nice holiday!F5HTR
Bob
F & FL association Manager============================================================
SOTA NEWS FROM JAPAN by Toru JH0CJH
Hi Mark and all
Please find the following SOTA News from Japan.
The rainy season was over and the hot and wet Japanese summer started.
Accordingly activation numbers have reduced this month.SOTA activities in July 2017 in Japan as of 29 July 2017.
Activation
Total 149 Activations with 1497 QSO have been made and reported.
JA: 148 activations with 1493 QSO from Summits
JA5: 0
JA6: 1 activation with 4 QSO from Summits
JA8: 0Chasing
Total 292 Chasing QSO have been made and reported.
JA: 270 chasing QSO
JA5: 2 chasing QSO
JA6: 20 chasing QSO
JA8: 0S2S
Total 150 S2S QSO have been made and reported.
JA: 147 S2S QSO
JA5: 0
JA6: 3 S2S QSO
JA8: 0As we reported last monthly report, Kansai Ham Festival "KANHAM 2017" has
been held in Osaka Ikeda city on 15 and 16 July.
SOTA Japan association had a stand in exhibition area to promote the SOTA
activities to all Kansai area ham radio stations. These two days we got
many visitors to SOTA stand.
SOTA Japan association operating Mailing List for exchanging the various
information and more than ten new members are welcomed after this
festival.We also had a SOTA gathering party #7 on 15 July after 1st day of KANHAM
SOTA operation.
On 11 August it is Mountain day in Japan, and it is newly started national
holiday in Japan from last year. Many SOTA operations will be carried out
on the day. Please listen and meet with us on air.
Toru Kawauchi
toru@kawauchi.homeip.mydns.jp
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THE VIEW FROM THE NORTH - 115 By Rob and Audrey G4RQJ
July so off we go on our yearly visit to the Isle of Man. Our first day is usually taken fairly easily as we go over on the night boat from Heysham so have slept in seats in the lounge, this is my (Robs) test for old age, when I can't manage it ,its time to worry! Overnight gives you two extra days on the island and is cheaper on the fare. This year our extra day is relentlessly wet but there's plenty to amuse us.
Wednesday the 5th is the Manx National Day and we usually attend the festivities in the morning and activate LD-004 Bradda Hill in the afternoon but this year Audrey's knee is not up to the descent of the almost vertical grass slope which is a major part of this hill so it's off to LD-005,Mull Hill, a much easier proposition. We set up by the large pillbox at the very summit and as we do so a very well spoken young man asks us politely if we can tell him what these buildings were. He has been sent by his teacher to study the summit area and write a short thesis on the subject. He has done the ancient stone circle and thought he would ask about the pillbox on his way down. As one of our interests is military remains of WW2 we are able to give him quite a lot of info on the former radar station that occupied the site. He leaves, delighted, with some web sites to look at. We wonder if his teacher was looking for this or it was supposed to be Ancient history. One day it will be! Hope he gets good marks. Back to the activation and just six leisurely contacts on 2fm but HF is dead a nit
Thursday 6th Slieau Freoaghane Arrived at the usual parking spot(room for about six cars) to find it completely filled by two 4x4s parked back to back both with ramps down, no room! About 1/4 mile further west toward Barregarrow on the B10 we found a spot on the other side of the road that just took a car. The walk up is unchanged and once the green road is left a pleasant walk through the heather after which the hill is named. 8 contacts on 2FM nil on 2ssb 5Mhz and 7Mhz but 10 Mhz provided a long CW run and here I met a problem. My normal practice is to get the callers callsign written on the paper first because I don't remember them easily. To my horror due to my current eye problem when I looked down at the pad I could not read a single letter I had written and Audrey can't read my scribble at the best of times. This caused me a lot of problems and repeats, even more than usual so apologies to all operators and thanks for your patience.
Saturday 8th South Barrule and here we were aware that Andy G6PJZ had already alerted for this one today. As he was clearly on a much tighter schedule than us we decided to just do a VHF only activation so as not to impinge on his possible chasers.(most of his activities having been HF). In the event we worked just nine on vhf, very leisurely contacts and alerted chasers to Andy's impending arrival in the hope they would stay around and work him. In the event we met Andy just as we started our descent and had a very pleasant chat before setting off slowly on a test of Audrey's knee on a more awkward slope. There had been a fell race earlier and we saw that they diverted from the main route down on a minor path leading directly to a gate at the Round Table crossroads which is a couple of hundred yards west of the start of the green road, the normal parking and start point. Actually the green road entrance has become very rutted and not too good for normal cars to park. Try up the road to the round table where there is space for a couple of cars. The route from round table is nice enough but
not obvious, would not recommend it in cloud. Back at the car gave Andy a shout on the h/held to be number four in his log. HF was in dead as a nit mode so many thanks to the chasers who stayed around on VHF.Tuesday 11th Mull Hill. An outing to try 4 and 6m on the ex Mil groundplane
Setup was fine but prolonged calls produced no response. To add insult to injury a shout on 2m yielded just two contacts, our first failure to complete in our SOTA history. TV must be getting good!Thursday 13th Snaefell GD-001. In view of the knee situation particularly the descent we opted for a trip up on the tram from the Bungalow Station. The last trip on the tram was well before SOTA, when we walked up from sea level and got the tram down! Once on top the weather was reasonable but a strong breeze was blowing. It's worth pointing out that the cafe is well in the activation area so people with limited mobility could probably operate in it's shelter if prevented from going any further by disability. Anxious to feel as though we had made some effort we walked to our usual spot at the far end of the air traffic control building over looking Ramsey. Nice shelter and out of other peoples way. A long activation, lots on 2fm, a couple on 5Mhz, and lots on 7Mhz and 14Mhz CW. The weather had turned a little unpleasant as we walked back to the tram stop. This summit has very variable weather and at least a sweater is always needed.
Sunday 16th South Barrule again. We tried the route from The Round Table again. The path is not well defined and takes care to avoid trips and wet feet. On top a VHF only activation. Embarrassingly at the end we were asked for a quick trip onto a 70cm activity and I found I could not read the FT 817 display in the sunshine but bodged it eventually.
The last day of our holiday we had a quick trip up Mull Hill on the way to the boat. We set up by the big pillbox but were only able to work three Irish stations on 2FM.Determined not to be out done we up sticks and carried the whole shop antenna and mast as a single item 20yards across to the other pillbox where we managed to raise some activity from the English side.
We were sorry not to be able to activate all five summits this year and surprisingly no one managed to work us on all four we did achieve but we hope for better things in 2018 as we are already booked.
Not sure when we will get back to full operation because of knees and eyes but we will be back!
Meanwhile,
Take care out there
73
Rob and Audrey
G4RQJ========================================================
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