Summits on the Air

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Official SOTA logo
Italian radio amateur with VHF yagi on Monte Zuccone, Liguria
SOTA station for VHF and shortwave on the red button
Radio amateur in Scotland during a SOTA activation on shortwave
SOTA station in Connecticut , USA

Summits on the Air (SOTA) (roughly translated as “summit on air”) is an amateur radio diploma program. Its aim is to promote amateur radio operations on mountain tops . Licensed radio amateurs combine mountain hiking or mountaineering with the operation of portable transmitting and receiving systems , antennas and power supply on the peaks.

regulate

Those who operate their facility at a summit are activator ( English activators ) called and those from other locations try to establish radio communications with them, Hunter (English chasers ). Hence, there are two types of diplomas that can be earned: for activators and for hunters.

Points are awarded for radio connections from peaks to or from peaks. In the individual regions, the higher the summit, the higher the score. Frequency bands and modes of operation only play a role in the awarding of points insofar as additional special competitions such as B. a 6m / 10m Challenge ( German  6m / 10m competition ). In addition, so-called Summit to Summit ( S2S ) (German summit to summit ) connections between two Activators in which both occur both as activators as well as hunters, in addition to hunting and activator-vote separately as Summit to Summit scored. Detailed rules are available on the SOTA website.

history

The SOTA program was founded in March 2002 by radio amateurs in England and Wales . As of July 2019 there are 163 SOTA associations u. a. in the following countries or regions, so that radio amateurs can take part in the SOTA program in these: Australia , Azores , Belgium , Bosnia-Herzegovina , Denmark , Germany (two associations: German low mountain ranges and German Alps), Falkland Islands , Finland , France , Greece , Ireland , Israel , Italy , Japan , Canada , Canary Islands , Corsica , Lebanon , Liechtenstein , Luxembourg , Malta , Macedonia , New Zealand , Netherlands , Norway , Austria , Poland , Portugal , Romania , Russia , Sardinia , Sweden , Switzerland , Serbia , Slovakia , Slovenia , Spain , South Africa , South Korea , Czech Republic , Ukraine , Hungary , USA and the United Kingdom .

Current

Worldwide (July 2019) 129,431 peaks are currently registered in the SOTA program, 420 in the German Alps and 422 in the German low mountain ranges.Prerequisite for the registration of a peak is a prominence of at least 150 m, in exceptional cases 100 m. In the German SOTA program, a decision by the SOTA management team has since the beginning of 2009 eliminated a considerable part of the previously valid mountains, as they did not correspond to the general set of rules. These and many other mountains that do not meet the SOTA criteria are included in the GMA - Global Mountain Activity (formerly German Mountain Award , German mountain competition ).

Valid radio activity must conform to the spirit of the SOTA program. In particular, the way to the summit must be covered without motorized assistance; all devices required for radio operation must be carried by the team. The radio equipment must not be operated from mains-dependent sources or with fuel-operated generators. Legal regulations and environmental protection regulations must be observed.

Web links

Commons : SOTA  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. SOTA rules (English) as PDF file (accessed April 8, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sota.org.uk
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. SOTA website (accessed August 11, 2015) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sota.org.uk
  3. ↑ sota.org.uk SOTA website (English) (accessed on August 11, 2015)
  4. ↑ SOTA-QTC - SOTA international . In: Knut Theurich, DG0ZB (Hrsg.): Funkamateur . No. 12 . Box 73, Berlin December 2012, Sat-QTC, p. 1323 .
  5. ↑ sotawatch.org Message from the SOTA management in the SOTA reflector (accessed on April 8, 2010)