SOTA Mountain Hunter Award – Silver

Three weeks ago I received the Mountain Hunter Award (Silver) from SOTA MT in the UK.  The Silver award can be claimed for chasing 10 unique SOTA Associations.  To qualify a unique Association the chaser must make two unique contacts per Association.

For six months I sat patiently on nine unique SOTA Associations, finding an activator working an Association of interest to me has been a long process.  With nine Associations completed, I had one Association in each of DL, GW, and VK9.  Ed DD5LP in Germany has activated a small number of DL summits, it’s been a challenge to hear Ed let alone getting a signal report back to him.  VK9 Australian territories are rare activations, if I had any chance for a 10th SOTA Association it had to come from Wales.

On Sunday 24 August 2014 Bill G4WSB planned to activate a mountain peak in South Wales, Mynydd y Betws GW/SW-028 near Swansea. Bill had posted an alert for 06:00 UTC.  For me Sunday was a SOTA expedition to Booroomba Rocks VK1/AC-026 and Honeysuckle Mountain VK1/AC-027 both in Namadgi National Park VKFF-377.  With 14 activator points in the SOTA log, I left the park at 04:30 UTC for a 45 minute drive home.  At home I had time to spare before Bill’s planned start time at 06:00 UTC.

At 06:00 UTC my Android phone RRT app altered to an activation of a summit in Wales. Looking at the phone display it was Bill on 14 MHz.  With no time to waste I fired up the FT897D set the power output to 80 watts, I heard Bill working Ron VK3AFW in Melbourne, Bill’s signal was in the clear at 5-6.  After Ron cleared I called Bill, to my surprise Bill acknowledged with a 5-5 report, bloody beauty, finally a second GW summit and a 10th unique Association.  🙂

Why was I surprised to make the contact?  Being on a suburban block, I don’t have a multiband Yagi with 3 or 5 elements.  My 20m antenna is a 20m rectangular horizontal loop six metres above the ground. The 20m loop is fed with 450 ohm ladder line and tuned by a homebrew Z Match.  Propagation was on my side, the antenna radiated the signal long path to Wales, very happy with the result.  Thanks Bill for activating Mynydd y Betws  🙂

SOTA Associations chased, majority of DX are from summit to summit contacts

VK1NAM SOTA

SOTA Associations and Regions chased since 1 February 2013

Association	Region
DL – Germany (Alpine)	BE – Benediktenwandgruppe
DM – Germany (Low Mountains)	BW – Bathe Wuerttemberg
DM – Germany (Low Mountains)	NW – North Rhine-Westfalia
EA2 – Spain (North)	NV – Navarra
EA7 – Spain (South)	MA – Málaga
F – France	AM – Alpes Méridionales
G – England	CE – Central England
G – England	LD – Lake District
G – England	SB – Scottish Borders
G – England	SE – Southern England
G – England	SP – Southern Pennines
G – England	TW – Tees to the Wash
GW – Wales	MW – Mid Wales
GW – Wales	NW – North Wales
GW – Wales	SW – South Wales
OE – Austria	OO – Oberösterreich
OE – Austria	VB – Vorarlberg
OK – Czechia	PL – Plzenský
VK1 – Australia – Capital Territory	AC – Australian Capital Territory
VK2 – Australia – NSW	CT – Central Tablelands
VK2 – Australia – NSW	CW – Central West
VK2 – Australia – NSW	HU – Hunter
VK2 – Australia – NSW	IL – Illawarra
VK2 – Australia – NSW	MN – Mid North Coast
VK2 – Australia – NSW	NR – Northern Rivers
VK2 – Australia – NSW	NT – Northern Tablelands
VK2 – Australia – NSW	NW – Northwest Slopes and Plains
VK2 – Australia – NSW	RI – Riverina
VK2 – Australia – NSW	SC – South Coast
VK2 – Australia – NSW	SM – Snowy Mountains
VK2 – Australia – NSW	ST – Southern Tablelands
VK2 – Australia – NSW	SW – South West Slopes
VK2 – Australia – NSW	SY – Sydney
VK3 – Australia – Victoria	VC – Victoria – Central Region
VK3 – Australia – Victoria	VE – Victoria – North East
VK3 – Australia – Victoria	VG – Victoria – East Gippsland
VK3 – Australia – Victoria	VN – Victoria – North Central
VK3 – Australia – Victoria	VS – Victoria – South West
VK3 – Australia – Victoria	VT – Victoria – West/South Gippsland
VK3 – Australia – Victoria	VU – Victoria – North Country
VK3 – Australia – Victoria	VW – Victoria – Wimmera
VK4 – Australia – Queensland	SE – Southeast Coast
VK5 – Australia – South Australia	NE – North East
VK5 – Australia – South Australia	SE – South East
VK6 – Australia – WA	SW – South West
VK8 – Australia – Northern Territory	AL – Central
VK9 – Australia – Islands	NO – Norfolk Island Group