George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].
As the
Christmas season approaches, radio amateurs across the world can once again
look forward to hearing the cheerful special callsigns PH25XMAS and PH26HNY on the HF bands. These stations will be active during the Christmas holidays
and the first week of January 2026, sharing goodwill and season’s greetings
over the airwaves.
This year
marks the first lustrum (5th anniversary) of the festive XMAS and HNY event calls. To mark the occasion, the organizing team has developed
an all-new automated award platform — a creative blend of amateur radio, Python programming, and artificial
intelligence. It is called SAVS (Special Award Validation System).
The system will be operational,
starting the 6th of December 2025. Until then a page is showing a
count-down timer to the first date of operation and first opportunity to check
the award eligibility.
A Fully Automated Award System: SAVS
Participants
who have made QSOs with PH##XMAS
and/or PH##HNY stations between 2021 and 2026 can check whether they
qualify for a commemorative certificate.
The
platform automatically searches remote
and local ADIF logs (PH21XMAS–PH26HNY).
Operators
whose callsigns appear three or
more times in the logbooks across the past four years and this year
are eligible for an award.
After
entering your callsign on the Entry
Page, the system validates your QSOs, displays the results, and —
if qualified — instantly generates a personalized PDF certificate for download.
Behind
the scenes, a Python Flask server
performs the validation, integrates with QRZ.com for data verification, and generates your award PDF with just one click.
Every element — from log validation to PDF generation — runs autonomously,
demonstrating how classic ham radio activity can harmoniously combine with
modern coding and machine learning.
Join the Celebration
So this
festive season, when you hear “CQ from
PH25XMAS” or “CQ from PH26HNY”,
don’t hesitate to call back!
You might not only exchange warm holiday greetings, but also earn yourself a
special place in the logs — and a beautiful
award to commemorate it.
📡Brought to you by Radio Scouting Fellowship
PA3EFR/J
A view of W0C/SP-096, also known as “Bow Tie Mountain”
On December 1, most SOTA summits in Colorado gain an additional 3 points due to the Seasonal (Winter) Bonus. Joyce/K0JJW and I were looking for a summit not too far away that was still accessible for us to activate. This time of year, many US Forest Service roads are gated shut. Other roads remain open but are not maintained, which means they become impassable as the snow accumulates.
Recently, Ray/KD8EQA reminded me of W0C/SP-096, an unnamed summit unofficially known as Bow Tie Mountain. Ray writes:
Once upon a time… many years ago… in a land of many mountains and many activators named Steve… two of the Steves, K7PX and WG0AT, became good friends and would often hike and activate together. … in the spirit of being silly and having fun… that one or both Steves could be seen wearing a tie during their activations. Soon, the unofficial challenge was underway to see who could show up with the coolest, “make a statement” tie. And this quickly led to the ultimate tie statement… a bow tie! So, guess which summit is credited with being the one where the most memorable, outlandish, bow tie antics took place… the one the Steves refer to as Bow Tie Mountain? Yup, it’s peak 10214, SOTA reference W0C/SP-096.
The complete Bow Tie Mountain story is here, along with an invitation to come play along. Other SOTA folks have activated SP-096 during the winter months, so it seemed likely to be accessible in early December. There was a couple of inches of new snow on the ground, but it was easy-peasy to drive the Jeep there.
Driving directions to SP-096, starting from Highway 9, south of Hartsel.
To get to SP-096, head south out of Hartsel on Highway 9. Then turn east/northeast on CR 116. You will drive right past Threemile Mountain (SP-107), a popular summit with year-round access. These two summits can be done together in the same day but opted just to do SP-096.
It is an easy hike to the summit, following the closed two-track road.
The parking spot for the trailhead is 38.86462, -10556085. There is an old 4WD road, now closed, that leads up to the saddle just west of the summit. It is an easy hike on the road, then off-trail to the summit. My GPS app clocked it as 0.5 miles one-way and 500 feet vertical. This is about as easy as it gets for a SOTA hike.
Joyce/K0JJW hiking on the abandoned road to the saddle.
Weather
The weather forecast for Dec 1 called for 27 degrees F at the summit, which turned out to be about right. I expected there would be enough wind to drive us off the summit quickly. “Hey, let’s get our four contacts and get the heck out of here.” Instead, the wind was mostly calm, the sun was out, and it was very pleasant.
With the incredible blue sky, the views were stunning in all directions. The fresh snow was just enough to add texture and definition to the various mountains and surrounding slopes.
Following established custom, we took this photo wearing bow ties on the summit. That is Pikes Peak in the background.
The 2m band was pretty quiet, but we did manage to work five stations on 2m FM. The best DX for the day was Matt/KF0RIG in Colorado Springs, about 45 miles away. This is not a very long distance for 2m FM, except that Pikes Peak is blocking the way. Matt had a Yagi at his house pointed at Pikes, and we did the same on our end. Somehow the signal got through, perhaps via knife-edge diffraction. I was impressed that we completed the contact.
Try It
This summit seems to be underappreciated, with only 29 activations. About one-third of these were done by one of the Steves (K7PX or WG0AT). This seems to happen with smaller, unnamed summits. But now it’s got a name and the Bow Tie tradition, so you are invited to give it a try.
Once again, the CQ WW CW contest has come to an end. Although the conditions were not as favorable as last year, it was still a fantastic event. Some highlights included contacting fellow blogger Bas, who was using his new contest call PA6G on 20m, as well as reaching ZD7VJ on St. Helena Island and VP8NO on the Falkland Islands.
I was pleasantly surprised to connect with many South American stations on 10m on Sunday afternoon. I’m pleased to report there were no station issues at all—everything ran very smoothly.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
Once again, the CQ WW CW contest has come to an end. Although the conditions were not as favorable as last year, it was still a fantastic event. Some highlights included contacting fellow blogger Bas, who was using his new contest call PA6G on 20m, as well as reaching ZD7VJ on St. Helena Island and VP8NO on the Falkland Islands.
I was pleasantly surprised to connect with many South American stations on 10m on Sunday afternoon. I’m pleased to report there were no station issues at all—everything ran very smoothly.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT and Edmund Spicer M0MNG to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief, and the episode's feature is Krampus event and Yaseu UK
We would like to thank Pete Leng (ZL4TE), Daniel Robson (GM6CMQ) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate
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Here’s an update on the most activated SOTA summits in Colorado. See my previous report here. Mount Herman (W0C/FR-063) still leads the pack by a wide margin, with many activations by Steve/WG0AT.
A view of Pikes Peak from Mt Herman.
Genesee Mountain has passed up Pikes Peak to take second place in the running. Genessee is in a park just outside of greater Denver and is easy to access. I notice many out-of-town SOTA enthusiasts going up there to get on the air and make some contacts. Pikes Peak is a 14er but has a road to the top, and most of those activations are probably aided by a vehicle. Chief Mountain is in fourth place. Mount Blue Sky (formerly Mount Evans) is also a 14er with a road to the top. However, it dropped off the list, due to the reduced access caused by recent road construction in the area.
Thorodin Mountain comes in at number five and seems to be gaining in popularity, with Carey/KX0R as a frequent activator.
The summit formerly known as Squaw Mountain, now Mestaa’ehehe Mountain (W0C/PR-082), comes in at sixth place. There is a gated road to the top, so most activators hike that road.
Most of these summits are in the Front Range section of W0C, close to the major cities, which aids their popularity. The other two are listed in the Sawatch and Park Ranges, but they are also not far from the large urban areas.
First in North America
In North America, Mount Herman is second only to Mount Davidson (W6/NC-423), which currently has 846 activations, many of them by Ellliot/K6EL. Davidson is a small 1-point summit in the middle of San Francisco, so it is easily accessible to a large population. This video by W6DFM provides a tour of that summit. Another notable summit is Vollmer Peak (W6/NC-298), an easy-to-access peak with 551 activations.
So that’s your update on SOTA activations in Colorado.
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Ham College 131
7 December 2025 | by 
Thorodin Mountain comes in at number five and seems to be gaining in popularity, with Carey/KX0R as a frequent activator.
The summit formerly known as Squaw Mountain, now Mestaa’ehehe Mountain (W0C/PR-082), comes in at sixth place. There is a gated road to the top, so most activators hike that road.
Most of these summits are in the Front Range section of W0C, close to the major cities, which aids their popularity. The other two are listed in the Sawatch and Park Ranges, but they are also not far from the large urban areas.
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