Posts Tagged ‘awards’
Another SOTA Milestone: 2x Mountain Goat
August 24th, 2025 | 
Author: On August 18, I activated Mount Peck (W0C/ SP-053) with Steve/K5SJC, which put me over the top of 2000 activation points for SOTA. This is commonly known as 2x Mountain Goat or Double Mountain Goat. (Joyce/K0JJW was out of town, leaving me unsupervised for a few weeks.)
Steve, thanks for doing Mt Peck with me, it was fun! Joyce and I had great fun activating it back in 2017, and it was good to return to it. The summit is near the Continental Divide Trail, accessed from Monarch Pass, so it is an excellent hike on top of the world. The coolest thing about this summit is the nice rock that served as a gear table (see Steve’s photo above.) No bending down to pick up my backpack or equipment.
I tend to see the Mountain Goat Award (1000 points) as the primary SOTA award, establishing the SOTA activator as serious about the program. Anything beyond that is just more points. But still, 2000 points is a milestone worth recognizing, and it caused me to examine my SOTA log in retrospect.
Here are my stats for SOTA activations:
Thanks to all of the chasers who made these activations possible. Here are my top chasers:
Here are some fun facts I have from reviewing my log. Currently, I have 2005 activation points. If you ask the SOTAdatabase for my 2m log, it also shows 2005 activation points. This is not quite right in my view, because it counts all activations with points that have at least one 2m contact included. That is, not all activations had four 2m or VHF contacts. In reality, I have 9 activations (corresponding to 41 points) that used HF to get the required four QSOs (for points). This means I need 36 more 2m-only points to get a pure 2x VHF Mountain Goat, untainted by HF QSOs. 
People wonder how often Joyce/K0JJW and I get skunked on a summit using only VHF. Out of 346 activations, I’ve had 20 times falling short of getting the minimum four QSOs (5.7% of the total). I basically never fail to activate a summit because Joyce is usually along, and we work each other (outside the activation zone) to qualify for the activation, but not the points. Sometimes we anticipate that a VHF-only strategy is going to be a problem, so we take along HF gear to make up the difference. This usually happens in a rural area with low population density or in some other remote location such as American Samoa (KH8). Sometimes, we’ve made an extra effort to arrange for capable VHF stations to chase us. Good examples of this are Mount Ojibway and Capulin Mountain. Finally, sometimes we just accept the likelihood that we will come up short on VHF, but do the VHF-only activation anyway.
I’ve written a lot about how to optimize your VHF SOTA activations on my blog. In particular, see The Truth About VHF SOTA. SOTA is a fantastic and versatile program that can be adapted to your particular interests. Keep having fun with your kind of SOTA, whatever that is!
Special thanks to my spouse, hiking partner, SOTA enthusiast, and favorite radio amateur, Joyce/K0JJW, for joining me on these many SOTA activations.
73 Bob K0NR
The post Another SOTA Milestone: 2x Mountain Goat appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.
Chasing States
Sometimes, I just need a reason to get on the air. Specific operating goals can help with this, whatever form they take, including operating awards. One of the first awards I earned many years ago was Worked All States (WAS). The mixed WAS is not that difficult because you can use any of the HF bands to make the contacts. Some bands are better for close-in states while others are better for long distances. Do a lot of operating, and you’ll eventually earn WAS. And it is fun to chase states.Six Meter WAS
A few months ago, I looked at my Logbook of The World (LoTW) stats and noticed that I was one state shy of having WAS on 6 meters. I was not working towards this objective, but I was making a lot of contacts on six, trying to work countries and grids. The state I was missing was Utah, which is adjacent to my state of Colorado. I know I had worked Utah before, but I didn’t have it confirmed. Utah is not that easy to work from my location, because the populated areas of the state are in a dead zone: too far away for tropo propagation but too close for sporadic-e. Once I realized I only needed Utah, I kept watch for Utah stations showed up on 6 meters. Soon, I worked KI7MD using meteor scatter and asked him to confirm the contact in LoTW. OK, there you g, I had WAS on 6 meters. I consider this a real accomplishment, one that took many years.Chasing States By Band
Well, of course, it did not stop there. Another review of my LoTW results by state and band revealed that I already had WAS on 20 meters. I patted myself on the back for that accomplishment, even though I just stumbled across it. Then I noticed I had 43 states on 40 meters. Hmm, that should not be too difficult to complete because 40m propagation covers the US quite well. Alaska and Hawaii were both already confirmed so the challenge was filling in the missing lower 48 states. I’ve been doing quite a bit of FT8 operating lately, so I set JTAlert up to alert me when any of the states I needed were received on 40 meters. Whenever they popped up, I’d make it a point to work them, if possible. Soon, the missing states were filled in, and I had achieved WAS on 40m. Technically, I have the confirmations in LoTW (good enough for me), but I have not applied to have the award issued. Well, what band should I pursue next? I was a latecomer to the 30-meter band, making my first contact on that band in Feb 2024. However, I have learned to really like it with its propagation characteristics being an interesting mix of stateside and DX. I had about 30 states confirmed on 30m, so I figured it would not take too long to fill in the blanks. Again, I used FT8 aided by JTAlert to keep watch for the states I needed. I wasn’t completely zoned in on working these states…usually, I was on the air for other reasons, but when JTAlert told me there was a WAS contact to be had, I grabbed it. Right now, I have 49 states confirmed on 30m, with Delaware being the only one missing. Now, someone out there is thinking, “Don’t pursue WAS one band at a time; go for them all at once!” That probably would be more efficient, but that’s not what I am after. I just like having a few operating goals in front of me to focus my efforts and pursuing states on a single band fits that just fine.WAS Score Card
Here’s a snapshot of my WAS numbers today, from LoTW. After I finish up 30m, I will probably focus on 15m or 10m. I tend to be on those bands anyway for chasing DX. On those bands, I seem to be missing the closer in states with lower population density such as Kansas, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Utah. This is predictable with the longer F2 propagation normally found on those bands.
I don’t know that I’ll ever get WAS on 2m and I am more focused on VUCC for that band. Note that I have 4 states on 70cm: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. I am a bit surprised by that. Anyway, if you are looking for a reason to get on the air, chasing states might be interesting. Remember, it’s all about having fun messing around with radio. 73 Bob K0NR The post Chasing States appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site. Where’s My WAZ Certificate?
Guess what! Today, I received (by postal service) this very nice plaque from CQ, for working and confirming all 40 of the worldwide CQ DX Zones.
CQ WAZ NW7US – Mixed – Plaque
Many of you wonder, “where are my paper certificates for my WAZ efforts?”
At least one, if not all of the following, are reasons why there has been such a long delay in getting paper certificates for the WAZ CQ program:
- Paper certificates (blanks) were not available and backordered (Covid, folks).
- There is only ONE person doing the lettering (by hand).
- The advent of FT8 and FT4 in the WAZ program has SWAMPED the program. There’s a HUGE backlog.
That said, the new CQ WAZ Manager (N4BAA, JOSE CASTILLO) has made the following statement available:
— quote follows —
Effective September 1, 2022, CQ Magazine will no longer provide the Hand Lettered CQ WAZ paper certificate for free.
CQ WAZ AWARD RECIPIENTS HAVE 4 AWARD OPTIONS:
- Accept the standard award offering which is a High-Definition PDF file. This file can be printed in color and framed and is very nice. This award is delivered immediately with award letter, thus, no waiting.
- Select the traditional CQ WAZ Hand-Lettered award: the cost is $19.00 and includes shipping worldwide. This award option is managed by CQ Magazine and can take up to 180 days to receive.
- Select a Level I plaque: 7” x 9” two-tone engraved wood plaque: cost is $57 US / $100 International and includes shipping. Delivery time is under 30 days for US stations and less than 60 days internationally.
- Select a Level II plaque: 9” x 12” Floating Etched Acrylic over Black Wood: cost is $91 US / $135 International. and includes shipping.
Here is a video that the administrator has posted, about this:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFJBbZ0yb3c[/embedyt]
Delivery time is roughly 30 days for US stations and less than 60 days internationally depending on the actual address.
The intent of this program is to respond to the ever-increasing demand for more options that are still very personalized as well as very elegant.
Not every ham is able to achieve the requirements for a 5BWAZ or 160 Meter plaque, so he is making this offering to everyone!
All questions or inquiries and plaque orders should be directed to the CQ WAZ Manager via email at [email protected] or postal mail via QRZ.com address.
All plaque data will be taken directly from the information provided in your email. The CQ WAZ manager will not be responsible for errors in data supplied by the recipient other than AWARD type and Award number.
To Place Order: send the information below via email to [email protected] or via postal mail to my QRZ.com address and please double-check spelling etc.
Email Subject line should be: “WAZ PLAQUE ORDER – YOUR CALL”
Then, provide the following information:
Call Sign:
Desired Name on Plaque:
WAZ AWARD Type
(example: MIXED, RTTY, 15M CW, EME, etc.)
SERIAL NUMBER on award:
Date on Award:
Award Desired:
– Level 1 plaque – $57 US / $100 International
– Level 2 plaque – $91 US / $135 International
There you have it…
73 de NW7US dit dit
A CW contest surprise!
An interesting challenge
http://ny4g.blogspot.com/2015/12/qrp-dxcc-challenge.html
He calls it "QRP Wars - The Morse Awakens".
Cute.
Now the question is - can it be done?
My answer is, "Yes, I think it can." Even with the worsening solar conditions. But (and there's alway's a "but") I think this competition favors those who are retired and can send mondo amounts of time on the radio. It also favors those of us on the East coast, who are closer to Europe and the Caribbean. And with the ARRL DX Contest which is held in February, if you really put your mind to it, it should be possible to work QRP DXCC within 100 days.
Am I going to put my money where my mouth is?
Not sure at this point. I just might try it for fun and just may keep a "diary" of the effort here on the blog - just for the halibut. Let me cogitate on it for a while. I have a couple of days left until 2016 rolls around.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
SOTA Mountain Goat Trophy Arrives
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| My Ph.D. in Portable Mountain Ops |
SOTA Mountain Goat Trophy Arrives
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| My Ph.D. in Portable Mountain Ops |
