SOTA Associations

The number of live SOTA Associations now stands at 23.

The most recently joined association - S5 Slovenia - got off to a magnificent start on its launch day 15th June 2008.

Activating Planina in Slovenia

No less than 16 summit activations took place on that day, making it easily the best-ever association launch day.

S53X/P was the first to activate a Slovenian summit, making many QSOs from Planina S5/BR-023.

Just for fun, here is a 'league table' of association launch days, showing number of activations and first activator / summit:

 1) S5 -16 - 15/06/08 - S53X/P - S5/BR-023
 2) OK -12 - 01/05/07 - OK/DH7WW/P - OK/KA-001
 3) F -  6 - 01/04/07 - F/LX1NO/P - F/VO-052
 4) G -  4 - 02/03/02 - G3CWI/P - G/WB-005
=4) HA - 4 - 01/05/05 - HA1DTQ/P - HA/ND-010
 6) LA - 3 - 01/05/08 - LB1GB/P - LA/OS-003
=7) EI - 2 - 15/03/03 - EI7GY/P - EI/IE-003
=7) DL - 2 - 01/03/04 - DL3MAV/P - DL/AL-172
=7) ON - 2 - 01/07/07 - ON7ZM/P - ON/ON-003
=10)GW - 1 - 02/03/02 - MW0IDX/P - GW/NW-001
=10)ZS - 1 - 01/01/03 - ZS1AN/P - ZS/WC-043
=10)SV - 1 - 03/08/03 - SV1COX/P - SV/AT-011
=10)HB - 1 - 01/08/05 - HB9SGS/P - HB/ZH-010

Of the other ten SOTA associations, GD, GM, GI, DM, OE, W2, SP, OH and SM did not have an activation on the launch day, while HB0 (Liechtenstein) is yet to have its first activation!

• Summits on the Air (SOTA) is an award scheme for radio amateurs and shortwave listeners that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas. SOTA has been carefully designed to make participation possible for everyone - this is not just for mountaineers!

There are awards for activators (those who ascend to the summits) and chasers (who either operate from home, a local hilltop or are even Activators on other summits)

More information at:
http://www.sota.org.uk/