This is a heads up for a chance to encourage new 2m/70cm SSB/CW ops during 2026.
The SOTA (Summits on the Air) program will sometimes have a year long
challenge to encourage use of a band or mode or something that isn't
commonly used. For 2026, this is 2m/70cm SSB/CW.
SOTA does have gateway drug potential. Over the last dozen years,
I've seen an astonishingly high percentage of new hams who after doing
SOTA take on the challenge of CW. Some have gotten into HF
contesting. And there has been a bit of dabbling with VHF weak signal
with the modified Quanshengs.
The "activators" on the mountain tops don't need more than a signal
report for their normal SOTA credit. For this challenge, they do need
to get some sort of QTH from the "chasers". This could be just saying
you're good in the callbook, er, I mean FCC database. Or something
they can look up at home and translate to a grid or lat/lon. Or a
maidenhead grid. They should NOT ASSUME your location. You could be
mobile or on vacation or who knows. lol
The one tiny bit of friction is that it is better for them to get a 6
character grid if you're giving out a grid. We can swing 6 character
grids during the microwave contest, so I know it is possible. :-)
No need to participate. Or give more than a signal report. But if
you're game, encourage some folks to play V/U weak signal.
Alerts (plans) and spots are posted here:
https://sotawatch.sota.org.uk/en/ (Plans are plans. Weather and
mountain travel and safety dictate. lol)
For the SoCal or perhaps greater W6 region, I posted a cheat sheet for
folks. Any feedback is welcome. Practices are regional. :-) (I
don't know about beacons, so if someone can confirm operational status
on beacons in W6 for 2m/70cm, I'd appreciate it!)
https://gist.github.com/drewarnett/b87629395d0aa21904f0fb7bbf27ed98
Thanks and best regards,
Drew
n7da
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