SOTA activities by ZS6DX
Summits Activated or planned by ZS6DX
With winter approaching we will be looking at activating summits again soon, it is just too hot in summer to go climbing mountains here in this part of Africa !
Summits On the Air - SOTA for short - is an international Amateur Radio awards program that was launched in March 2002. SOTA issues certificates to members who contact or activate a certain number of mountain summits. It is especially suited to South Africa since although we have relatively few islands we do have plenty of mountains, as well as excellent hiking weather throughout the year.
SOTA encourages portable operations by summit activators. Operations from vehicles are not permitted, and although a vehicle may be used to get to the mountain, the method of final access to the summit must be "person powered" (e.g. hiking, mountain bike etc.) and all equipment must be carried to the site by the activator team. QRP operations are the rule, so this is a wonderful opportunity for all you homebrew and QRP enthusiasts to show off your portable equipment and operating prowess. However since all bands and modes are permissible, you don't require a portable HF rig to activate a summit - a VHF HT is quite sufficient but I personally feel that you miss most of the fun if you only plan a 'local' operation by not using HF !. There are a number of certificates for activators, culminating in the ultimate accolade - the "Mountain Goat" plaque.
See you on the Summits !
