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SoCal SOTAFest Awards Categories Suggestions #sotafest

Mike Molina
 

Hi everyone,

We're about to officially announce the SoCal SOTAFest event for August 1, and will be sharing out an absolutely amazing digital flyer created by the very talented Jim Bromley (K6IRX) who answered the call for volunteers from my previous post. The banner is almost ready, but I'd like your opinion on awards categories. Awards categories for this event don't have to be serious. These awards are purely ceremonial, but Adam Kimmerly (K6ARK) has offered up a couple of prizes.

Let us know what you think! I've created a very short form below for you to provide your feedback. Thank you!

Link to provide feedback about the event award's categories: SOTAFest Awards Categories Suggestions

- Mike (KN6EZE)
Drew Arnett
 

Nice design!

If "highest summit", then you need "lowest summit", too, right?  :-)

"Most bands" sounds challenging.  Most modes?  (Or most modulations?)

Is there a cap to the event time?  Most summits activated?  (Only need 1 QSO!)
Christian N1CLC
 

Ha!  Most summits activated might be a fun one around here, running from hill to hill.  I wouldn't put it past Adam to set the record on that but to give me a chance, he can't use a vehicle.    I was pretty tapped out after last weekend's San Gabriel triple.  I get in shape, and then sit at a desk all week.
- - - - - -

. . .2
-- C  --
Chris Claborne
N1CLC
Dreams are just screensavers for the mind.


On Tue, Jun 23, 2020 at 9:14 AM Drew Arnett <arnett.drew@...> wrote:
Nice design!

If "highest summit", then you need "lowest summit", too, right?  :-)

"Most bands" sounds challenging.  Most modes?  (Or most modulations?)

Is there a cap to the event time?  Most summits activated?  (Only need 1 QSO!)

Michael Geoghegan
 

Has anyone topped the Big Bear Six Pack yet? With some focus could extend to 8 or 9 in a day.

I did it back in 2017 and again in 2018 - 6 x 8 point peaks.

If anyone wants to give it a go I have the CalTopo map still saved.

Mike KX6A
Paul Gacek (W6PNG/M0SNA)
 
Edited

Here are a few thoughts.....

SOTA is not a competitive program and it really is about your own goals. Making it "competitive" is somewhat going against the spirit of SOTA.

That aside and given the nature of the event (i.e. get people onto local peaks), I think that the emphasis should be around inclusiveness in terms of rewarding local S2S contacts and getting chasers in the log (avoid the dine and dash syndrome or smash and grab as the Brits like to call it).

I think if we are going to measure things then we need to time bound this (i.e 8:30am - 11:30am or whatever).
 
I think highest, furthest, fastest is in essence at odds with the idea of inclusiveness. It possibly drives people to do silly things like, how about I do Cactus to Clouds with a 7300 strapped to my back.

It's clear that activators depend on chasers and vice versa and hence we should have a chaser award category and an activator one. 

My suggestions are;
a) Total number of points (activator and S2S) for activators. This encourages S2S point accumulation
b) Total number of chaser points for chasers (one caveat here is clarifying that the chaser is based in SOCal (and what is the definition of SoCal and do the worked activators 
have to be in SoCal for the chaser award?)

These can be retrieved/verified from SOTADATA.

.....and then again you can have no categories and just suggest people go out and make lots of contacts.

Paul
Adam Kimmerly
 

Agree with Paul on the "non-competitive" aspect of SOTA. Most of the "competition", I find, is internal to the activator - I tend to come up with ridiculous challenges for myself.  Things like earning over 100 QSOs in an activation, activating with a 2 oz mint tin radio, or making DX S2S contacts have been my goals previously.  My current ridiculous plan is to attempt to get 100 points in a 24 hour Zulu day.

With that in mind, I would suggest that my prizes go to people who participate through some sort of raffle or random drawing.  

I'm considering spending that weekend camping in Big Bear if anyone is interested in making a socially distanced camping trip out of the event. 

I have though about doing C2C with the FT-857 just because.  Maybe I should bring the IC7300 instead...

Adam

On Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 12:16 PM Paul Gacek (W6PNG/M0SNA) via groups.io <w6png=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
Here are a few thoughts.....

SOTA is not a competitive program and it really about your own goals. Making it "competitive" is somewhat going against the spirit of SOTA.

That aside and given the nature of the event (i.e. get people onto local peaks), I think that the emphasis should be around inclusiveness in terms of rewarding local S2S contacts and getting chasers in the log (avoid the dine and dash syndrome or smash and grab as the Brits like to call it).

I think if we are going to measure things then we need to time bound this (i.e 8:30am - 11:30am or whatever).
 
I think highest, furthest, fastest is in essence at odds with the idea of inclusiveness. It possibly drives people to do silly things like, how about I do Cactus to Clouds with a 7300 strapped to my back.

It's clear that activators depend on chasers and vice versa and hence we should have a chaser award category and an activator one. 

My suggestions are;
a) Total number of points (activator and S2S) for activators. This encourages S2S point accumulation
b) Total number of chaser points for chasers (one caveat here is clarifying that the chaser is based in SOCal (and what is the definition of SoCal and do the worked activators 
have to be in SoCal for the chaser award?)

These can be retrieved/verified from SOTADATA.

.....and then again you can have no categories and just suggest people go out and make lots of contacts.

Paul



 

Drew Arnett
 

+1 for encouraging S2S

Something for first time SOTA activators?
Jose Pantaleon
 

Not sure if I agree with only 1 QSO for it to count. My thought is, while Yes 1 QSO
technically counts as an activation, 4 QSO's are required to get the summit points. IMHO is we're doing SOTA so we should strive for the summit points as well. Again that is my own opinion.

Jose

On Tuesday, 23 June 2020, Drew Arnett <arnett.drew@...> wrote:
> Nice design!
>
> If "highest summit", then you need "lowest summit", too, right?  :-)
>
> "Most bands" sounds challenging.  Most modes?  (Or most modulations?)
>
> Is there a cap to the event time?  Most summits activated?  (Only need 1 QSO!)
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Ed
 

Yes I agree with Jose. Needs to be 4 contacts to count. 


On Jun 23, 2020, at 4:02 PM, Jose Pantaleon <k6hzr.us@...> wrote:

Not sure if I agree with only 1 QSO for it to count. My thought is, while Yes 1 QSO
technically counts as an activation, 4 QSO's are required to get the summit points. IMHO is we're doing SOTA so we should strive for the summit points as well. Again that is my own opinion.

Jose
On Tuesday, 23 June 2020, Drew Arnett <arnett.drew@...> wrote:
> Nice design!
>
> If "highest summit", then you need "lowest summit", too, right?  :-)
>
> "Most bands" sounds challenging.  Most modes?  (Or most modulations?)
>
> Is there a cap to the event time?  Most summits activated?  (Only need 1 QSO!)

Christian N1CLC
 

I'll chime in and say I agree with Adam on non-competitive, etc.  I, and I think Adam, are goal oriented.  I generally set some ham goals for the year and it normally is to the tune of let's beat last year's summit, miles and elevation count and through in learn CW and .....  You get the picture.

There are days when I want to do three summits and others that I want to just spend the day in my chair on the top getting S2S and logging QSOs, and having a sandwich.  

I'll most likely pick some aspect that is fun and do that.

Let me know how I can support and help.
- - - - - -

. . .2
-- C  --
Chris Claborne
N1CLC
Dreams are just screensavers for the mind.


On Tue, Jun 23, 2020 at 12:35 PM Adam Kimmerly <tradmonkey@...> wrote:
Agree with Paul on the "non-competitive" aspect of SOTA. Most of the "competition", I find, is internal to the activator - I tend to come up with ridiculous challenges for myself.  Things like earning over 100 QSOs in an activation, activating with a 2 oz mint tin radio, or making DX S2S contacts have been my goals previously.  My current ridiculous plan is to attempt to get 100 points in a 24 hour Zulu day.

With that in mind, I would suggest that my prizes go to people who participate through some sort of raffle or random drawing.  

I'm considering spending that weekend camping in Big Bear if anyone is interested in making a socially distanced camping trip out of the event. 

I have though about doing C2C with the FT-857 just because.  Maybe I should bring the IC7300 instead...

Adam

On Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 12:16 PM Paul Gacek (W6PNG/M0SNA) via groups.io <w6png=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
Here are a few thoughts.....

SOTA is not a competitive program and it really about your own goals. Making it "competitive" is somewhat going against the spirit of SOTA.

That aside and given the nature of the event (i.e. get people onto local peaks), I think that the emphasis should be around inclusiveness in terms of rewarding local S2S contacts and getting chasers in the log (avoid the dine and dash syndrome or smash and grab as the Brits like to call it).

I think if we are going to measure things then we need to time bound this (i.e 8:30am - 11:30am or whatever).
 
I think highest, furthest, fastest is in essence at odds with the idea of inclusiveness. It possibly drives people to do silly things like, how about I do Cactus to Clouds with a 7300 strapped to my back.

It's clear that activators depend on chasers and vice versa and hence we should have a chaser award category and an activator one. 

My suggestions are;
a) Total number of points (activator and S2S) for activators. This encourages S2S point accumulation
b) Total number of chaser points for chasers (one caveat here is clarifying that the chaser is based in SOCal (and what is the definition of SoCal and do the worked activators 
have to be in SoCal for the chaser award?)

These can be retrieved/verified from SOTADATA.

.....and then again you can have no categories and just suggest people go out and make lots of contacts.

Paul



 

Jose Pantaleon
 

I agree with Chris on this 100% my personal HAM goal this year was to learn CW, use it for SOTA and have a good time doing it. So far so good. I hope to pick up a couple more states and get some of you in the log for the first time.


On Tuesday, 23 June 2020, Christian N1CLC <claborne@...> wrote:
> I'll chime in and say I agree with Adam on non-competitive, etc.  I, and I think Adam, are goal oriented.  I generally set some ham goals for the year and it normally is to the tune of let's beat last year's summit, miles and elevation count and through in learn CW and .....  You get the picture.
> There are days when I want to do three summits and others that I want to just spend the day in my chair on the top getting S2S and logging QSOs, and having a sandwich.  
> I'll most likely pick some aspect that is fun and do that.
> Let me know how I can support and help.
> - - - - - -
>
> . . .2
> -- C  --
> Chris Claborne
> N1CLC
> Dreams are just screensavers for the mind.
>
> On Tue, Jun 23, 2020 at 12:35 PM Adam Kimmerly <tradmonkey@...> wrote:
>>
>> Agree with Paul on the "non-competitive" aspect of SOTA. Most of the "competition", I find, is internal to the activator - I tend to come up with ridiculous challenges for myself.  Things like earning over 100 QSOs in an activation, activating with a 2 oz mint tin radio, or making DX S2S contacts have been my goals previously.  My current ridiculous plan is to attempt to get 100 points in a 24 hour Zulu day.
>> With that in mind, I would suggest that my prizes go to people who participate through some sort of raffle or random drawing.  
>> I'm considering spending that weekend camping in Big Bear if anyone is interested in making a socially distanced camping trip out of the event. 
>> I have though about doing C2C with the FT-857 just because.  Maybe I should bring the IC7300 instead...
>> Adam
>> On Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 12:16 PM Paul Gacek (W6PNG/M0SNA) via groups.io <w6png=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
>>>
>>> Here are a few thoughts.....
>>>
>>> SOTA is not a competitive program and it really about your own goals. Making it "competitive" is somewhat going against the spirit of SOTA.
>>>
>>> That aside and given the nature of the event (i.e. get people onto local peaks), I think that the emphasis should be around inclusiveness in terms of rewarding local S2S contacts and getting chasers in the log (avoid the dine and dash syndrome or smash and grab as the Brits like to call it).
>>>
>>> I think if we are going to measure things then we need to time bound this (i.e 8:30am - 11:30am or whatever).
>>>  
>>> I think highest, furthest, fastest is in essence at odds with the idea of inclusiveness. It possibly drives people to do silly things like, how about I do Cactus to Clouds with a 7300 strapped to my back.
>>>
>>> It's clear that activators depend on chasers and vice versa and hence we should have a chaser award category and an activator one. 
>>>
>>> My suggestions are;
>>> a) Total number of points (activator and S2S) for activators. This encourages S2S point accumulation
>>> b) Total number of chaser points for chasers (one caveat here is clarifying that the chaser is based in SOCal (and what is the definition of SoCal and do the worked activators 
>>> have to be in SoCal for the chaser award?)
>>>
>>> These can be retrieved/verified from SOTADATA.
>>>
>>> .....and then again you can have no categories and just suggest people go out and make lots of contacts.
>>>
>>> Paul
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>
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Mike Molina
 
Edited

Hi everyone,

Great feedback. In response to some of the feedback, the following changes are being made: We're leaving talk of awards competition out of the digital flyer and will replace the text with "Awards given for various categories." However, I do think that having awards categories, even if just for fun, will be a huge plus, but should be secondary to activating, bringing along new people, etc. There will be enough categories to make it fun, and to Paul's point there will also be group metrics that we can prioritize above the individual categories, i.e., total # of points for activators, or a first-time activator multi-person award. These will be outlined on the event information page, but again, will be secondary concerns.

As the feedback and my thoughts crystalize, here is what I'm seeing as the primary goals of the event:

  1. S2S activations between participants
  2. Inclusion of new people and first-time activators.
  3. Providing chasers an opportunity to rack up massive points

Any additional thoughts here? We're going to begin wrapping up the flyer and information page here soon.


P.S. Still laughing at the mental image of Paul and Adam carrying up IC7300's up the C2C trail. Makes me want to a create a "most colossal rig" category... j/k :)
Drew Arnett
 

"spend the day in my chair on the top getting S2S and logging QSOs, and having a sandwich"

Apparently Christian was on to my secret plan.  Get everyone to run around to a bunch of summits while I relax and log S2S.  :-)
Drew Arnett
 

Sounds like a bullseye to me on the primary goals.

"most colossal rig"?  There is an event with skinny and tubby categories for exactly that.  http://arsqrp.blogspot.com/2009/02/so-whats-spartan-sprint-and-how-do-i.html  Score is # of QSOs divided by the weight of your setup.  That's why tubby and skinny are scored separately.  I think Adam is a ringer for the skinny category, but he'd find some competition there.
Paul Gacek (W6PNG/M0SNA)
 

On Wed, Jun 24, 2020 at 06:36 AM, Drew Arnett wrote:
"spend the day in my chair on the top getting S2S and logging QSOs, and having a sandwich"
and you can work all the CO 14-ers participants who are typically off by noon for even more S2S contacts 

Paul
Paul Gacek (W6PNG/M0SNA)
 

Here is a link to the CO 14-er flier. Not quite as snappy as ours but it does provide a useful summary of key info including use of frequencies etc.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxoYW0xNGVyfGd4OjdhMTMyYWVkYzIyNDZmNDQ

Paul

PDF
Colorado 14er Event Flyer 2019.pdf

Kim Cary KC6ARY
 

Mike, I like your crystalized goals. Good for the sport overall.

For myself, I'm interested in bands/modes "award" or at least awareness/openness in this event for a few reasons:
  • I carry an 891, tablet and a Pi. Getting my first JS8Call on 1838/Malibu Springs was a thrill.
  • I almost always try DMR 441/TG99/CC01, in addition to VHF.
  • I just cooked up a 6M speaker wire doublet for FD that I'll bring.
  • SoCal SOTA Fest is during the 17m flavor; so hope to make a doublet for that.
  • I will have KC6CLC technician with me - I'd like to get her some 70cm/2M/6M/10M phone contacts. <= new first time activator
  • I might bring the tuner and a long wire and try a bunch of bands/modes.
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