How to be sought after with small radios and antennas Summits On The Air (SOTA) Islands On The Air (IOTA) 30 minute video of Rockall IOTA Activation JCARC February 2015 Dick AH6EZ/W7
SOTA and IOTA created in the UK Maybe they have too much gray and damp WX Just like us in the Pacific Northwest SOTA and IOTA similar but very different Activators at the Summits or Islands Chasers making QSOs with Summits or Islands It can be about awards or just getting on the air Practicing for FD or Emergency Power Having fun outdoors SOTA can be HF or VHF/UHF (antenna height nice) IOTA generally HF (but some islands have mtns)
SOTA World divided into Association Regions Washington administrated by N7RR Higher elevation summits have more points Lower elevation summits have less points Points are color coded onto maps Some summits require mountaineering Some summits you can almost drive to
SOTA Activator Rules 1. Legitimate access routes and obtain landowners permission 2. Operation from vehicles is not permitted 3. Method of final access to the Summit must be person powered, e.g. hiking, mountain biking 4. Operate from a portable power source (e.g. batteries, solar cells), no generators 5. All equipment must be carried by you to the summit 6. At least 4 QSOs must be made for you to claim your activator points 7. QSOs through a repeater do not count 8. QSOs with others on the same summit do not count 9. Activator points only claimed by holder of callsign used on summit 10.You need to send in your log to claim your points 11.You can only claim each summit once in each calendar year Morgan Hill is not a defined Summit
sota.org.uk
Washington SOTA Regions
Olympic Peninsula SOTA Region
Another Washington SOTA Region
SOTA Awards Certificates for 100, 250 and 500 points Mountain Goat trophy is available for Activators who attain 1000 points Further certificates for progress beyond 1000 points
Where and when to find SOTA http://www.sotawatch.org/
Shifting Gears
Far fewer IOTA Rules Any means of travel Any power level (QRP preferred of course) Activate as often as you want It does have to be an approved island
Personal Boat Ferry Bridge Causeway Swimming Getting to an IOTA Not mountaineering but can still be challenging or risky
Formal Definition of an IOTA island 1. Located in open sea, not a lake or river 2. Natural, not man made 3. Must be above water at high tide 4. Have a recognized island name 5. No minimum island size requirement 6. Shown/named on Google Earth or other ref map 7. Separated from mainland at low tide by min 200m 8. Mainland connection by bridge (200m under bridge) Darn, Marrowstone Island does not qualify
PNW IOTAs Islands Organized Into Groups. Same credit for any island In a given group
NA-065 Washington State North Claimed by: 38.9% of participants. Bainbridge Blake Gedney Hope Maury Minor Protection Smith Vashon Whidbey Group Excludes: Anderson Camano Fidalgo Fox McNeil Mercer San Juan Islands : Allan Barnes Barren Battleship Blakely Brown Burrows Cactus Islands Canoe Castle Center Charles Clark Colville Crane Cypress Decatur Dinner Eliza Flattop Guemes Hall Hat Notice that some islands have existing hams or simple ferry access Henry Huckleberry Iceberg James Johns Jones Long Lopez Lummi Matia Obstruction Orcas Patos Pearl Saddlebag San Juan Satellite Sentinel Shaw Sinclair Skipjack Spieden Stuart Sucia Turn Waldron Wasp Islands
NA-169 Washington State West Claimed by: 23.4% of participants. Destruction Ozette Tatoosh Waadah Some of these islands need tribal permission or have dangerous boat access. That is why these islands have not been activated as often.
NA-091 British Columbia South Claimed by: 26.6% of participants. Anvil Bowen Broughton Captain Cortes Cracroft Gambier Gilford Hardy Harwood Hernando Keats Lasqueti Malcolm Minstrel Nelson Pasley Quadra Savary Texada Redonda Islands Thormanby Islands Pearse Islands Group Excludes: Cormorant Denman Hornby Pearse Islands AH6EZ plans to operate from one of these in the near future. The planned island has a car ferry and several B&Bs.
IOTA Awards IOTA 100 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA 200 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA 300 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA 400 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA 500 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA 600 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA 700 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA 800 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA 900 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA 1000 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA 1100 ISLANDS OF THE WORLD IOTA AFRICA IOTA ANTARCTICA IOTA ASIA IOTA EUROPE IOTA NORTH AMERICA IOTA OCEANIA IOTA SOUTH AMERICA IOTA ARCTIC ISLANDS IOTA BRITISH ISLES IOTA WEST INDIES IOTA WORLD DIPLOMA IOTA 750 ISLANDS PLAQUE OF EXCELLENCE attractively produced walnut wood shield, suitably engraved, with space for 10 metal minishields, each signifying a score increment of 25 groups, to upgrade. IOTA 1000 ISLANDS TROPHY beautiful diamond glass feature resting on a highly polished wooden base fitted with a metal plate, suitably engraved. The space in this case is for 8 metal mini plates to upgrade
IOTA Recommended Frequencies Main frequency 14.260 MHz Other SSB frequencies 28.560, 28.460, 24.950, 21.260, 18.128, 7.055 and 3.755 MHz CW frequencies 28.040, 24.920, 21.040, 18.098, 14.040, 10.115 and 3.530 MHz Operate above 7.025 Any VHF or UHF simplex channel
Where and When to find IOTA
Next is a 30 minute video about IOTA and Rockall Be thinking about where and when YOU could activate an IOTA