Summits On The Air

Summits On The Air (SOTA) is an amateur radio operating award program launched in Great Britain in 2002 by John Linford.[2][3] The aim of SOTA is to encourage licensed amateur radio operators[4] to operate temporarily from mountainous locations[5][6] using any method of travel including hiking,[7] mountain climbing,[8] and cycling[9] while operating their amateur radio station from the summits of hills and mountains.[10][11][12] In addition to getting operators out into the field the program encourages others to listen in to the transmissions from these stations and send in reports.[13][14][15] In areas that are not remote or difficult to access some SOTA activations serve as community outreach events.[16] The program now has over 24,000 participants world wide, about 7,000 in the United States.[17] Amateur radio operators who set up stations on mountain peaks are known as activators,[18][19] and other amateur radio operators who complete contacts with them are called chasers.[20][21] Points are given to both activators and chasers based on how high the mountain is.[22] Awards are given based on accumulated points and certain special criteria.[23][24] Amateur radio contacts between summits, referred to as summit-to-summit, are considered special achievements.[25] Operators make use of a wide array of communication methods including morse code, voice (FM or SSB), and digital modes such as FT8.[26][27] Although all parts of the amateur radio bands can be used to make contacts, setups and communication modes vary across operators based on equipment,[28] environment[29][30] and license class.[12] Operators use both VHF and HF signals to make contacts, in both cases enjoying improved line-of-sight propagation over obstructions that would otherwise block transmissions.[3] Contacts are also made using amateur radio satellites.[31][32] The highest ever Summits on the Air activation reported was in February 2019 by Polish amateur radio operator Tom Rudzinski (SQ9FVE), who successfully operated from Aconcagua in Mendoza, Argentina.[33][34]