Foundations of Amateur Radio

One question I get asked regularly is: "What's the point of Amateur Radio?" Today I'm going to begin to answer this perennial question. As you know, this activity is a hobby, something you do for your personal enjoyment. People get pleasure from a vast range of undertakings and if you combine multiple such adventures into your life all the better.

Amateur Radio is a hobby in and of itself, but it's also an enabling hobby. What I mean by that is it often can act as an excuse to do something else - under the guise of being Amateur Radio. For example, you can use an activity called SOTA to add some fun into your life.

I've spoken in the past about SOTA, Summits On The Air. It's a way to enjoy being outdoors and climbing across the globe, as well as an excuse to participate from the comfort of your shack to encourage climbers and even as an unlicensed radio enthusiast, you can also participate.

SOTA started in 2002 with the publication of the General Rules which outline all that the community expects and needs from you if you participate. In the intervening years the document has grown to 23 pages and I confess I was not looking forward to reading it all and truth be told, I've not yet digested the finer points, but I will before I next climb up a mountain.

Don't get me wrong, it's not an onerous document, it's laid out well, describes precisely what's involved, how it's structured, who to ask questions of, what code of conduct is expected and what constitutes a valid SOTA activity.

As I said, before I next climb up a mountain - more precisely, in SOTA terms - it's a prominence, something sticking out of the earth. Before you start gathering maps and looking at tall rocks, a prominence isn't just about how tall it is, but also how close other peaks, there's a whole definition of this idea, but the SOTA volunteers have done all the work, so you don't need to get technical to get on-air.

There's rules about getting to a peak, about being there, about the environment, about how to use callsigns and the use of cars and other things, so before you get yourself into strife, like I did, read the rules.

There's three kinds of participants, an Activator, someone who climbs up the mountain, gets wet, gets snowed in, gets hot and sticky, eaten by mosquitoes, breaks stuff and does all the hard work. The second type of participant is the person in the shack behind their radio, on the listen-out for new activations, making contacts, logging them and gathering points. The final group of participants is the Short Wave Listener or SWL, who logs contacts, showing both sides of the communication, both stations heard, etc. An awards system exists for all three participants.

SOTA is a global activity. On the face of things it might seem daunting and my highlights of the notion that there are rules should not deter you from actually participating. The rules are to ensure that people don't get into trouble and die, to make sure that everyone has a good time and to deal with disputes as and when they arise.

Many resources about Summits On The Air can be found online, but your starting point should be http://sota.org.uk where you'll find a welcoming and active community of enthusiasts who also like being on-air and making noise from weird and wonderful locations on top of big rocks.

The point of Amateur Radio is to find something that you enjoy doing and making it a shared experience by incorporating your radio. A bit like Mark Twain said: "Golf is a good walk spoiled", SOTA is a mountain climb enhanced.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB