What changed
Summits on the Air (SOTA) — edited Aug 31, 2026 by Unknown editor
This is the first recorded version, so every line is shown as added. Note: Imported from content/wiki
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SOTA is POTA with gravity. Summits are catalogued and scored by height and prominence, gear must be
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carried in, and no vehicle or mains power is allowed in the activation zone.
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## The rules that differ from POTA
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- **Four contacts** make a valid activation, and the points are awarded per summit per calendar
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year.
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- **No motorized transport** for the operating position, and **no permanent facilities** — battery
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or solar only.
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- You must be within the **activation zone**: the area within 25 vertical meters of the summit.
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- Summits carry a reference like `W1/HA-001` — association, region, number — and a point value from
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1 to 10 based on altitude.
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## Scoring and awards
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- **Activators** earn the summit's points; **chasers** earn them too, once per summit per day.
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- **Winter bonus** points on many summits between December and March.
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- Milestones at 100, 250, 500 and 1,000 points; **Mountain Goat** at 1,000 activator points and
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**Shack Sloth** at 1,000 chaser points.
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- **Summit-to-summit** contacts are separately tracked and highly prized.
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## Kit, with weight in mind
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Everything you carry, you carry uphill:
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- A 5 W radio — KX2, KX3, MTR, QCX, (tr)uSDX, IC-705 if you accept the weight.
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- 1–3 Ah LiFePO4 or a small lithium pack.
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- Linked dipole or [end-fed half-wave](/wiki/station/antennas/end-fed-and-loops) and a 20-foot
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carbon or fibreglass pole.
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- Small paper log, pen, and a phone for spotting.
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- Then the mountain kit: water, layers, headlamp, map, first aid, and someone who knows your route.
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Total station weight of 2–4 lb is normal. CW is popular here for a reason — it gets through at 5 W
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when SSB will not.
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## On the summit
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1. Post an **alert** on sotawatch.sota.org.uk before you leave, with your estimated time.
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2. Get inside the activation zone, set up clear of paths and other walkers.
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3. Self-spot on SOTAwatch (the SOTA Goat, VK port-a-log or Ham2K PoLo apps work offline-ish and
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queue spots).
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4. Work four or more, then enjoy the view. Chasers will find you fast.
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5. Log to the SOTA database at sotadata.org.uk when you are back in signal.
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## VHF from a summit
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Do not skip 2 m. A handheld with a small yagi from a 4,000-foot summit routinely works 100+ miles,
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and in many regions the local chasers are all on VHF. It is the cheapest possible entry to SOTA.
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## Safety
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The radio is the easy part. Weather turns quickly at altitude, descents cause more injuries than
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ascents, and cell coverage is unreliable. Tell someone your route and expected return, carry more
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water than you think, and be willing to turn around — the summit will still be there next weekend.