Again we have another station on Helvellyn clearly in the wrong clothing as he said it was ‘‘too cold’’ He got 4 and ran, clearly heard us. I will be giving up chasing all together after the end of this year, get the right clothing or stay off the fells.
I was out on Queen Adelaide’s Hill and just got the antenna in as he said QRT. I did look over to Helvellyn and thought it was probably pretty horrible up there.
Mark
I agree that an Activator should always try to give all Chasers a good chance of a contact. Sometimes, though, an Activator might genuinely be under pressure to bail out quickly because of adverse weather or one of the party getting too cold, or whatever. If this happens in my view it’s only courtesy to explain the situation clearly and apologise for the need to scarper. I have also been caught out by alarmingly cold windchill conditions on tops. I still tried to work those Chasers who were around, but certainly wasn’t going to hang about risking hypothermia for an extended period of calling CQ after that. But generally speaking simply securing the qualifying number of contacts for a WOTA or SOTA activation and promptly shutting down is not in the spirit of things at all. 73, Phil
I’m getting to know a few who play that game. I’ll not to out my way for them, simple as that. For other folk, say like Robert on Friday, will jump in the car to chase. They will reap what they sow, but won’t spoil my fun.
Hi Douggie,
I and many others would be sad if that happens. I have to thank you for my qualifying many many WOTA and SOTA summits.
I know what you mean about activators going QRT after getting the minimum number of contacts to qualify a summit without checking to see if there were any more chasers who have been waiting patiently to work them.
It happened to me last week [chasing from home] waiting my turn to work an activator on Pen-y-Ghent. They said “Rain clouds approaching” or words to that effect “so going QRT”. All the more frustrating when they have had longish chatty QSOs with previous chasers when they must have heard you calling after the previous two times they called “QRZ?”
However, we chasers aren’t there to judge the conditions on the summit so must assume the activators have decided it’s not wise to stay longer, bearing in mind they still have that descent to do.
73, Andy G8CPZ
Yes, please don’t pack it in, Douggie! Andy makes a good point. We probably need to get smarter about not ragchewing if there are Chasers waiting and weather conditions on top are starting to look unfavourable. In the past as Activator I’ve been a little direct with Chasers about keeping contacts short for those reasons. I hope Chasers have understood - no rudeness intended. Other times, I’ve found myself getting a bit into ragchewing myself and probably kept Chasers waiting a bit too long. It’s tricky to get the balance right - after all, the hobby is about communicating, not just ticking boxes. Maybe we could have an informal guideline - two overs for each station for each contact, say. Don’t shoot me! 73, Phil
I have to say it is the nature of the beast sometimes, there is weather and other factors. some ops do not just go up to activate, they are possible hiking a few miles that day and need to stick to a schedule (for safety) and/or might be with family or none activators who also do not want to sit on a single summit for hours.
Chasers also possible need to cut down the rag chewing in some cases and allow as many as can be activated to cut the time. Plus it might take some time just to get the 4 so again time.
there is always another activator in my opinion it just adds to the competition to be one of the 4 if that’s all the op wants.
In my experience it’s not only some chasers who rag chew for too long, some activators are guilty of this too. If you’re standing on a summit getting cold waiting for activator/chaser to finish discussing the features of some rig (as I was today) it can get pretty frustrating, especially when the chaser says “I’ll let you go as there must be many chasers wanting to work you” but then continues to rabbit on. Fortunately, the vast majority of operators know how to balance politeness and brevity.
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