Of course we participate in SOTA for fun, but it is always nice when our efforts are recognised. What better way to record an activator, chaser or SWL milestone than a SOTA award?

Certificates and Trophies

Certificates are available for gaining 100, 250, 500, 1000 points (Activators and Chasers). These handsome certificates are printed in colour and are personally signed by a member of the SOTA Management Team. Each certificate is individually numbered and printed with your own callsign or SWL number. Endorsements such as "All CW" or "VHF" can be added on request at no extra charge. The certificates are posted to you in a board-backed envelope to ensure that they arrive in good condition. For those with boundless energy and enthusiasm there are additional certificates for 2,500, 5,000, and 10,000, and even higher points.

Shack Sloth and Mountain Goat

At 1,000 points Activators achieve "Mountain Goat" status and Chasers/SWLs are "Shack Sloths". Achieving "Mountain Goat" and "Shack Sloth" status requires considerable dedication and effort and so, trophies can be claimed to mark this significant milestone. Each 9cm x 9cm "Ice block" is made entirely by hand in the Scottish Highlands. Craftsmen create a unique "running scallop" along each edge of the raw glass so each trophy will be unique. The trophy will be individually engraved with your callsign and the year in which you reached 1,000 points. Endorsements like "All CW" or "VHF" can also be engraved for a small additional charge.

SOTA Uniques Awards

The SOTA Uniques is a count of the number of different summits in an activator's, chaser's or SWL's record. It is purely the number of distinct summits activated or chased regardless of SOTA points. The SOTA Online Database keeps track of your progress. Certificates are available for the usual thresholds of 100, 250, 500 and 1000. There being over 8,000 summits in World associations at present, further thresholds of 2500 and 5000 theoretically apply at least! It is felt that this award will extend the challenge particularly for our leading activators and chasers, where point scores are large and well beyond Mountain Goat/ Shack Sloth, but often with less than 200 unique summits. It also addresses something that activator and chasers have been doing since the launch of the programme - counting their unique summits worked and activated. The same awards are available in the SWL section. It is possible to obtain a Shack Sloth Trophy for contacting 1000 Unique Summits; these trophies are identical to the standard SS trophy but have the word "Unique" engraved into the design.

Mountain Explorer and Mountain Hunter Awards

New for 2010 are the Activators' Mountain Explorer Award and the Chasers' Mountain Hunter Award. Each award is certificate based using a different format from existing SOTA certificates. These awards recognize that there are now 30 Associations based worldwide and that many activators take the opportunity presented by the CEPT regulations to take their equipment with them on vacation. This award rewards those activators that operate in associations which are not necessarily their home association.. Chasers make every effort to help activators qualify their summit but often they are looking for that unique summit that presents a true challenge to the dedicated chaser and the Mountain Hunter Award has been created for them. In brief the requirements needed to claim an award are as follows:

Mountain Explorer

The essence of the award is to recognise the activation and qualification of Summits, in accordance with SOTA General Rules and the local association's rules, in a number of different associations.

Example: To claim the Bronze Award an activator would need to have activated one summit is at least five qualifying associations - these could be GM, G, F, DL and ON as an example.

Mountain Hunter

VHF (70MHz and above) Award

Chaser should contact (or hear for the SWL award) at least 2 different summits in each of 5 associations using just VHF/UHF any mode.

Endorsement for UHF only qualification (430MHz and above) [see note below]

Steps of 5 Associations for each award: 10, 15, 20, etc

AwardNo. of Associations
Bronze Award5
Silver Award10
Gold Award15
Platinum Award20+

All bands Award

Chaser should contact (or SWL, hear) at least 2 different summits in each of 5 associations. The higher level awards require that at least one association claimed is on a different continent from the claimant's normal residential QTH. Level 1 can be claimed with contacts only on the claimant's own continent (1 continent); higher level awards require intercontinental contacts.

Endorsement for all 50MHz qualification [see note below]

Steps of 5 Associations for each award: 10 (including 2 continents), 15 (including 2 continents), 20 (and 3 continents), Worked all Associations (all qualifying continents)

AwardNo. of AssociationsNo. of Continents
Bronze Award51
Silver Award102
Gold Award152
Platinum Award20+3
Worked All AssociationsALL4 or 5

Please note: Limitations to the database structure may require manual checking for the endorsements (UHF / 50MHz) and for the VHF only award.

Claiming ...

Awards are not sent automatically - you must claim them!

IMPORTANT

To claim a certificate or Trophy, Activators, Chasers and SWLs should state what award they are claiming for, the date this was achieved and send with a cheque in UK Pounds drawn on a UK bank, made out to "SOTA" to:

B.J. Horning GM4TOE
5 Main Street
Tomintoul
Ballindalloch
AB37 9EX

Alternatively, you can pay online on this page - see below

You can also order trophies and certificates by visiting the SOTA Shop

For applicants outside the UK a bank transfer can be made using the following information;

Account name: Summits on the Air
IBAN: GB80NWBK01054139581004
BIC: NWBKGB2L

Please ensure that all transfer fees are paid, otherwise the deduction by the banks for transferring money result in the amount received for the award being less than the cost of the award.

To support your award claim, Activators and Chasers must either:

  • ensure that the SOTA on-line database is up-to-date with your entries; or
  • you must submit a full paper log of your contacts.

    • All claims will be checked and if not supported by matching logs on the database will be returned for correction.

    For SWLs, your log as submitted to Tom, M1EYP must be up to date with entries to support your claim.

    All certificates and trophies are provided on a not-for-profit basis by the SOTA Management Team. Any surplus used as a contribution towards SOTA's running costs. Any problems or questions - please click here to contact us.