Sunday, September 05, 2010

WOTA success

I think it's fair to say the Wainwrights On The Air (WOTA) scheme has become a big success. At the start it was probably true that the main participants were existing Summits On The Air (SOTA) enthusiasts who appreciated the opportunity to make more of their Lake District excursions by activating the hills they would otherwise have walked past on their way to a SOTA summit. But recently several local amateurs have got started specifically in WOTA chasing and activating. There has even been a request for a list of the easiest Wainwrights to climb! There isn't an award for that, but it does suggest that WOTA is encouraging people to get out on the hills who were not previously enthusiastic fellwalkers and I think that is one of the best possible outcomes for the scheme.

It's a pity, though, that no-one offered to design a nice award certificate for the scheme, which the Workington Radio Club was then going to get professionally printed. The ones I made using a free online certificate maker and print on our cheapo HP multifunction printer (with expensivo ink cartridges) look a poor reward for all the time and sweat that has been expended earning them. I always have a fight getting them to print correctly anyway, so having some professionally printed certificates would have saved me a lot of hassle.

3 comments:

Richard G3CWI said...

That's quite a responsibility, encouraging new people into the hills Julian. Perhaps its time for the WOTA website to sport a "nanny state" disclaimer about safety and your liability?

Re certificates - no real surprise there surely? Most people will happily participate in things provided they don't have to do anything themselves. Your certificates look fine to me - I doubt that anyone decides whether of not to participate in an award like WOTA based on the quality of the certificates anyway.

Keep up the good work.

73

Richard
G3CWI

Richard G3CWI said...

"Perhaps its time for the WOTA website to sport a "nanny state" disclaimer about safety and your liability?"

I see that it now does - very wise!

73

Richard
G3CWI

Unknown said...

Actually it was intended more as an arse-covering disclaimer. The nanny state would be telling them what clothing to take, to check the weather before they set off, not to go if there was any chance of rain or low cloud, and that they would be better off staying at home, really.