SHOTA Rules

Shacks On The Air (SHOTA) is an amateur radio awards scheme for operators who get on the air from wherever their shack happens to be. That could be a bedroom desk, a garden shed, a club station, the driver's seat, or a folding chair in a field. Every operating position is a shack.

Every shack is equal

Nobody gains an advantage in SHOTA because they are able to leave their home.

An operator who only ever operates from one place at home has exactly the same chance of earning every award, and reaching every leaderboard position, as anyone else. This is a founding principle of the scheme and it will never change.

1. Your shack

  • Every registered operator gets one shack with a permanent reference, for example GB-0042.
  • Wherever you operate from (home, shed, club, mobile, portable or remote), you are activating your shack.
  • You can only be in one shack at a time. SHOTA has no multi-reference ("n-fer") activations.
  • We record where you operated from (🏠 🛖 🏢 🚗 ⛺ 🛰️) because it's fun to see, but it is never used in scoring.

2. Callsigns

  • Register your callsign(s) on your account. Your base callsign covers every variant: G0ABC/P, G0ABC/M, EA8/G0ABC and G0ABC/QRP all count towards the same account and the same awards.
  • If you hold several callsigns (for example a foundation call and a full call), add them all to the same account.

3. Activations

  • An activation is all of the QSOs made from your shack in one UTC day (00:00 to 23:59 UTC).
  • An activation is valid once it reaches 10 QSOs. That target is the same for every operator, everywhere.
  • Working the same station again on the same band and mode in the same day doesn't count twice.
  • Operating from several places in one day is still one activation of your one shack. There's no benefit to moving around.

4. Hunting

  • Hunters get credit automatically when an activator uploads a log that includes their callsign.
  • Hunter awards count different shacks worked. You can do that from your own chair.
  • If you're activating too, log the other station's reference with SIG=SHOTA and SIG_INFO=<reference> for Shack-to-Shack credit.

5. Logging

  • Upload standard ADIF (.adi) files from your account, or send QSOs straight from your logger with the official API.
  • Uploading the same QSO twice won't duplicate it. It just gets updated.
  • Only QSOs whose STATION_CALLSIGN is registered to your account are accepted.

6. Spotting

  • Self-spotting is encouraged! Spot yourself from the home page, or from your logger through the API.
  • Spots are for real, current activity. Please don't spot stations you haven't heard.

7. Fair play

  • Operate within the terms of your licence.
  • Logs must reflect real, two-way QSOs. Accounts with fabricated logs can be suspended.
  • Be kind. Plenty of SHOTA activators are new, nervous, or operating with limited mobility or stamina. Patience on the air is part of the spirit of the scheme.