Rules

Coastlines On The Air (COTA) is a portable radio activity. For questions, suggestions, and updates please contact us.

A coastline, on this award, is any beach, shore or port where the land meets the sea.

Activators are those licensed amateur radio operators who operate portable or mobile at designated coastlines, beaches and ports.

Hunters are those licensed amateur radio operators who make contact with Activators at designated coastlines.

A Regional Secondary Locator is no longer required by the UK licence. UK COTA still encourages its use. Examples are MM in Scotland, MW in Wales, MI in Northern Ireland, MD in the Isle of Man, MU in Guernsey and MJ in Jersey. The same applies to the G and Intermediate series.

A suffix such as /P or /M is no longer required by the UK licence. It is not required by UK COTA either, but operators are encouraged to use one when operating portable or mobile.

The website treats these forms as the same station. M7ABC, MW7ABC and M7ABC/P are one licence. Awards, activations and hunter contacts are added together. A contact is not counted twice because the regional prefix or the suffix was different.

An activator should preferably set up on the coastline, beach or harbour itself. The station may instead be in a vehicle, or at another safe and legal public point, when the operator has a reason not to be on the feature. Safety, access, the tide, private land, weather and the operator's health are examples. The reason is the operator's own, and it is self-policed.

The whole station must stay within 200 metres of the mean high-water mark or the boundary of the listed feature. That includes the operator, the vehicle, the radio and every part of the antenna. Beyond 200 metres, the activation does not count.

Due to critical safety concerns, unpredictable tidal environments, and the strict requirement to remain safely on dry land, shipwrecks designated under The Stranded Wave Award are exempt from the standard 200 metre activation zone restriction. For these specific references, the exact operating distance and physical station setup location remain entirely at the discretion of the activator. Operators are expected to prioritise personal safety, local access requirements, and environmental conditions when choosing a safe public vantage point on land from which to complete the activation.

A qualifying activation is five valid contacts from the same listed coastline in one UTC day, from 00:00 to 23:59 UTC.

If operating continues past 00:00 UTC, the contacts fall into two days. Five contacts before midnight qualify that day. Five contacts after midnight qualify the next day. The two sides are not added together.

More than one operating session at the same coastline on the same UTC day is one activation. The contacts are added together toward the five.

Fewer than five valid contacts is an unsuccessful attempt. It does not count as a coastline activated. Upload the log anyway. Hunters in that log still receive credit.

Each coastline reference needs its own five contacts. Contacts are not shared between references.

A 2-fer is two listed coastal locations activated at the same time. A 3-fer is three. The usual case is a smaller beach inside a larger coastal area.

The whole station must sit inside every location claimed. Standing across the boundary of two side-by-side coastlines is not a 2-fer or a 3-fer. If any part of the station is outside a location, that location does not count.

On the log upload page, choose 2 locations for a 2-fer, or 3 locations for a 3-fer. Upload one ADIF file. The same contacts are credited to each location. Two references cannot be written on one contact line. Each location needs five valid contacts in the same UTC day before that reference is a qualifying activation.

A hunter at home logs the contact once. When the file has been credited to each location, the hunter receives each reference. The hunter does not send a second log.

If you work another activator, put their coastline reference in SIG_INFO. One line in the log can name only one of their coastlines. If they are on a 2-fer or a 3-fer, log the contact again for each further location. Keep the same time, band and mode, and put the other reference in SIG_INFO. You get a coastline-to-coastline credit for each combination. The same combination counts only once that day.

A contact counts when both stations exchange callsigns and a signal report. Log it against one coastline reference.

A contact must be on a UK amateur band. The bands are 2200 m, 630 m, 160 m, 80 m, 60 m, 40 m, 30 m, 20 m, 17 m, 15 m, 12 m, 10 m, 6 m, 4 m, 2 m, 70 cm, 23 cm, 13 cm, 9 cm, 6 cm, 3 cm, 1.2 cm, 6 mm, 4 mm, 2 mm and 1 mm. Any mode permitted by the operator's licence may be used, including CW, SSB, FM, and digital modes such as FT8. COTA is an award, not a contest.

The same station may be counted again on a different band or a different mode. The same station on the same band and the same mode counts once toward that day's five.

Terrestrial contacts must be simplex. A contact through a land-based repeater, or through EchoLink, IRLP, or an internet link, does not count.

A contact through a satellite is allowed. Log the band used for the transmitted signal.

Activators are encouraged to self-spot on the official COTA spotting page. Additionally, Hunters and general operators/listeners are welcome to spot or re-spot activators at any time.

If you are dual-activating a coastline while participating in an external event (such as International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend or a national field day), please note that the other event may restrict self-spotting. COTA operators are expected to respect the rules and operate within the true spirit of both programmes.

Keep spot comments short and operational: for e.g. duration of stay, power, and antenna.

Nine awards are issued. A certificate for each step is dated from the contact that completed it.

Coastlines activated. Different coastlines where the activator has a qualifying activation. Each coastline counts once, on the UTC day the fifth valid contact is made. An unsuccessful attempt does not count. Awards are issued at 25, then at 50, 100, 250, 500, and at each further doubling.

Coastlines hunted. Different coastlines on which a hunter has contacted an activator. Each coastline counts once. The hunter still receives the coastline when the activator's day is an unsuccessful attempt, so long as the contact is in the uploaded log. Awards are issued at 25, then at 50, 100, 250, 500, and at each further doubling.

Coastline to coastline. Confirmed contacts between two activators, each operating from a different listed coastline. Awards are issued at 25 contacts, then at 50, 100, 200, and at each further doubling. One pair of references counts once on a UTC day. A coastline to coastline contact does not, by itself, make the day a qualifying activation. The qualifying rules are set out below.

Repeat activator. Different coastlines the activator has activated five times. Each time is a qualifying activation: five contacts in one UTC day. Awards are issued at 5 coastlines, then at 10, 25, and at each further doubling.

Band explorer. An activator works three or more bands during one activation. One activation is one listed coastline on one UTC day. Bands worked after midnight UTC count on the next day. Awards are issued at 5 such activations, then at 10, 25, and at each further doubling.

Marconi Maritime Heritage. An activator may dedicate an activation to pioneering wireless technology and the coastal Marconi stations. A coastline listed on the Marconi Maritime Heritage page is counted automatically when the log is uploaded. The award is issued once for that coastline, when the day is a qualifying activation: five contacts in one UTC day. A later activation of the same coastline does not earn it again. A certificate for that coastline can be downloaded. There is no further step.

Coastal grid explorer. The square is the six-character Maidenhead locator published on the coastline page. A square counts when the activator has a qualifying activation from a coastline in that square: five contacts in one UTC day. Several coastlines may share one square, and each of those coastlines still counts for the other awards. The square itself counts once. Bronze is 15 squares, Silver is 50, Gold is 150, and Honour Roll is 300.

The Stranded Wave. This award honours vessels lost along the shore. The activation must be from a listed coastline within line of sight, or a reasonable distance, of the known resting place of a documented historic shipwreck. A coastline listed on The Stranded Wave page is counted automatically when the log is uploaded. The award is issued once for that coastline, when the day is a qualifying activation: five contacts in one UTC day. A later activation of the same coastline does not earn it again. A certificate for that coastline can be downloaded. There is no further step. The activator is encouraged to share the vessel's name, its history, or the story of its loss during contacts.

QSO milestone. Contacts logged as an activator or as a hunter. Each contact in an uploaded log counts once for the activator and once for the station worked. Awards are issued at 1,000 contacts, then at 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000. The certificate is dated from the contact that completed that step.

A coastline to coastline contact, or C2C, is one QSO between two activators operating from different listed coastlines.

Both stations must log the contact. The logs must name each other and show the same UTC date and the same band.

One pair of coastline references counts once on that UTC date. Where either station is on a 2-fer or a 3-fer, each different pair is its own credit. Put the other station's reference in SIG_INFO so a second pair is not dropped as a duplicate. The same pair does not count again that day.

Each activator receives the credit for each confirmed pair. Awards are issued at 25 contacts, then at 50, 100, 200, and at each further doubling.

Official events will be posted on the COTA website.

Finally, Coastlines On The Air (COTA) is not affiliated with any other award programme.

How to upload activation logs

How to suggest a new coastline location