🗺️ Expansion of the OK Towers program to Slovakia (from 1 December 2025)

From 1 December 2025, the amateur radio award program “Czech Lookout Towers – OK Towers On The Air” will expand to include the territory of the Slovak Republic.
Newly, Slovak lookout towers (prefix OMR) will be part of the program and can be activated and hunted in the same way as Czech towers.
This expansion enables cross-border cooperation between radio amateurs, increases the number of interesting locations, and connects both countries within one joint project.
The existing program rules remain unchanged – only extended geographically to include Slovakia.
Further details about Slovak lookout towers and their activations will be gradually added to the database and the diploma system.

Basic Rules

1. Contacts can be made on all amateur radio bands using any mode of operation.
2. To be valid for the award, the operator must transmit from the lookout tower or within a maximum distance of 200 meters from the tower.
   (Applies to activators.)
3. Contacts made via active repeaters are not valid. However, repeaters may be used to coordinate direct contacts.
4. The QSO must include call sign, report, name, and QTH (it is recommended to give the name and reference of the lookout tower – not required in contests or when operating abroad).
   Name and QTH are not required in CW.
   However, the activator must include the lookout tower reference in the log submitted to rozhledny.eu
5. Contacts with the same station may be repeated, but only from a different tower (the combination of Tower / Activator / Hunter must be unique).
6. Contacts from newly built towers are also valid, provided they are added to the official list of towers. A request to add a tower can be sent
   to the award manager via email at info@rozhledny.eu – the tower will then be included in the list.
7. Contacts count towards the diploma from August 1, 2025 (OK) or from December 1, 2025 (OM).
8. QSOs for the diploma will be counted from the announcement date, i.e. from August 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025. In the following years,
   they will be counted annually from January 1 to December 31, or without a time limit, depending on the diploma variant.
9. On August 1, 2025, a WhatsApp group called "OK Rozhledny" will be launched. After registration at rozhledny.eu,
   HAM operators will be able to join the group via a link in the Service section. In urgent cases, group membership can be requested by email
   to info@rozhledny.eu (please include your call sign and phone number registered on WhatsApp).
   This group is intended mainly for activation-related information (self-spotting).
10. Activations of towers may be combined with other programs such as WWFF, GMA, SOTA, POTA, BOTA and others.

The diploma will be awarded separately for HF and VHF in the following categories:
● Activator – person transmitting from the lookout tower
● Hunter – person calling the lookout tower
in the following variants:
● Sprint – yearly points evaluation
● Alltime – overall points total (no time limit)
● Special – uniquely activated lookout towers

Recommendation:
● Recommended calling frequency for the 2m band – 145.525 MHz; on HF bands, use the usual segments for portable activities (40m - 7.032 / 7.118 MHz).
● Recommended calling format: on CW “CQ TWR”; on SSB and FM “Calling for the Lookout Tower diploma”, or simply “Calling Lookout Towers”.
● For logging (log preparation), the Fast Log Entry (FLE v3) has been tested using the POTA setting – in this configuration, it "supports" the format of the lookout tower reference number. The resulting .adi file can be imported directly into the logs section here under Upload.
● Also tested is PoLo – Portable Logger using the POTA setting. The resulting .adi file is likewise importable here without modification.

Request:
● When creating the lookout tower database, I used many sources (there is no comprehensive and reliable list), and some towers we visited personally with my XYL. However, we keep discovering new ones. If you come across a tower that is missing from the database (and surely there are many), please write to info@rozhledny.eu and I will gladly add it (so it can be activated later).
● If you encounter an error – for example, during log import – please let me know as well. Although ADIF is a defined format, every application generates it slightly "its own way", and these differences need to be handled – thank you.

Scoring of contacts

• Activator
  • To qualify as a valid activation (for the Special diploma), the following minimum is required:
    • VHF category – 3 valid QSOs
    • HF category – 13 valid QSOs
  • A contact from an activated lookout tower = 1 activation point (for Sprint and Alltime diplomas)
  • Multiple activations of the same tower are allowed, but scoring requires a unique combination of Tower / Activator / Hunter.
  • Only on VHF the requirement applies for a unique combination of Tower / Activator / Hunter / Band
  • A unique activation counts towards the Special diploma – meaning the simple number of different activated lookout towers.
• Hunter
  • 1 unique QSO (Tower / Activator / Hunter) = 1 point
  • For the Special diploma – the number of hunted (worked) different lookout towers.
• Other
  • Contact with the diploma issuer OK2IH or pilot station "TOWER" OL1TWR = 5 points (for both activators and hunters)
  • Tower-to-Tower contact = 3 points

Conditions for obtaining a diploma

Activator
1. Sprint – the diploma will be awarded for 50, 100, 200, 500 points from tower activations in a calendar year (2025, 2026, 2027,...)
2. Alltime – the diploma will be awarded without time limit for reaching 100, 200, 300, 500 points
3. Special – the diploma will be awarded without time limit for activating 100, 200, 300, 500 towers
Hunter
1. Sprint – the diploma will be awarded for 50, 100, 200, 500 points from tower activations in a calendar year (2025, 2026, 2027,...)
2. Alltime – the diploma will be awarded without time limit for reaching 100, 200, 300, 500 points
3. Special – the diploma will be awarded without time limit for making contact with 100, 200, 300, 500 unique towers

Once a diploma worth 500 points is awarded in any category, new levels will be added in multiples of 500.

After a successful activation of a tower, the activator uploads or enters the LOG of contacts (after registration) at rozhledny.eu in the Upload section,
or in an emergency, it can be sent preferably in ADIF format to info@rozhledny.eu

After a successful QSO with a station transmitting from a tower, the hunter does not need to do anything – points are assigned automatically
(after the activator uploads their logbook to the website) and the hunter will see them after logging in to rozhledny.eu in the Diplomas section,
where a PDF version of the diploma can also be downloaded.

ADI log of the Activator

	The log must contain at least:
QSO_DATE	YYYYMMDD date when the QSO started
TIME_ON	HHMM or HHMMSS in UTC
BAND	QSO Band
MODE	QSO Mode
RST_SENT	signal report sent
RST_RCVD	signal report received
CALL	callsign of the other station
STATION_CALLSIGN	own callsign (used in QSO)
MY_SIG	my activity – TOWER
MY_SIG_INFO	my TOWER reference – OKR-1001
	Optional fields:
SIG	activity of the other station (TOWER, WWFF, GMA, SOTA, BOTA, WCA, ...)
SIG_INFO	TOWER reference number of the other station (for Tower-to-Tower)
OPERATOR	operator callsign

Diploma samples

Diplomas for HF Activators