Many of us active in the Portland metro SOTA community have Ham Alerts notifications set up for 2m fm activations. When an activator spots for a local summit, we all get notifications on our phones and run over to our radios. The activators have a pileup and quickly work through the needed QSOs to get a successful activations. My theory of the case: if we can get more people chasing on 2m fm, we can grow the hobby by giving technicians (who may only have an HT) successful activations, and encourage them to continue in the hobby. 73 de Tim N7KOM
Is that a blood orange on the video window..? Surely its not a HAM.... Oh well, could have been a HAMster... ;-)
You can do something similar with the SOTA Spotter app on Android and presumably with the SOTAGoat app on iPhone. 2mFM SOTA is very popular in W4V with a number of activators using it almost exclusively. I activated 3 summits last weekend with a 2mFM HT and my buddy did 4 (I did the 4th on HF). Chris
Correct. I've also tried using the SOTA Spotter app, but in my experience it sometimes missed notifying me of activations when Ham Alert would never miss. That's awesome that you have the terrain and community to support 2m fm activations. Out in W7O land I found that once out of the Portland metro area 2m got harder and harder even with gain antennas like a yagi. All good though, encouraged me to learn cw and up my license. 73!
I couldn't even figure out how to make SOTA Spotter alert me of activations of nearby summits. I don't think it has that functionality at all. It only let's me post spots or alerts to sotawatch? I can do all that in the browser anyway
It's a bit tricky to set up, the documentation isn't clear at all, but it works great for me. I know mine has been spamming me to death the last few days as people try to hoover up the last of the winter bonus points. Currently I have mine set to alert on any activations in W4V, but previously I've had it alert over a wider region, but only for certain bands/modes. I'm not aware of it ever missing an alert if the person spotted via the SOTA system. I just checked and it can certainly give you a notification for specific summits. Under notification properties, you set the band, mode, , then filter by association, then filter by region, and finally filter by summit. Chris
Thanks for the video. Here in Eastern WA we have a ton of summits around the Spokane area and our local VHF club has been promoting SOTA. I think this is something that will help, and I will bring it up on our next net.
I use SOTA Spotter (droid) whenever I have cell service in the W1 area. APRS2SOTA is also a good way to go, however,it requires a free activation via email, and a little bit of practice. In New Hampshire, I always have good luck on 2m, even on boring weekday afternoons,and withoutanyone spotting. I enjoy the DX into VT, ME and MA with just an HT and 1/2 wave telescoping vertical. Love the idea that nearby chasers can be alerted on their cell phones! Very cool.
