I will take a day off tomorrow to do a nice ski-tour, which includes up to three SOTA-worthy summits, each 8-pointers plus winter bonus, so pretty attractive.
Now, as usual, my time on the summit will be very limited, because the trip is 6 - 8 hours without SOTA operating time.
What is the best strategy for an alert so that RBNHole/RBNGate will spot me as quickly as possible?
Would you use
a) a placeholder alert, like DL/MF-??? with a generous time-span (like S-2 S + 7),
b) the first summit with a regular alert and then a placeholder alert with a generous time-span (like S-2 S + 7) for the remaining two, or
c) three regular alerts for the exact summits with the best possible estimates, or
d) c) plus a generous placeholder alert in parallel?
I fear that with a placeholder alert, chasers will not easily see that the summits earn them 8 point, while on the other hand, predicting the exact times for the 2nd and (if realistic) 3rd summit is very difficult.
I do not think I will have coverage nor time to modify alerts on my way or self-spot on the summit.
This is what I’d do and what I think will work best for you and the chasers, but I would write on the Alert comments box, the full reference of the 3 summits you intend to activate and in the order you will activate them.
As soon as you give the reference to the first chasers, I’m sure they will spot you, so chasers will be able to know that it’s an 8 pointer and the correct reference, for each activation.
Good luck!
73,
This will probably give you the most accurate results, if you make the alerts as close to what you expect to make. RBNHole will choose the closest alert within the window - so the windows can overlap - but you want to be as accurate as possible with the actual alert time.
Yes, 100% sure, asuming the RBNHole will be working OK, as it usually does.
BTW, during my last activation on monday, I called CQ SOTA DE EA2IF/p SOTA just once and this was enough for the Skimmers to pick me up and the RBNHole to spot me correctly on SOTAwatch.
If your alert sais you’ll activate the summit reference DL/MF-???, that’s what RBNHole will put for you in the spot as soon as you had started CQing and the skimmers had picked you up. Then, you’ll have to give to the first chasers the exact reference and very likely they will spot you with such exact reference. Shouldn’t this happen like this, you’ll soon notice because several chasers will keep asking you for the summit reference.
Shame I wont be in the shack to chase you.
Good luck!
73,
That’s a broad statement. What did RBNHole do that it shouldn’t have (I can fix it) or what did you do that didn’t match your activation/alert pattern (that’s not something I can fix )?
just quickly: i am back safe and sound and was able to activate all three sumits DL/MF-056, 057 and 058.
but it was a long trip, I just took off my skis. more details to follow.
mni tnx fer all advice es fer chasing!
73 de Martin, DK3IT
By the way: I can confirm that RBNhole/gate correctly created spots for all three summits for me today. The only thing you should keep in mind is that some smartphone apps (e.g. SOTA Goat) filter out spots with placeholder references, so you won’t see them there.
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I always assume there’s bugs in the software - it’s nice to hear it’s not always my fault 