It’s possible that my Wire-X <=> FCS bridge was not working. I have rebooted it.
Thanks Richard.
I’ll try again. Local high point this evening turned out to be not high enough to get me in, although I could hear some traffic transmitted by the gateway.
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Just to add further to your confusion, because of the way the cross linking works your best ways to access SOTA-Link are via any Fusion node except MB6SO. Alternatively access via DMR (BM TG973). If you use MB6SO as your access-point, the cross linking does not work. On summits near Macclesfield, MB6AH in Stoke can be connected to Wires-X room 44050 for full access. There are occasional Fusion nodes on 70 cm in Stockport and Bolton which can be useful.
Easy really (!).
If you want to play on MB6SO, try connecting it to CQ-UK (Wires-x 27793).
Well I thought I was in with a shot today, ascending GM/SS-027.
GB7FE accepted my WIRES-X connection but wouldn’t let me switch rooms. It seems it’s locked to the Scottish SC-Room.
I failed in Scotland but today I made it in to SOTA-Link for an actual QSO, going via a gateway in Bolton. I was just mobile, not actually doing a SOTA, but now that I know I’m pushing all the right buttons I can have another go from a hill. Thanks to Allan GW4VPX for the chat.
Activity right now in SOTA-LINK WIRES-X room. Would anyone like to join us?
SOTA-Link update
While a lot of people have accessed SOTA-Link, it does not appear to have been a useful resource. Reasons probably include:
- parts of the system are not that reliable
- the access methods are confusing
- you can’t access the system directly using the MB6SO node
- there are limited ways to access the system in most areas.
SOTA-Link is mainly an “amateur radio” system, but overall I think that Zello would be a better option for a SOTA back-channel. Zello runs on a mobile phone. It is free and available for IoS and Android.There is already a SOTA Zello group “sota summits on the air”.
Hi Richard.
It’s been interesting to try out Wires-X and SOTA-Link. As expected the main issue has been finding coverage from gateways, especially in my usual GW/NW haunt. But I have been able to get in occasionally, and it has won me a simplex QSO once at least.
As Zello exists, for the most part, just on the internet, it surely faces just the same trouble, in this case due to lack of mobile phone coverage? I heard there is a Zello channel providing cross-linking to Echolink, and I found something about a Wires-X link. Is there any move for wider cross-linkage do you know? Could there be some mechanism for getting SOTA-Link to the widest possible user base both on inter-net-based and radio-based systems?
It strikes me that one limitation of the Wires-X system, even with linkage to DMR &c, is that you still seem to need a radio (+ hotspot) to get in. There’s no casual route e.g. through a phone app, so far as I know. I’ve been tempted to get a Pi-zero-based hotspot, and maybe even one of the cheaper Chinese DMR rigs to use with it, but didn’t take that step yet. My main motivation for this would be another channel to provide for talking back to home, as well as to any others interested in following progress on an activation.
Thanks for that - I’ve signed up for that group on Zello.
Off topic… I’ve been experimenting with linking Zello with a radio network I use (Mountain Rescue).
Zello was tried in VK, we moved on and now use Discord.
Compton