Allowing generic summit ref in spots

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Is there any capacity for SotaWatch to accept generic references? I tried setting a spot with VK7/CH-000 and VK7/CH-XXX, but no dice.

I am doing a five-day trip without phone coverage, but the schedule and summits are up in the air based on conditions.

I would value the ability to set a generic alert for the days I will be out, allowing the RBN to spot me. Whilst I could use one of the valid summit references, it will be wrong more often than not, and I feel it will cause more confusion than benefit.

Kind regards,
Lance, VK7ZA

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Hi Lance,

Try an Alert, not a Spot. You can set generics with Alerts. Spots are for current activity, Alerts are for future activity.

The VK7/CH-XXX format will work with RBN.

I also suggest reading RBNHole | VK3ARR's SOTA Blog for details on how to use RBNHole to extend the spotting window (best is to set the alert to the end of your trip and use S-XXX in the comments (where XXX is the number of hours prior to the end you want the alert to be valid for))

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Thanks Andrew,

I did actually mean Alerts; Friday brain.

Anyway, following your comment, I tried again. The issue wasn’t the summit reference after all, but the fact that I hadn’t defined a time, assuming no time would mean all day. Live and learn.

It’s now all set, and I look forward to the long gaze of the RBN and Hole finding me in the wilderness.

It would be worth having something on the Alert posting window to inform people of the generic summit syntax. As it was, I was unable to find it documented anywhere when initially investigating the issue.

Ta,
Lance

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The Summit format for the alert should be VK7/CH-??? according to the RBN-Gate docs. Although I suspect anything that is non-numeric will work.

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Either CH-XXX or CH-??? will work. I’ve based it on historical usage patterns, which tend to mix/match between the two.

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I noted the S-120 in your alert for the end of your activation period rather than S+120 in an alert for the beginning of your activation period. I guess that way you keep the alert up throughout the period. Good thinking. Must admit, at first I thought it was a bit “Southern Hemisphere thinking”. :thinking:

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Yes, if you do S+XXX the alert will eventually drop off the screen, so doing it from the latest time and working backwards guarantees the alert is always around during the potential activations

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