Any reason to raise a spot with "Cancelled"?

Hi

I saw times many times spots stating “cancelled”.

It doesn’t make much sense, because if the activation is cancelled I wouldn’t spot it at sotawatch, even if I had alerted for the activation.

Is it just me or ?..

73 de Pedro, CT1DBS/CU3HF

Many mobile apps do not have the ability to post/edit alerts but only do spots. If you cannot edit or remove your alert you can do nothing and people may be worry when you do not appear on the summit. Or you can spot yourself as cancelled.

As far as I know the only smart phone app that can send (and possibly change?) alerts is SOTA Goat and that is only available on iPhones, not the far more common in Europe, Android phones. I don’t know of any Android phone that processes alerts.
If the activation is called off from home, the activator can simply go into SOTAWatch from a PC and either update or delete the alert.
If the cancellation happens while mobile the activator could also start up a browser on their phone (if they have internet coverage) and update SOTAWatch Alerts through the small browser window. If there’s only SMS connectivity and no Internet connectivity however, this would not be possible where a spot is still possible.

In short posting a spot stating a planned activation is cancelled is quicker and easier than trying to change an alert.

If the cancellation spots annoy you Pedro, some programs allow filtering and you could set the filter not to display spots that have “Cancel*” in the text, in the same way as you can for Spots that have “test” in the text.

73 Ed.

I would have thought cancellations are due to unseen moments that prevent you from getting or operating from a summit and people put up cancelled as there plans to go have been halted for some unknown reason. And its nice to be informed of said fact as it is to be informed of one coming on air shortly.

Plus spotted only if heard or worked if no one else has done it. Certainly won’t be spotting it if its cancelled unless your the activator and have failed to get going for what ever reason my first Activation failed due to inexperience of the wind and people were waiting for me to come on air yet could not do cancel spot as lack of experience and gear at the time.

You could say why put up tests on the spot, I do when i go out to summit just make sure am getting it right in first place while i have a PC infront of me won’t have up a summit as don’t have smart Phone can’t afford one. as monthly money rather put towards me pending ideas and projects i have for me station an portable station.

Just a few thought’s

karl

I think any Android phone can do that by accessing SOTAwatch with a browser from said Android phone. SOTAwatch has quite good usability on mobile devices. I have for example changed time on alerts when I saw that I run late. Of course this requires a (stable) data connection. Therefore should be done while in the car park/near civilization. It may fail out in the back country where mobile coverage becomes patchy.

73 Heinz

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Thank you for all comments.

Maybe I’m wrong but some answers raise others…
If one have an app to spot, it means he or she could access the net, right ?

The spot means you’re on the summit or should I spot before arriving to the summit ?

If not, what will be the purpose of the alerts ?

If one make an alert but didn’t get to the summmit, I would delete the alert instead of spoting to say that I was unable to reach the summit

Maybe it’s my KISS mind but…

73 de Pedro, CT1DBS/CU3HF

No. Spotting can be done by SMS.

You’re right on that if the app spot by sms (I’m not aware of how SOTA apps spot)

But the spot should be raised when one is in the summit, right ?

Yes, in a perfect world, you should spot when you are actually on the summit on frequency.

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Most if not all Android spotting apps have the option to either spot via the Internet or SMS, Spots can be placed by anyone hearing the station. If the activator is busy he usually welcomes a chaser spotting him to get other contacts. this is te only option if there is no cell phone signal at the summit. I have also spotted other activators who I have had an S2S with from my summit because they could not do so.

Ed.

Hi Heinz,
Yes I already mentioned that option in my comment. The problem I often find is the on-screen keyboard more than the SOTAWatch website’s visibility.
Of course as an activator, there are other actions that could take priority over cancelling an alert, such as getting back down the mountain safely when you have made the call that the weather is too bad to proceed.

Ed.

Hi Ed.

That’s why I love RBNHole!
No need to have net access. :slight_smile:

73 de Pedro, CT1DBS/CU3HF

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Yes, I wish there was an equivalent for SSB as well!!

Ed.

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So include a CW mode in your alert. Send CQ SOTA QSY SSB with callsign on the CW frequency and let RBNHOLE spot you, then call CQ on SSB.

Hey, if I felt like carrying the IC-7300 to a summit, I could do that with it’s pre-recordable CW memories!! Except - I suspect RBNHole would spot me on the CW frequency not the SSB one!:scream:

Ed.

At least there is something near to it: Spotting via APRS.
@G0LGS has created a gateway picking up APRS messages and feeding them into SOTAWatch. Have a look at https://www.sotaspots.co.uk/home.php.
I often experienced patchy mobile coverage on summits but was able to spot via APRS. Of course this requires some APRS Digi picking up your signal and either digipeating it or feeding it into the APRS internet backbone. But least here in Germany chances are good your APRS message will make its way.

73 de Michael, DB7MM

Maybe this would change the way how APRS is used on SOTA…
http://www.db1nto.de/index_en.html

73 de Pedro, CT1DBS/CU3HF

hi michael,

i’ve recently been to a summit with no cell phone reception at all! no data connection, it was not even possible to send a sms! it was then when i wished i had already looked how this APRS2SOTA works …

at home i quickly read about it, registered my call and now i can’t wait to use it for the first time!

73 martin, oe5reo

sorry, but it is not possible to send any text messages with that little thing … so it will not be of any use for spotting yourself via APRS. but nevertheless … i had a look at this tracker this year in friedrichshafen and i’m quite impressed!

Thanks for the info but very sorry to ear that! :cry: :disappointed:

RBNHole is the way to go…

73