I may be splitting hairs, but the rules say “signal report” and not “accurate signal report” and not “precise signal report” and definitely not “RST”. Many real life signal reports are unrelated to the actual signal quality. e.g. The “contest 59”.
I think that setting the stations to NO PATH and exchanging “(his call) DE (my call). clear signal,” would constitute a valid and truthful exchange. Actually, the way messaging work (at least on the Yaesu VX-8GR), you enter the destination call sign into the destination field and the radio supplies your pre-entered call sign in the APRS sender field, so the only necessary content of the message would be “clear signal.”
I think a minimal exchange would look like:
- [Me] To: (his call). Msg: QSL? Pls reply w/CLEAR SIG. SOTA activation
- [He] To: (my call). Msg: CLEAR SIG
- [Me] To: (his call). Msg: CLEAR SIG. TNX
I think that meets the spirit and the letter of the rules.
TNX,
Kevin/K4KPK