This question came up last night and I couldn’t find anything online, but this seemed the most likely place to find the answer: Is there such a thing as Bothies On The Air?
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Nope. However, you just invented it and signed up as the founder member.
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Paul G4MD activated a bothy up in the GM/NS area in September 2015 when he was between SOTA summits. It was something to do of an evening as there was no other entertainment available. 
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You’re just saying that because you’re in the promised land of bothies! 
Home advantage and all that.
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We need rules!
Should you get extra points for staying the night in said bothy? I feel it’s a bit harsh to make an overnight stay a requirement for a successful activation.
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I’m certain that would be mandatory!
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Interesting. I wonder what the acronym could be. 
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Yeah, I’ve been trying to come up with one, since BOTA is already taken.
BSOTA (bothy stay on the air) sounds too rude (and there is the risk of confusion with SOTA) and BOSOTA (bothy sleepover on the air) seems too long.
MBOTA (mountain bothies on the air) is a bit too hard to say in English
Easy to say if you are from Chad
Elliott, K6EL
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Not sure how many potential members would be though.
There’s also BOTHA, which also is the name of a cool airplane, but the South Africans might not like that as an option. Again might not be an issue.
I though part of the bothy code is that their name and location are not openly/obviously shared? Even most are removed from the OS maps?
So a system that lists and enumerates them feels a bit contradictory?
But maybe things have changed since I was last time trekking in Scotland 
73 Joe
What started all this was that I was quite surprised to see that a Welsh bothy was on an information board in a carpark in a youtube video I watched last night. I did some googling and it turns out that a lot (all?) of the bothies are listd (with maps, grid references, photos and info) on the MBA website nowadays. Last time I checked it was, as you say, a massive secret unless you were a member
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Joe, You are correct, well when you visited that was probably the case. Now, there is a guide book:
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And a website: https://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/
And GPX files: UK Bothies | GPS Waypoints (2760)
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There is a bothy below Waen Fach in south wales. Its the old pump house for a reservoir i believe. I’ve stayed in many bothies but this is so small I recommend a tent !
All except the Secret Howf in the cairngorms are in well published locations and welcome to all. The secret howf is in an undisclosed location. Some are in superb locations, my favourite is the eagles nest on Lewis, where you can all play spot the bothy…
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Bothy aficionados might enjoy this movie where Stephen Pern seeks to supply them all with more hooks for hanging clothing and gear:
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Thanks! I’ll watch that tonight.
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ZL has had huts on the air (HOTA) for a number of years. Has been rolled into ZLOTA as a class of activation now, but still there.
https://ontheair.nz/assets?type=hut
Looking forward to seeing bothies on the air. We can have international H2H contacts!
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HOTA tends to be a very different style of activation to SOTA. Radio on on an alerted frequency for the evening as you cook, eat, relax. Talking to all callers. Some wanting a quick report and reference for the log, but others in for a yarn. Great way of spending an evenng.
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Could that be the one at Lochnagar? An age ago, while climbing there and overnighted in a tent, we spotted a couple of locals hopping in and out of a hidden location amongst the boulder field under the crag, trying not to be seen. My friend went back there a year later and found it. Just sayin’…