I don’t know if this has been touched on previously, but the practice of spotting an Activator on your desired frequency can get rather annoying. Especially if you are using a smart phone app that doesn’t display comments. I would suggest that if you want to ask an Activator to switch to a different band or mode, you spot him on his current frequency and ask for the new frequency in the comments section.
Does anyone agree or disageree with this? Comments appreciated.
73, Walt NE4TN
In reply to NE4TN: Concur. Wouldn’t text messages and social networks be more appropriate for “chat”? Or maybe we could talk Andy K3UK into adding a SOTA page to his real-time SKED PAGE at http://www.obriensweb.com/sked/ .
73, Gary, K9ZMD
In reply to NE4TN:
Does anyone agree or disageree with this? Comments appreciated.
Walt,
Yes agree, and it has been discussed before.
I find it annoying.
I’m also unsure of the merits or sucess of such spots.
When I’m activating I rarely have a phone signal never mind the ability to read comments within a spot!
If someone wants me to QSY it would be easier to get the message through by radio… (novel idea)
Pete
In reply to NE4TN:
Spotting is meant to convey the summit, frequency and mode of an activator. The comment allows free form text and is commonly used for messages such as “very strong in Central Scotland”. The SOTAwatch display was modified to compress reports so that if several people spotted the same activator, freq and mode then all the spots were coalesced into a single spot. This was to stop active spots from scrolling off the page when there are lots of spots. Hovering the mouse over the spot displays all the spots that have been compressed together in a floating window… This works as long as all the spots are for the same frequency. It means that the activator could be spotted by chasers in say California and New Jersey and each give a strength “59 in CA”, “41 in NJ” and only the latest spot is visible if you don’t hover. Hover for the full display.
All this is fine and dandy and works quite well. Spots can be used to relay messages from the activator to chasers such as “emergency closedown, lightning” or “qrt, far too cold” or “qsy 15m in 10mins”. As long as the frequency spot stays the same, the newest spot is coalesced. Again this doesn’t cause other spots to scroll off-screen.
There are occasions when people spot “can he qsy to 40m again?”. This isn’t a spot and is strictly the wrong use of spotting. It’s questionable if the activator will see spots, it depends if he has a smart phone with coverage. It’s quite likely that such spots will be deleted by MT members if they see them even if it doesn’t cause another spot to be scrolled off screen.
What will get the MT annoyed and get your spots deleted very quickly is if an activator is QRV on 20m and you spot them on 17m and place in the comment a message like “17m next please”. The activator is not on 17m and spotting them on deliberately the wrong frequency will annoy the chasers. You will cause some other spot to be lost off screen. People who do this consistently will get a polite request to stop the practice from the MT. If they continue doing it they stand the chance of being excluded from SOTAwatch until they agree to follow the AUP.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to NE4TN:
but the practice of spotting an Activator on your desired frequency
Is not a spot!
A spot, by definition, is a report of a station you have actually heard on a frequency. Anything else is confusing.
Also the practice of asking the activator a question in the spot comment is not productive since most activators are busy, guess what, activating and are not looking at their phone/tablet.
Colin G8TMV
In reply to G8TMV:
Of course, the primary reason to use spots to suggest another band or frequency is because you can’t hear the activator! I have had helpful chasers that could hear the activator relay the message - and then I promptly deleted the “spot”. And as an activator, I have sometimes been able to heed the comment messages and hand out some points.
Key for me is deleting my own comment spot.
Etienne-K7ATN
In reply to G8TMV:
Exactly, I usually have a smart phone with me when in an activation and all of the summits I’ve activated so far had mobile phone signal coverage, but I usually don’t pay attention to SOTAWATCH when I’m activating, because I’m making QSOs with my chasers, so it seems absolutely pointless to me having people writing spots to tell me messages or ask me things while I’m an activator. I won’t see them.
That’s just my personal experience and other’s may be different, of course, but I guess mine is many others experience too.
Best 73 de Guru - EA2IF
In reply to G8TMV:
Is not a spot!
A spot, by definition, is a report of a station you have actually heard on a frequency. Anything else is confusing.
Also the practice of asking the activator a question in the spot comment is not productive since most activators are busy, guess what, activating and are not looking at their phone/tablet.
Colin G8TMV
I totally agree ! Ask it on the air.
Tonnie, PA9CW.
In reply to NE4TN:
I agree, but also know there are plenty of times that an activator tries a band but does not stay long. Even if he/she is spotted, it may take me a few minutes to get into the ham shack (if I am busy doing chores for example) and it is disappointing to find out they have moved on to a band I cannot work them on, after only a minute or two.
It’s helpful in my case for example, if an activator in the Pacific Northwest starts on 20m, and then switches to 40m afterwards, and not the other way around. I’m willing to wait through the 20m contacts to have my turn at a qso on 40, but if he/she starts on 40 and decides no one is there after a few cqs, then I’ve lost the chance to make the contact.
Just my two cents…
73,
Linda
AB7YL
In reply to AB7YL:
I agree with what the MT have said in this thread. The Spot must reflect the actual frequency of operation of the activator at the time.
Generally when activating, I am not able to read the comments as I am either too busy or mobile phone coverage is patchy. Generally I am using RRT rather than a browser, so it’s how that app shows the messages that is important, not how the browser interface looks. When chasing from home, I am more likely to use the browser interface.
There’s a parallel here to DXPeditions and in their case they have ‘pilots’ who take requests for skeds on certain bands at certain times. SOTA activations do not take as long on summits to make such an approach possible.
The frequency and length of time an activator activates is totally the decision of the activator. It may be that you can’t copy the activation because of local QRM near your QTH, so you would like the activator to move frequency, but if there are plenty of other chasers that can work the summit on the existing frequency, you have to accept that you are just unlucky. If you arrive at your station too late and the activator has QSYed to another band, again, bad luck.
Most activators will try to be available and flexible for chasers but chasers need to respect the fact that it is the activator who makes the decision of how long and on what band / frequency / mode they will operate. They are not paid to be on the top of a cold rainy (or stinking hot) summit, they do it for fun.
73 Ed.
I think the main goals of spotting system are 2:
Helping the activator atracting chasers to his QRG in order to validate his/her activation in cases that prop, power, etc. could make achieving the 4 needed QSOs too difficult.
Helping the chasers finding the activators to work them and reach the correspondant points.
Of course, it could be also used for communicate activating plans (duration, QSY’s,…), safety support, etc. but IMHO as secondary objectives.
But, as Ed said, I agree on in no case might be used to “mark” to the activators the desired bands, modes, times… Only he/she knows about his/her operating capabilities (antennas, xceivers,…), conditions, timings. There are so many factors that can limit/define an activation.
As a chaser I will follow the activator’s plan; as an activator, I’ll try as many bands as my equipment and summit condx would allow. No more rules.
73 de Mikel
In reply to NE4TN:
Seems to me there are a very few situations where a spot might legitimately show a frequency an activator is not actually active on when the spot’s sent.
First, a spot (usually from an activator) saying something like “Here in 10 minutes”.
Last, a spot (likewise) saying “Now QRT”.
…and I’m not especially sure about the first of those; possibly only really justifiable if an activation window is particularly narrow?
73, Rick M0LEP
In reply to M0LEP:
But I think posting something like:
“QSYing 20m” or “going SSB” when you heard the activator announcing his intention is okay.
In reply to VA2SG:
“QSYing 20m” or “going SSB” when you heard the activator announcing
his intention is okay.
Yes, but only in the comments field!
If you hear the activator saying QSY 7.082, then do not spot him on 7.082 until you have heard him actually transmitting there.
Colin G8TMV
In reply to VA2SG:
“QSYing 20m” or “going SSB” when you heard the activator announcing his intention is okay.
It might be better, if you heard the activator saying “Now QSY 14.285” (or whatever), to wait, verify the activatoor’s actual new frequency, and then spot that.
In reply to everyone who doesn’t get it yet:
If it’s not a spot of the frequency and mode of someone actually operating then don’t complain if it is deleted.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to M0LEP:
“Here in 10 minutes”. I think this must be an alert instead of a spot.
73, Hans PB2T
In reply to PB2T:
“Here in 10 minutes”. I think this must be an alert instead of a spot.
Yeah, but there are some occasions when only spotting is practical, depending a bit on what the activator is carrying and so on…
…but, as Andy says, “If it’s not a spot of the frequency and mode of someone actually operating then don’t complain if it is deleted”, and such not-quite-spots would definitely fall into that category.
73, Rick M0LEP
In reply to M0LEP:
In NA, we usually copy an activator only on one band.
Reading the above comments, I understand my spots would be deleted.
In this case, I wont spot to a “announced” QRG.
Between you and me, I dont care at all because I only activate CW and will be RBN-spotted on a summit, I thought helping those SSB activators would be correct but at the same time understand the possible confusion.
Will comply.
In reply to VA2SG:
Reading the above comments, I understand my spots would be deleted.
I’d guess that spots containing good information will probably survive, while spots full of wishful thinking won’t.
Between you and me, I dont care at all because I only activate CW and will be RBN-spotted on a summit
Hoping, of course, that RBN hears you correctly. 
73, Rick M0LEP