I have a ruinning argument with a fellow activator. He uses the DX Cluster exclusively for self-spotting on a SOTA activation. I tell him he would be more productive placing a spot on SOTA-dedicated spotting tools (such as an Alert).
It comes down to this: Chasers: how many of you follow the DX cluster?
I myself never do – I stiek exclusively to the SOTA tools.
73,
Paul HB9DST
Many dxcluster nodes actually prohibit (or ignore) selfspotting so from my point of view sotawatch is the right place and audience.
If one of the chasers spots me on the Cluster this can be fun as it attracts more stations.
Will it work via the cluster. Sure. It there a preferred way: yes it`s sotawatch.
73 Joe OE5JFE
Hi Paul. Hope you are keeping well. I have never used the DX cluster for SOTA either as activator or chaser…one website is enough for me
.
73 Allan GW4VPX
I haven’t really spotted myself anywhere other than on SOTA sites, either.
Usually, that’s perfectly sufficient; you reach the right target audience.
QSOs were a bit rare for me recently, though — I was operating quite early in the morning. Then Markus (HB9DIZ) spotted me on the DX cluster. That brought callsigns into my log that had never been there before — so it can certainly help.
73 Armin
I have both the SOTAWATCH and DX cluster going on the computer all the time. Most of the activators I work are found on SOTAWATCH. i will post someone on the cluster if they are CQing a lot and not getting answers from the usual chasers.
K6YK
Sotawatch exclusively for SOTA.
73, Rod
…sotawatch3 exclusively for SOTA. Parksnpeaks for vkff parks in VK. Also time.is/UTC site and globe.adsbexchange.com/ for aircraft scatter contacts on 2m ssb
Geoff vk3sq
SotaWatch Only…For Alerts & Spots.
Never use the DX Cluster…always SOTAwatch from home.
Pete
WA7JTM
Hello Paul, hope you are well since we walked together with Emil at the Pic des Mouches.
As a chaser i use only the Sotawatch, or listen to “sota” on GSM with Ham Alert only for F summits.
As an activator i spot myself with HAM2K Polo, witch spots on Sota/Pota/FFF clusters.
73 Paul from Gerald F6HBI
Thanks John, that is very considerate.
I should remind everyone that along with SOTAwatch’s display of spots and other web sites that show spots, we have a SOTA DXCluster that takes the data from SOTAwatch and provides it in the same format as a the DXclusters do. This allows people to have a link to a DXCluster in their logging programs and also have a link to SOTAwatch via the SOTA cluster.
e.g.
nc cluster.sota.org.uk 7300
Welcome to the GM4LLD SOTA Cluster
This is version 8.32 built 21st February 2026
Set your keepalive pings to no less than 15mins
login: gm4lld
GM4LLD de GM4LLD sota_cluster >
DX de RBNHOLE: 14058.9 W7DLZ W6/NS-203 1758Z
DX de AJ6X: 7056.0 AJ6X W6/NS-203 1759Z
DX de W7SKH: 14241.0 W7CBR W7A/AW-003 1801Z
DX de W7SKH: 14241.0 W7SKH W7A/AW-003 1800Z
DX de KG7WED: 14074.0 KG7WED W7O/NC-004 1808Z
DX de W7DEL: 147530.0 W7DEL W7W/SK-177 1809Z
DX de RBNHOLE: 14051.9 KX0Y W7N/WP-001 1810Z
DX de RBNHOLE: 7056.0 AJ6X W6/NS-203 1811Z
DX de DL3NE: 14040.0 DL3NE/P DL/MF-072 1812Z
GM4LLD de GM4LLD sota_cluster >
There are a good number of active DXers who are also SOTA chasers using the SOTA cluster so they can click on a spot and have their logging program tune their radio and set their logging program ready to log the QSO.
Most logging programs “just work” with the SOTA cluster. The cluster is at cluster.sota.org.uk:7300 (cluster.sota.org.uk is the address, 7300 is the port, it is NOT a webpage)
As for Paul’s comment, he’s right, not spotting on SOTAwatch is making life harder for activators.