In reply to G0HIO:
Tee hee! Such is fame, Michael.
Thanks for the points and the S2S QSOs yesterday, much appreciated.
The alert was for one summit in the summit field and the comments were
information for the chasers,in the comment field.
Seems eminently reasonable to me.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to MM0FMF:
Or when you donāt know how long you will be on any summit.
To a certain extent Andy, though with experience a rough estimate can be established. Of course not everyone works to an itinerary like I do, nor indeed needs to. Long travel distances and the need to get as many summits as possible activated within a given time period usually rule over my days out on the hillsā¦ and that doesnāt mean I donāt enjoy them.
For me the worst thing that can happen (in radio terms) is not to be spotted so that I miss the chasers entirely. That really annoys meā¦ no, I got that wrong - the actual worst thing is to work a chaser and not be spotted! Thankfully it rarely happens.
73, Gerald G4OIG
In reply to G4OIG:
For me the worst thing that can happen (in radio terms) is not to be
spotted so that I miss the chasers entirely. That really annoys
meā¦ no, I got that wrong - the actual worst thing is to work a
chaser and not be spotted! Thankfully it rarely happens.
Interesting, Gerald. I know of someone who successfully qualified three summits on 40m CW on Wednesday this week, yet was not spotted once in the whole day. So it does happen.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
In any case, I have never been entirely sold on the idea of āspottingā
systems such as DX Clusters, skimmers, reverse beacon networks ā¦
even Sotawatch to some extent. I feel they can often create new
problems, e.g. uncontrolled pile-ups, incorrect recording of callsigns
and locations, and the increasing phenomenon of people calling āblindā
when they cannot actually hear the target station. There are
advantages and disadvantages.
To be honest Walt, Iād be well happy to work an uncontrolled pile-up on the higher HF frequencies 
10m 12m and 15m were lousy from GW/NW-070 Grt Orme today 
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to G3NYY:
Michaelās single alert for 4 activations would have been perfectly
correct and acceptable for Sotawatch until the advent of RBNGate; then
the rules changed overnight
Notwithstanding the undoubted benefits of RNBgate spotting for some operators, the existence of a third party application which is automatically applied and that requires all users* of a system to modify the way they use it, and which has to be opted out of not opted into, is potentially the top of a very slippery slope and I trust the MT will keep a firm grip on any similar future developments.
73 de Paul G4MD
The RBN system is an aid for sure, but it means operators ought to identify themselves more often when using CW - and not everyone does. A callsign should sent at least once every three QSOs in my opinion when an operator is working one or two stations every minute.
I do not think that chasers should rely on the spots (RBN or otherwise) solely to confirm the summit or indeed to confirm that they have worked a specific operator just by seeing a callsign on their computer screen. Some activators may have a distinctive fist or mannerism in their sending though which a chaser may recognise, and that may also go some way to confirm who the operator is without a callsign being sent.
73 Phil
In reply to 2E0YYY:
10m 12m and 15m were lousy from GW/NW-070 Grt Orme today
Indeed! I listened on the HF bands from home yesterday morning. Conditions were so poor that I cancelled plans to do an activation that day.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
Big CME heading our way for Aug24/25th arrival 
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Big CME heading our way for Aug24/25th arrival
Well, itās a Bank Holiday weekend, Andy. What do you expect?
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
I was going to hit The Cairngorms on Monday
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
I was going to hit The Cairngorms on Monday
You could try EME.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
Interesting, Gerald. I know of someone who successfully qualified three summits on 40m CW on Wednesday this week, yet was not spotted once in the whole day. So it does happen.
Iām not saying it doesnāt happen Walt, just that part of the reason for me personally carrying out an activation is to give summit points away to chasers and if I donāt work any, none get given away. I guess my preference comes from my long-established use of 144MHz SSB for SOTA.
73, Gerald G4OIG
In reply to G4OIG:
Iām not saying it doesnāt happen Walt, just that part of the reason
for me personally carrying out an activation is to give summit points
away to chasers and if I donāt work any, none get given away. I guess
my preference comes from my long-established use of 144MHz SSB for
SOTA.
But surely it is possible to work chasers even if you are not spotted on Sotawatch? If I call CQ on 7033 kHz or thereabouts, I can be assured that I will work some chasers, because they are always monitoring the recognized SOTA frequencies - but I am not always spotted.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
I agree Walt, it is possible to work chasers without getting a spot, but generally you wonāt work that many before someone eventually places a spot.
Contacts made without spotting also partially depends upon which bands you work. I usually run 10MHz rather than 7MHz CW as Paul G4MD often takes 7MHz SSB. If 10.118MHz isnāt free, then it is a case of finding somewhere else and thatās when I appreciate the RBN as it leads the chasers to where I am. 14.062MHz is becoming increasingly monitored, but higher up in frequency we do not appear to have established firm SOTA frequencies and some bands such as 21MHz are just plain under used.
Of course a spot does not guarantee contacts. I spotted for 18MHz CW on one summit when I was in Portugal at the end of July and worked just one non-chaser. I could see my own spot on the Rucksack app. Oh well, at least I tried.
73, Gerald G4OIG
because they are always monitoring the recognized SOTA frequenciesā¦
Which means they are not monitoring the other frequencies. So if I find myself a space on 7.018MHz, or 24.955MHz (etc etc), I like to give the chasers a little āhelpā!
Tom M1EYP
In reply to G4OIG:
I appreciate the RBN as it leads the chasers to where I am.<
I can agree with you there Gerald, I often say to Allan that if I start on CW they will soon know we have arrived on the topā¦ As for 14.062 it is where I sit quite a bit as the QRM of living in town is slowly but surely killing 40m and 30m for me =0(
Steve MW0BBU.
In reply to G4MD:
In reply to G3NYY:
Notwithstanding the undoubted benefits of RNBgate spotting for some
operators, the existence of a third party application which is
automatically applied and that requires all users* of a system to
modify the way they use it, and which has to be opted out of not opted
into, is potentially the top of a very slippery slope and I trust the
MT will keep a firm grip on any similar future developments.73 de Paul G4MD
Iām a great advocate of both RBN and RBNgate spotting.
Itās no more an opt in/out than any other spot.
I canāt stop other manual spots, at least I have an option of stopping RBN ones!
Itās great advantage is that it monitors the bands 24 hours a day and can hear signals that mere mortals canāt.
Itās very accurate (yes I know there have been a couple of duff spots) and produces exactly the detail that a chaser requires,frequency,signal strength and often summit. Manual spotters can do the same, but they are by no means immune to posting incorrect details. In my experience RBN is the more concise and accurate spotter.
On multi summit activations I always alert with ???. That gives me complete control of the time, order and changes to planned summits without the hassle of coming home and having to inform everyone that in fact I was not on XX/XX-001.
Its nice when people like Phil,G4OBK actually send āref?ā In their exchange regardless of a spot being correct or not. Sometimes in the heat of a pile up the reference isnāt repeated as much as it should be
Pete
In reply to G4ISJ:
Its nice when people like Phil,G4OBK actually send āref?ā
Look at the people at the top of the chaser honour rolls (especially CW). Listen to how they operate. Now you know why there occupy the positions they do.
Rocket science, itās not!
Andy
More nonsense.
RBNGate has just spotted OE/DK7MG/P and says he is in DL/AL-167, when in fact he is in a different country ā¦ OE/TI-670.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
This is almost a carbon copy of the G0HIO occurrence. I wonāt go into the explanation again as you have clearly failed to read and understand it before.
I suggest that you just ignore RBN spots altogether Walt - theyāre obviously just too technical for you!
Les, G3VQO