HI All,
I changed my phone and I see SOTA Spotter is no longer in the Android app store , what are folk using as an alternative these days .I seem to remember this being previously discussed but did not pay sufficient attention at the time
Declan
EI6FR
I just go straight to the website.
I find SOTAwatch works fine on my phone. (Android 13/14)
Occsiaonally I use DroidSpot to place SMS spots but I donāt think the DroidSpot APK is available anymore. Well I just fired it and it says it has been updated and seems to still work.
Check out this one, itās free and supports SOTA, POTA, WWFF and more.
Loads database(s) with all references, uses your location to suggest which summit youāre on, exports separate logs for each program, can check and send spots, etc
73,
Luc ON7DQ
Hi Declan
I canāt recall SOTA Spotter being available from the Android Playstore, but I may be thiinking of its predecessor app - the owner pulled that one due to the GDPR rulings at the time. Iāve a feeling SOTA Spotter came from another direct source and not the Playstore.
73 Phil
SOTA Spotter did come from the Google Play Store as I have it on my phone and have only ever loaded apps from the store (apart from the one I wrote). It still seems to work but, as I said earlier, I just use the website now.
Hi Guys,
thanks, yep I found the old thread, pity its no longer available but using the website seems just as handy when qrv
Declan
Fantastic app. However, SOTA spots/alerts specifically arenāt ready yet. Itās coming though. POTA spotting is currently available. Development has been rather rapid. Iām impressed so far.
I use SOTA Goat on my iPhone
VK port-a-log?
I havenāt used it, but SOTA spotting seems to be in the app.
Had a look at that, nice piece of work when its ready for us
Declan
Hi Declan,
We now use āSOTA Activatorā from the Play Store, as we lost SOTA Spotter when we changed phones last year.
It seems quicker and more reliable at spotting, but you have to type in all the spot details each time, which is a hassle.
It does have a good summit mapping option (* fairly good mapping actually; after my recent experience in Majorca I would not use the mapping for navigation purposes!).
73,
Simon
Donāt forget sotl.as as well - it adjusts very nicely to smartphone screens as well as PC browser screens. Just go to sotl.as in Chrome and then āadd to home screenā
73 Ed.
I had reported exact the same hassle to the developer Jess. He has promised to incorporate an improvement in the next release. Unfortunately he has not released a new issue since November 2023.
73 de Michael, DB7MM
Iāve just used SOTA Activator for two weekends of activations, 11 summits, and it worked very well, easy to use. At one point I saw a server error but an app restart fixed it and allowed me to spot. I like the realtime map with summit markers, something that SOTA Finder lacks.
My only complaint is that the alert and spot forms forget the previous field values which is really annoying, as others have suggested. If that gets fixed it will be all I could ask for.
Well not exactly allā¦ because it knows your location there is an opportunity for the app to pre-fill the summit field when spotting automatically, using a configurable proximity attribute (say, 150m). Any improvement that reduces in-field keystrokes should be explored. (Oh, I just re-read the Polo description and it seems that app does this).
[PS: I would of course use VK Portalogger if only it was on Android].
How do you get an invitation to try Portable Logger on Apple Testflight??
Elliott, K6EL
Another alternative is SOTAMAT which works differently from the others:
When you do NOT have internet: one-way commands:
When you have internet: a two-way mode where you send commands via eMail, or in some countries SMS, and you get replies back:
When you have a Garmin inReach satellite device:
Bonus features:
My SOTAMAT has two problems. 1) Itās stuck on the spot me page. How do I see which activators have been spotted. 2) I accidentally clicked the track me option. How do I revert to donāt track so my significant other canāt stalk me.
Elliott, K6EL
The app isnāt for the 2-way commands. The app is for 1-way commands (self-spotting, etc.) that send 1-way commands via HF FT8 messages.
Asking for a list of current spots is a 2-way command (asking for the spots, and getting a response back). The 2-way commands donāt need an app. For 2-way you either:
send an SMS message to +1-601-SOTA-MAT (+1-601-768-2628) with the text similar to one of these examples:
spots (will return the most recent 5 spots in the past hour)spots ssb 3 (meaning return just the 3 most recent ssb spots from the last hour)ss all 4 s (which is just a short-hand for sotaspots all 4 short returns the 4 most recent spots from the past hour, but in a shorter format that is appropriate for the 140 character Garmin inReach)Or do the same, but rather than use SMS, send an eMail to <your-callsign>.<your-PINcode>@go.sotamat.com where you put the command in either the subject line or in the message body. You set up your PIN on the Web site (you define your Profile).
Or do the same on a Garmin inReach, sending the same way you send an eMail, but the response will come back via the Garmin network directly (the response does not come back via eMail).
The app never sends your location information to the cloud. Location GPS information is only used on the device to select the closest Peak ID or Park ID from the database, or to guide you to the selected peak and to provide activation zone information. You can turn off permissions to GPS access as follows:
The full documentation of available 2-way commands (spots, weather, etc.) is at https://sotamat.com/sms-services/. A āquick referenceā of available 2-way commands is also in the SOTAMAT cell phone app under the āMoreā¦ā tab, and then āServices Referenceā.
-Brian
VK port-a-log does it perfectly, spotting, alerts, logging. And you can customize for your preferences. I donāt use anything else.