SOTA Spotter App updated

Hello,
I am using SOTA Spotter app in my android phone when activating. I found this week that due to recent changes on web page and programming of Spotlite the app wasn’t working anymore.

Sent a short message to YO8SAW (author) to let him know and he gave me a reply very fast.
He has just updated the app and now it runs again straightforward.

For those of you who have that installed you have to update it from Play store.
Thanks a lot Bogdan for fixing it so fast. It’s a very nice tool for us.

73 de Ignacio

Ps: I see one change introduced in this version; to refresh the spots you simply drag on the spots list down with your finger.

App is here:

2 Likes

Thank you for the kind words Ignacio!

Ps: I see one change introduced in this version; to refresh the spots you simply drag on the spots list down with your finger.

Actually, while the spots list is on the screen it updates automatically every minute. The swipe-down gesture was available since the previous version, you just discovered it now :slight_smile:

And a P.S. of my own: I’ll be publishing another update soon, to fix an issue regarding the spot coloring on some devices, as reported to me by Marco IZ3GME. Stay tuned!

73,
Bogdan

1 Like

Thanks to Bogdan,

The update automatically came down and installed on my phone this morning.

Ed.

Hi all,

SOTA Spotter version 0.8.120 is now available in Google Play. It includes a new Find summits feature, some simple navigation directions for the summits and other fixes and minor improvements. Please let me know what you think!

73,
Bogdan YO8SAW

2 Likes

Thanks Bogdan. I’m looking forward to trying out the new features.
73,
Malcolm VE2DDZ

I just downloaded it. My first impression is very good, well done Bogdan.

73 Andrew G4AFI

Hi Bogdan,
It doesn’t seem that your application auto updates. To get the later version, one has to go to the Play Store and request an Install? Is that the expected process?

73 Ed.

I just downloaded the app which is very nice from what I see, but the summit list is way out of date. There are lots of summits listed in DM/SR which I’ve never heard about in the last 2 years. We had 23 summits here until March 2016 when we lost 20 summits here. Now there are only 3 left in DM/SR. Here are the 3 valid ones: Summits on the Air 73 de John, DK9JC / N1JJC

looks very nice … thank you!

73 martin, oe5reo

Ed, the auto update is a setting of your account in Google Play, it has nothing to do with this specific application. Depending on your settings you might be notified that there’s a new version of an app available, or the update might be installed automatically. I cannot control that.

John, the summit list was updated yesterday, actually. I just didn’t bother to check that some summits have a “valid to” date that is in the past. I will make the necessary corrections for the next update, probably within the next few days. Thanks for bringing it up to my attention!

Also, many thanks to everyone else who dropped an opinion here, I appreciate the feedback!

73,
Bogdan YO8SAW

1 Like

That’s strange as all my other apps auto-update.

In any case after I did an Install, despite the fact that Google Play said “Installed” the program downloaded and replaced the older version and is working well, thank you.

Ed.

Thanks Bogdan

I use your app everyday on my phone to keep an eye on the spots. Keep up the good work and I’m looking forward to exploring the new features.

73 Allan GW4VPX

The new features are awesome! Very well done! I was wishing for this functionality this past week.

Thanks!
–Chris K7TAB

@DD5LP
Well, if all other apps auto-update then SOTA Spotter would have too, eventually. It probably depends on when the check for new versions is performed.

@GW4VPX @K7TAB

Thank you! Better late than never :slight_smile:

Hi Bogdan,

I just updated my version and all working fine in my phone.
The summits list addition is cool! Nice that you can send a spot directly from the listing, thanks!

As others said some summits are no longer valid so I will wait for your updated listing in the near future.
Keep on doing so well, 73 de Ignacio

Thank you! Yeah, the non-valid summits inclusion was an oversight on my part. I’m hoping it isn’t a very big deal though. 73!

Bogdan, can you do any kind of automatization on the “valid to”-thing? As we lost about 600 summits in March here in DM this job can’t be done manually… If you need any help for DM please let me know. 73 de John, DK9JC / N1JJC

if today <= validto:
 summit_valid = True
else:
 summit_valid = False

As they say in France “la science de fusée, il est pas” :wink:

Actually my intention is to add an option (default enabled) for automatic update of the summits database. I agree it cannot be done manually every time the database changes and I wouldn’t even want to.

As for your offer to help… I do have a question. I’m curious: why do some summits become invalid at some point? Do they get worn-out from all the SOTA activations and their altitude decreases so they no longer qualify as summits? That’s a joke, of course :smile: But the question remains: why?