As noted, this is already available from the Settings menu. I have now added four new options as alert tones. There are two CW versions of “SOTA” that will play accordingly at different speeds, based on preference. There are also two Chimes. One is short, and one is longer. Both were knocked out by me on a synth before to avoid copyright issues
I intend to push a change in the next few days that introduces a “Detailed” view, which will basically turn the existing spot from a 2-line to a 3-line view. Currently playing with layouts.
So I looked into this a bit more and it’s not really doable at the moment without some wholesale changes to the spot handling code I’m not willing to do right now. I’ll leave the request open and tackle it as time is found.
There is now a toggle button in the Settings form to disable spots with the word “Test” in them. This is by default off and if on, will remove from your view any spot with the string “test” in the comments (ignoring case). This will also remove “Testing a new antenna” spots as well, so an activation may be missed as a result, but the user will understand that, I’m sure (until they contact the MT saying they couldn’t see a spot others could)
My wish list for sotawatch includes tracking the activators’ status.
A view of the activator would reveal where they are, what band and mode, and whether they have commenced or terminated the activation.
Until their first spot, their status is “alerted”.
After the first spot, their status is “QRV” or “Active”
After their final active spot, they send a final self spot (or someone does it for them on request) that changes their status to “QRT”. So the state diagram is quite simple, a progression of status changes. It does require some additional data and a new transaction type “QRT”.
Advantage of this is that the QRT status can be rendered visually on sotawatch and client software, using an icon or a colour (care needed to allow for colour-impaired users), without sending a spot as such. RBN-assisted spots via RBNHOLE could have a different rendering from personal spots.
Putting this idea on steroids would incorporate APRS data so chasers could see how far the activator is from the summit.
This is pushed and live. You can access it directly via the Settings menu (Detailed spots option) or the Spots settings tab (Toggle Expanded Spots) which will cycle through the Compact, Expanded and Detailed views.
I’m not overly excited by the layout, but anything more detailed would require additional API calls and I was trying to avoid that. Suggestions welcome.
It’s an interesting idea, but would require a raft of changes to the API to handle that. I’m not sure it’s worth the effort right now, but I’ve added it to the list of changes requested.
You are right, it would be a big change and not worth it unless it had popular support. It is only an idea, there are more pressing issues to be resolved.
Still if the concept makes sense, it may have a future.
