SOTA2APRS


SOTA summits nearby moving APRS stations sending the Human-Person APRS symbol symbol around 2025-05-31 23:51 UTC


Reference Name
VK3/VS-008Mt Cole aprs.fiaprs-map.info
JA/ST-008Takegawadake aprs.fiaprs-map.info
JA5/TS-119Aizomeyama aprs.fiaprs-map.info
JA/KN-022Shiroyama aprs.fiaprs-map.info
JA6/FO-083Nokojima aprs.fiaprs-map.info
JA/HG-183Noseokuyama aprs.fiaprs-map.info
E7/BO-403Debela Meda aprs.fiaprs-map.info
W7O/CC-046Mount Brown aprs.fiaprs-map.info
W4G/CE-001Kennesaw Mountain aprs.fiaprs-map.info
JA6/FO-027Aburayama aprs.fiaprs-map.info
LA/SA-288Storskardfjellet aprs.fiaprs-map.info
W6/NC-150Black Mountain aprs.fiaprs-map.info
TI/CA-016Cerros de la Carpintera aprs.fiaprs-map.info
JA/KT-068Sanjyogamine aprs.fiaprs-map.info
JA/OS-016Sekidougaoka aprs.fiaprs-map.info
W7U/CA-0187475 aprs.fiaprs-map.info
YO/MC-139Pleșu Mic aprs.fiaprs-map.info
W7A/AW-060North Mountain aprs.fiaprs-map.info
JA/OS-012Ryuuouzan aprs.fiaprs-map.info
W6/CT-230San Juan Hill aprs.fiaprs-map.info
JA6/KG-083Matsunagayama aprs.fiaprs-map.info
VK2/RI-046Lighthouse Hill aprs.fiaprs-map.info
W6/CT-037Cahuenga Peak aprs.fiaprs-map.info
W6/NC-265Table Mountain aprs.fiaprs-map.info

SOTA2APRS is an experimental service that posts the SOTA activations (spots and alerts) and some summit locations to APRS-IS. Web based clients showing the positions on maps include aprs-map.info, APRS.fi or agwtracker.

SOTA2APRS reports

  1. every activator "spotted" on SOTAwatch to APRS-IS with his current frequency as SOTA APRS symbol (or SOTA APRS symbol on some clients).
    • example: ON6ZQ 007.032MHz SOTA activation ON/ON-001
    • SOTA spots that contain the words "test" or "ignore" in their comment are not reported to APRS-IS.
    Activators who would prefer NOT to be listed on APRS when their activations are spotted on SOTAwatch are welcome to let me know -> mailto:info [snail] on6zq [period] be, and I'll make sure their callsign is added to the black-list.
  2. every announced activation ("alert") with the date and time of planned activation as SOTA APRS symbol (or SOTA APRS symbol on some clients)
    • example: ON/ON-001 SOTA activ. planned on YYYYMMDD HHMMz
  3. In addition to spots and alerts, SOTA2APRS also monitors in real time the stations that use the Human-Person APRS symbol symbol (/[), and determines if they are in the vicinity of a SOTA summit and moving.
Only if so, a red X APRS symbol symbol is sent at the location of their nearest summit.
  • example: ON/ON-001 Summits On The Air - www.sota.org.uk

This means that

  • any moving stations that use the Human-Person APRS symbol symbol will be shown with the SOTA summits nearby.
  • in particular, activators carrying an APRS tracker (or an APRS enabled transceiver, or a mobile phone running an application like APRSdroid) will be shown on the map with the location of the summit they are going to as red X APRS symbol.
SOTA2APRSSOTA2APRS

SOTA2APRS is purely experimental, and is meant

  1. to make the SOTA related activities known to a larger public
  2. while helping
    • chasers to follow the activators progression
    • activators to be chased and assisted if necessary

It may be adapted or stopped without notice depending on the feed-back I receive.


Note on why "obsolete" APRS "objects" are still visible:

The APRS protocol defines a "kill object" option. A "kill object" is a special type of APRS message that indicates the original object should no longer be displayed.

It doesn't really delete the original object from the APRS network, but marks it as "killed" so that APRS clients SHOULD stop displaying it. This is not a complete removal: the original object still exists in the APRS network, but it is marked as killed.

SOTA2APRS DOES send a "kill" object after one hour for the objects related to SOTA activations.

However, most user interfaces (including well known web based services) do not handle this feature properly, and keep displaying "killed" objects.

Users can of course choose to use their client software option to only display the objects that are not older than a certain age (1 day for example).


The SARTrack client is a very advanced Amateur Radio APRS program, perfect to follow the SOTA activators progression.


Note: SOTA2APRS must not be confused with the gateway service APRS2SOTA provided by Stewart G0LGS, allowing users of the APRS network to post spots on the SOTAwatch system.