________  ___  ___  ___       ___  ___          ___  ___  ________  ___  ___  ________     
|\_____  \|\  \|\  \|\  \     |\  \|\  \        |\  \|\  \|\   __  \|\  \|\  \|\   __  \    
 \|___/  /\ \  \\\  \ \  \    \ \  \\\  \       \ \  \\\  \ \  \|\  \ \  \\\  \ \  \|\  \   
     /  / /\ \  \\\  \ \  \    \ \  \\\  \       \ \   __  \ \  \\\  \ \  \\\  \ \   _  _\  
    /  /_/__\ \  \\\  \ \  \____\ \  \\\  \       \ \  \ \  \ \  \\\  \ \  \\\  \ \  \\  \| 
   |\________\ \_______\ \_______\ \_______\       \ \__\ \__\ \_______\ \_______\ \__\\ _\ 
    \|_______|\|_______|\|_______|\|_______|        \|__|\|__|\|_______|\|_______|\|__|\|__|

KG7WED

Ham radio DIY projects

SOTA Scout

SOTA Scout icon, with binoculars in the foreground and mountain peaks in the background

SOTA Scout is a desktop app for chasing SOTA and POTA activators using the popular digital modes FT8 and FT4. It bridges data from spotter APIs with remote control of the WSJT-X application.

By providing a clear control panel that correlates SOTA and POTA spots with what you're actually able to hear on-air, SOTA Scout makes chasing digital activators fun instead of frustrating.

SOTA Scout communicates with WSJT-X using UDP, so you can run the two apps on different computers (they do need to be on the same local area network however).

Features

  • Displays a list of all spotted activators, with a summary of their most recent spot
  • Selecting an activator in SOTA Scout shows a detail view of their location, spot info, and transmission history
  • The selected activator in SOTA is automatically linked to the DX Call in WSJT-X, and vice-versa
  • If an activator has sent a CQ message, a REPLY CQ button allows one-click chasing
  • Plays an alert sound when a spotted activator is heard on-air
  • Adds visual highlights to spotted activators' callsigns in WSJT-X's Band Activity window
  • For SOTA, when you log a QSO in WSJT-X, SOTA Scout will offer to save an ADIF file that includes the summit data, ready for uploading to sotadata.org.uk (POTA hunters don't upload logs, so ADIF export is not offered for POTA)

Downloads

The current version, v0.6, should be considered a beta version. Known bugs have been squashed, but we are still looking for the unknown bugs.

Setup

  1. In the SOTA Scout Settings window, enter your callsign and your latitude/longitude.
  2. In WSJT-X, open Settings > Reporting, and under the “UDP Server” section, set it up like this:
    WSJT-X UDP settings
    The IP address 224.0.0.1 is for multicast, and yes you can change that but it needs to match the UDP address in SOTA Scout's settings.
  3. In order to enable one-click CQ replies in SOTA Scout, you must check the box for "Double-click on call sets Tx enable" in WSJT-X Settings > Reporting

Screenshots

Screenshot of SOTA Scout during a SOTA chase Screenshot of SOTA Scout during a POTA chase

Contact

Send QSL or inquiries to kg7wed at zuluhour dot com