July 25-26, 2026

EXERCISE, EXERCISE

This weekend we will exlore the POTA, SiOTA, SOTA and WWFF spot report.
This promises to be a valuable tool for xOTA activations with no internet.

Start a new message and select Standard Templates > GENERAL Forms > Specialized forms Off-Grid Spotting & Hunting > Off-Grid Spotting & Hunting.txt.
Click View Spots.
Click APSPOT.
Click Submit.
Choose the mode you want or leave All selected
You may leave the Number of Spots: as 10 or reduce as you see fit.
In the message composition window, make sure "Send As:" is set to Winlink Message.
Click Post to Outbox.
Select Telnet Winlink and click Open Session.
When "Ready" is displayed, click Start.

Wait a minute or so., then click Start again.

Click Download Selected Messages.
View //WL2K/ APSPOT SPOTS SOTA COMMAND RESPONSE and copy from APSPOT through the end of the report to your clipboard.
Open your spreadsheet program and paste what you copied into the top left cell, ensure that pipe (|) is the Separator Option, then click OK. Your spreadsheet should show the current SOTA spots. If not, you may have to save the text as a .csv file and open that.
Copy the first 2 rows of the spreadsheet (or the first 2 rows of the text in the message) to your clipboard, SPOT 1 through the end of the report to your clipboard.
Start a new message and select Standard Templates > GENERAL Forms > Winlink Check-in.
Fill out the form as usual.

In COMMENTS:, paste the text you just copied, then, as a new line, enter your
call sign, first name, city or town, county, state, mode (Winlink HF, VARA FM, VHF packet, etc.)
2 letter state abbreviation and no parentheses, please.
Example:
SPOT 1: OE2LEX/P | OE/SB-426 | 14.286 | SSB
SPOT 2: OE2LEX/P | OE/SB-426 | 14.286 | SS
WB0GAG, Bruce, Muscatine, Muscatine, IA, VARA HF

Save a copy for later if you wish, review your message, then click Submit and set "Subject:" to "Iowa Winlink Weekend".