I have always been interested in SOTA (summits of the air) and have been contemplating activating some   mountains and becoming active with this “part” of ham radio, now that I have a portable radio and antenna setup that will allow sota to happen, i was keen for more info. Being a mac / iOS user, I went searching for some SOTA helper apps for my devices while out and about, and found some.

I discovered this very useful iOS app called “Sota Goat” from WW1X in the US. Its $5.49 in the australian App store The app downloads the summit information from SotaWatch and can also be used to alert upcoming activations, spot current activity and notify you about active locations you are chasing. It also shows you SOTA locations in new areas, and will be handy when travelling/camping.

You can search by a region, sota ID, or browse the map to find locations near you. From here you can also notify via an alert when you will activate the mountain or spot yourself or someone else active on a mountain you have worked on the radio.

Once you find a mountain, you can search for more detail in the SotaWatch website.

And you can watch for current Spots or look at planned activations coming up

And lastly, you can configure some settings and configure the PUSH notifications to alert you to activity. And. To the amusement of my wife and children (5 and 3 years old) the background notifications “bleat” like a goat. It’s provided hours of laughter.

It looks like a good app, and works well, ill update this review when I use it in the field 😀

*an alternative (and cheaper at $0.99) iOS Sota app is Pocket Sota It provides the same basic functions and offers some different features, but isn’t as “nice” to use. Thus Sota Goat is my preference.

**if you are an android user, ZBM2 has a Sota Finder app that is Free..