Activator Toolkit for SOTA

Activator Toolkit for SOTA is a WordPress plugin for amateur radio operators participating in Summits On The Air (SOTA). Add the Activator Toolkit block to any post or page, upload your GPX track and SOTA CSV log, and the plugin automatically generates:

• An interactive GPX track map with three selectable base layers (Topographic, OpenStreetMap, Minimal)
• An elevation profile chart with hover-to-map interaction
• A “Zoom to Activation Zone” button showing the precise activation boundary
• Hiking statistics: time, distance, elevation gain/loss, average speed, and peak elevation
• A contacts table with automatic Summit-to-Summit (S2S) highlighting
• An interactive contact map showing where your QSOs were located

No other plugins required. All map libraries (Leaflet 1.9.4, Chart.js 4.5.1) are bundled with the plugin.

Features

• Standalone GPX Map — Interactive Leaflet map with Topographic, OpenStreetMap, and CartoDB Minimal base layers
• Elevation Chart — Profile chart below the map; hover to see a position dot track across the map
• Activation Zone Overlay — Precise terrain-based polygon from the Activation.Zone API (by N6ARA), or a radius circle fallback
• Zoom to Activation Zone — One-click button to zoom the map to the activation zone boundary
• Summit Peak Marker — 🏔️ marker at the highest point in your track
• Intelligent Track Analysis — Automatically calculates hiking time vs. activation time using the Activation.Zone API or a configurable radius fallback
• Rest Break Tracking — Tracked separately and shown as a sub-note under hiking time
• Metric or Imperial Units — Choose km/m/km/h or mi/ft/mph in settings
• Contact Log Tables — Responsive, horizontally-scrollable tables showing all contacts
• S2S Highlighting — Automatic detection and custom color highlighting for Summit-to-Summit contacts
• Interactive Contact Map — Shows contact locations by band, with lines to the summit; contacts with a grid square in Comments are plotted without any external service; S2S contacts use the free SOTA API; all other contacts use QRZ.com XML lookups (requires a QRZ XML subscription)
• Maidenhead Grid Support — Contacts with a grid square in the comments field are plotted automatically
• Fully Customizable — Colors, fonts, headlines, and display options in Settings → Activator Toolkit for SOTA
• Block Editor Compatible — Simple Gutenberg block with file upload and manual override fields
• Responsive Design — Works on mobile and desktop

How Activation Time is Calculated

The plugin uses two methods to determine the activation zone, applied in priority order:

Method 1: Activation.Zone API (Primary) Queries api.activation.zone (by N6ARA) using your summit reference from the CSV file. The API returns a precise polygon based on terrain elevation data and the official SOTA 25m vertical drop rule. All time spent inside this polygon counts as activation time.

Method 2: Radius Fallback (Automatic) If the API is disabled or unavailable, the plugin draws a configurable circle (default 50m) around the highest GPS point. Configurable in Settings → Activator Toolkit for SOTA (20–200m).

CSV Format

The plugin expects SOTA CSV v2 format: V2, MyCall, MySummit, Date (DD/MM/YY), Time, Frequency, Mode, TheirCall, TheirSummit, Comments

Requirements

• WordPress 6.0 or later
• PHP 7.4 or later
• QRZ.com XML subscription (optional — only needed for contact map location lookups)

External Services

This plugin connects to the following external services. By using this plugin you agree to their respective terms.

SOTA API (api2.sota.org.uk) Used to retrieve official summit coordinates (for the summit marker and S2S contact locations). No authentication required. No personal data is sent. Terms: https://www.sota.org.uk

Activation.Zone API (api.activation.zone) Used to retrieve the precise SOTA activation zone polygon for a given summit reference. No authentication required. The summit reference, coordinates, and elevation are sent to the API. Created by N6ARA. Terms: https://activation.zone

QRZ.com XML API (xmldata.qrz.com) Used to look up contact operator locations for the contact map. Only contacted when the contact map is enabled and QRZ credentials are provided in settings. Your QRZ username and password are sent to QRZ.com for authentication. Terms: https://www.qrz.com/page/terms_of_service.html

OpenStreetMap tile servers ({s}.tile.openstreetmap.org) Used as a base map layer option. Standard tile requests including your IP address are sent to OpenStreetMap servers. Terms: https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use

OpenTopoMap tile servers ({s}.tile.opentopomap.org) Used as the default base map layer (topographic). Standard tile requests are sent to OpenTopoMap servers. Terms: https://opentopomap.org/about

CartoDB/CARTO tile servers ({s}.basemaps.cartocdn.com) Used as a minimal base map layer option. Standard tile requests are sent to CARTO servers. Terms: https://carto.com/legal/

Privacy Policy

SOTA Magic does not collect, store, or transmit any personal data beyond what is described in the External Services section above. GPX files and CSV files are stored in your WordPress media library and processed on your own server. QRZ.com credentials are stored in your WordPress options table and are never transmitted to anyone other than QRZ.com.