GMA — Global Mountain Activity

GMA module

Activation of summits and mountains under Global Mountain Activity (cqgma.org). Structurally parallel to POTA/SOTA/WWFF/BOTA/LLOTA/WCA — Activator/Hunter, worldwide summit DB, live spots from the own GMA feed, map, awards.

Quick Overview

• Activator / Hunter modes, one summit per session from 1.56
• Summit auto-complete from the worldwide summit database (33,761 refs)
• S2S detection (Summit-to-Summit)
• GMA spots feed: from cqgma.org's own spots feed — summit, name and coordinates come directly (no DX-cluster pattern, no confusion)
• Cross-ref auto-suggestion: when creating a session the summit's WWFF/SOTA reference is suggested automatically (live from cqgma.org)
• GMA-Map tab with summit pins (mountain icon) + DX pins + lines
• GMA awards with Activator/Hunter counter, S2S + programs

Data Source: GMA (cqgma.org)

The summit data comes from the machine-readable GMA database:

• Source: cqgma.org (gmamap/load_gma.php, per region) — 33,761 summits worldwide with a DACH focus (~7,100 in Germany). Included: the GMA code, the summit point value, coordinates and a computed Maidenhead locator.
• Bundle snapshot: the DB ships as a snapshot in the app bundle and is available immediately — no auto-download (the source serves data per region, not as a single bulk endpoint; updates ship with the next app release).
• Storage: local SQLite under ~/Documents/HAM-Tools/Cache/.
• CSV import as an override for your own / more recent lists under Settings → Data.

Ref Format

The GMA code carries the association and region before the running number:

DA/AL-001    Allgäu Alps (DL)      ·  22 points  ·  JN57CG
HB/SO-012    Solothurn (Switzerland)
EA1/AT-1004  Asturias (Spain)

The <association>/<region> prefix with the slash distinguishes GMA from POTA/LLOTA. Against SOTA/BOTA (same slash pattern) the app separates via the own GMA spots feed and program context — not via the spot pattern.

Creating a GMA Session

1. Settings → Data → GMA reference database — the bundle snapshot is active immediately; a CSV import as an override is optionally possible
2. Top bar → Logs → New → «Create new log» → GMA session → wizard (with existing GMA sessions it additionally offers «Open existing»)
3. Pick Activator / Hunter
4. «My summit» (Activator) with auto-complete (name or GMA code, e.g. DA/AL-). A summit without a match in the local DB is still accepted and saved.
5. Cross-ref suggestion: if the summit carries a WWFF/SOTA reference, the app suggests it automatically as a dual program (live from cqgma.org)
6. A session covers one summit from 1.56: summits are activated one after the other, so create a new session for the next summit. Up to 1.55 the «More summits (hopping)» field assigned every QSO to all summits. Older sessions stay unchanged; the form points this out, and the ADIF export warns about QSOs with several summits.

Logging a QSO

• Status bar with UTC, frequency, mode, power, session name and role · summit ref(s) · points
• Their Summit field with DB lookup for S2S
• Enter saves directly
• Dupe marking like in the other programs
• Next to the n/4 QSOs counter, chips show the dual-program status

Activation rule

The GMA rule requires ≥ 4 QSOs per summit to score points. The app shows this as a hint/counter — there is no hard block.

GMA Spots Tab

The «GMA-Spots» tab shows cqgma.org's own spots feed:

• Own endpoint (api/spots/dspgma25.php) — unlike WCA/WWFF the DX cluster is not filtered by a pattern. The feed carries summit, name and coordinates directly.
• No confusion risk with SOTA/BOTA: because the refs come from the GMA feed itself, no collision-prone pattern match is needed
• Loads the latest 25 spots and refreshes itself every 2 minutes; the arrow button refreshes immediately
• Filters: band, mode and «Program (DA, OE, HB …)» — matches the start of the summit reference, not the callsign
• «Copy to GMA form» via button, double-click or context menu takes over callsign and summit; with «QSY with Copy» and CAT active, the rig jumps to the spot's frequency and mode

GMA Map

• Summit pins (mountain icon mountain.2.circle.fill, forest green)
• DX pins with mode color; a click opens the info popup
• S2S indicator in the sidebar row and info popup
• «QSO lines» toggle (up to 500 QSOs, otherwise a «narrow the band filter» hint), band filter «All bands», counter summits · QSOs · «without position»; with more than 1500 QSOs the map shows the newest 1500 and says so in a banner
• Sidebar «QSOs in the log»
• from 1.56 While the pointer rests on a QSO dot, aninfo box (call · band · mode · country · name) stays visible; clicking a row in the sidebar zooms in on that QSO

Awards Tab

Sub-tab GMA with stats:

• Activator summits (+ QSOs)
• Hunter summits (+ QSOs)
• Summit-to-Summit (S2S)
• Programs (unique association prefixes like DA, OE, HB, EA1, …)

ADIF Export

GMA is exported with MY_SIG=GMA + MY_SIG_INFO (or SIG/SIG_INFO for hunted summits):

<MY_SIG:3>GMA <MY_SIG_INFO:9>DA/AL-001 <MY_GMA_REF:9>DA/AL-001

In addition the app writes its own APP_HAMTOOLS_* fields for a lossless re-import roundtrip — third-party software ignores them.

A Hunter session without an own summit is exported as a regular ADIF file <log name>-<timestamp>.adi (hunted summits in SIG/SIG_INFO).

Multi-Ref Split

from 1.56 Older sessions with several summits → the

export writes one ADIF file per summit, each with a single MY_SIG_INFO, scheme HB9HJI@DA-AL-001 20260616-GMA.adi (the slash in reference and portable call becomes -). Exporting selected QSOs adds -selected<count> (e.g. -GMA-selected12.adi) and does not overwrite the full file. Saved to ~/Documents/HAM-Tools/Exports/. Bundled via the ADIFCore.OutdoorExporter library (like POTA/WWFF/BOTA/LLOTA/WCA). Up to 1.55, GMA logs produced a single file with comma lists.

Export Notes

from 1.56 The success message additionally warns:

• «⚠ Reference format not recognised — check before submitting: …» — lists own references with an invalid format (e.g. typos); the export runs anyway
• «⚠ n QSO(s) were omitted …» — QSOs with neither an own program reference nor a matching log reference; they remain in the log
• «⚠ n QSO(s) are assigned to several GMA summits …» — QSOs from older sessions that appear in every summit file; check before submitting

Dual Program (GMA + POTA/SOTA/WWFF/BOTA/LLOTA/WCA)

Summits often sit inside a WWFF area or are also a SOTA summit. When creating a session the GMA wizard suggests the matching WWFF/SOTA ref automatically (from the cqgma.org lookup) — every logged QSO is then tagged for all of them:

• «Export ADIF» writes a separate file per ADIF program and referencefrom 1.56
• With a SOTA ref, the «SOTA CSV…» button appears additionally

GMA as a second program is also available in the POTA, SOTA, WWFF, BOTA and LLOTA wizards (not WCA). Afterwards: pencil button in the status bar → «Edit dual-program refs» (applies retroactively to the whole session).

Details and example: POTA → Dual Program.

Known Limitations

• Self-spotting / upload not in the app yet (submission via ADIF)
• The GMA spots feed is an HTML table without an official JSON API — a layout change at cqgma.org may require the parser to be updated
• No GMA field in the WCA wizard — add GMA there afterwards via «Edit dual-program refs»

Comparison of the Seven Award Programs

Aspect	POTA	SOTA	WWFF	BOTA	LLOTA	WCA	GMA
Activation from	10 QSOs	4 QSOs	44 QSOs	1 QSO	10 QSOs	50 QSOs*	4 QSOs*
Refs	K-1234	HB/BE-001	DLFF-0001	B/DL-0123	CL-0001	HB-00003	DA/AL-001
Points	✗	1–10 + winter bonus	✗	✗	✗	✗	per summit
Data source	open API	open API	URL + file	open API	open API	GMA bundle	GMA bundle
Spots	dedicated	dedicated	DX cluster filter	DX + DB match	dedicated	DX + DB match	dedicated
ADIF	standard	standard	standard	MY_SIG=WWBOTA	MY_SIG=LLOTA	MY_SIG=WCA	MY_SIG=GMA

* hint/counter, no hard block.