Test connectivity

You can test your connectivity to the OTA bot. The first word of messages to OTA are usually a command to the bot. In the text of your message, make the first word be PING (case doesn’t matter) followed by any text you like:

The OTA bot will send a message back to you with PONG, the path your message arrived on, and then your text.

heard on RF means your message was transmitted on a radio. The other answer is heard on APRS-IS, which means it reached the bot over the internet and no radio was involved. Both are successful tests, and the difference only matters when you want to host an op, which you have to do on RF.

The PING command is a great way to practice sending APRS messages and to check if your setup is working like you expect. See its reference page for both answers side by side.