Broad questions around cellular data sending/receiving

Actually when using spotter_tx_data you control the whole 340-byte buffer. Spotter does not add anything. Spotter sends other messages periodically that contain things like diagnostic data and locations.

Regarding brief daily burst vs trickle all the time, I’d recommend not worrying about it at this stage. It’s probably best to make sure you can iterate and learn quickly. Those kinds of optimizations can easily come later.