HamClock Pro

Space weather and band conditions

Current solar and geomagnetic conditions plus the HF band-by-band propagation forecast (day and night) and VHF phenomena such as aurora and E-skip. Use this for any question about whether the bands are open, how good propagation is right now, the solar flux index (SFI), sunspot number, A/K index, X-ray flare class, solar wind, Bz, MUF or aurora activity. Updated every few minutes from N0NBH/hamqsl.com.

Solar and geomagnetic trends

Recent history and short-term forecast for the space-weather indices: solar flux and sunspot number over past days, the NOAA K-index forecast, and solar wind and X-ray flux trends. Use this when the question is about a direction of travel ("is the flux rising?", "is a geomagnetic storm coming?") rather than the current value. Source: NOAA SWPC.

Live DX cluster spots

Recent DX cluster spots: who is being heard on the air right now, on what frequency, band and mode, and from where. Use this to answer "what is active on 20m?", "is anyone working <entity> today?", "has <callsign> been spotted?", or to judge whether a band is actually open rather than just forecast open. Spots are minutes old at most.

Live propagation reports (PSK Reporter / RBN)

Live reception reports: individual station-to-station paths that were actually decoded in the last few minutes, with distance and signal-to-noise. This is the strongest evidence of real propagation, better than any forecast. Use it for "is the path from X to Y open?", "who is hearing me?", "where is my signal reaching?" or "what distances are workable on 40m FT8 right now?". Source "psk" is PSK Reporter (digital modes, worldwide), source "rbn" is the Reverse Beacon Network (CW/RTTY skimmers).

Callsign lookup

Resolve an amateur callsign to its Maidenhead grid square, latitude and longitude, DXCC entity, continent, CQ and ITU zone, and Logbook of the World / eQSL activity. Use this before answering anything about where a station is, what country a prefix belongs to, or whether a station uploads to LoTW. Position comes from a callbook grid when known, otherwise falls back to the centre of the DXCC entity (check position_source).

Distance and beam heading

Great-circle distance and beam heading between two points. Each point may be a callsign, a Maidenhead locator, or "lat,lon". Use this whenever someone asks how far away a station is, which way to point an antenna, or about short path versus long path. Returns distance in km and miles plus both headings.

Maidenhead grid conversion

Convert between a Maidenhead grid locator and latitude/longitude. Give either "grid", or "lat" and "lon". Use it for "where is IO91?" or "what grid am I in at these coordinates?". Decoding returns the centre of the square.

Contest calendar and DX news

Contests running now or starting soon, plus current DX news and DXpedition announcements. Use this for "what contest is on this weekend?" or to explain why a band is unusually busy.

Community QSO feed

The most recent contacts logged by hamclock.pro members who publish their log: who worked whom, on what band and mode, with signal reports. Use this for a live sense of what is being worked, or to check recent activity for a callsign. This is logged contacts, not cluster spots: use get_dx_spots for what is on the air right now.

Geostationary satellites

Geostationary satellites on the Clarke belt, including the QO-100 / Es'hail-2 amateur transponder and the major TV birds, with orbital longitude, operator and coverage region. Use this for "can I see QO-100 from here?" (combine with grid_locator or lookup_callsign for the observer position) or dish-pointing questions.

Amateur satellite details

Details for one satellite by NORAD catalogue number: name, status, operator, launch date and the full transmitter list (uplink and downlink frequencies, modes, beacons). Use this before answering how to work a specific satellite. Source: SatNOGS DB.