Credits¶
This project exists because of the amateur radio community. Every observation in our dataset — 13.18 billion and counting — was generated by a ham radio operator somewhere in the world, running a beacon, making a contact, or submitting a log. Without them, there is no data. Without the data, there is no IONIS.
To every amateur radio operator who has ever transmitted a WSPR beacon, worked a contest, appeared on the Reverse Beacon Network, or shown up on PSK Reporter: thank you.
Data Sources¶
- Joe Taylor, K1JT — Creator of WSPR, WSJT, WSJT-X, and MAP65. Nobel Laureate (Physics, 1993). The WSPR protocol and software that generates the observations we study are his contributions to amateur radio.
- WSPRNet — The community-operated database that collects and archives WSPR spot reports from operators worldwide.
- Reverse Beacon Network — N4ZR, PY1NB, VE3NEA, and the global network of CW/RTTY skimmer operators who contribute spots.
- PSK Reporter — Created and operated by
Philip Gladstone, N1DQ. The largest real-time amateur radio reception
report network, with 27,000+ active monitors contributing millions of
FT8/FT4/WSPR spots daily. The MQTT real-time feed that powers our
pskr-collectoris provided by Tom Sevart, M0LTE — making the full firehose of reception data available to the community. - CQ Contest Logs — World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF)
- ARRL Contest Logs — American Radio Relay League
- GFZ Potsdam — Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, German Research Centre for Geosciences. Solar and geomagnetic indices (SSN, SFI, Kp).
References¶
Propagation Models¶
- VOACAP — Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program, originally developed by NTIA/ITS (Institute for Telecommunication Sciences). The standard HF propagation prediction engine since the 1980s.
- voacapl — Linux port of VOACAP by James Watson, HZ1JW. Method 30, CCIR coefficients.
- VOACAP Online — Web-based VOACAP interface by Jari Perkiomaki, OH6BG.
Solar & Geomagnetic Data¶
- NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center — Real-time F10.7 solar flux, planetary Kp index, GOES X-ray flux.
- SIDC — Royal Observatory of Belgium — World Data Center for sunspot numbers (1749-present).
- GFZ Potsdam — Definitive Kp, ap, and Ap indices; composite SSN/SFI file (1932-present). See Data Sources above.
- Penticton / NRC — Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, National Research Council Canada. The world's primary 10.7 cm solar flux measurement station.
Data Standards¶
- ADIF — Amateur Data Interchange Format. Band ID numbering used throughout the pipeline.
- Cabrillo — Contest log submission format (V2/V3), maintained by WWROF.
- Maidenhead Locator System — Grid square system for geographic coordinates in amateur radio.
Contest & DXpedition Organizations¶
- WWROF — World Wide Radio Operators Foundation. Sponsors CQ WW, CQ WPX, and maintains the Cabrillo specification.
- ARRL — American Radio Relay League. Sponsors ARRL DX, Sweepstakes, RTTY Roundup, and other contest series.
- IARU — International Amateur Radio Union. Sponsors the IARU HF World Championship.
- GDXF Mega DXpeditions Honor Roll — Curated catalog of major DXpeditions by Bernd, DF3CB. Source for the dxpedition training data chain.
Regulatory¶
- ITU Radio Regulations — International Telecommunication Union. Governing framework for amateur radio spectrum allocation.
- FCC 47 CFR 97.119 — Station identification requirements for US amateur radio.
Giving Back¶
When we publish results, we share our findings with the data providers and the amateur radio community — including the RBN community, who have asked that researchers share their analysis back. We are happy to do so.