Data Privacy and GDPR Statement¶
Our Position¶
IONIS is a scientific research project that studies ionospheric propagation patterns using publicly available amateur radio observations. We have zero interest in personal data. We study propagation paths between grid squares, not the operators who generated them.
There is no commercial motive behind IONIS. There is no monetization plan. There is no startup. This is real research, built to provide a badly needed tool for the public and the greater ham radio community at large.
All IONIS tools, models, and research results are free to the public under the GNU General Public License v3 (GPLv3). We credit every data source, share our insights back to the community, and redistribute only derived works (models and aggregated signatures) — never raw data.
Data Sources and Authorization¶
All source data used by IONIS is publicly available, provided by community organizations for public use, and downloaded with the explicit or implied consent of the data providers.
| Source | Authorization | Policy |
|---|---|---|
| WSPRNet | Public archive, no restrictions | "The data collected are available to the public through this site" |
| Reverse Beacon Network | Public, share results back (voluntary) | "Data from the RBN are freely available for study and analysis" |
| CQ Contest Logs | Entrant consent to public posting | CQ WW Rules Section XIII: entrants "agreed the log entry may be made open to the public" |
| ARRL Contest Logs | Publicly posted, no restriction found | Logs published at contests.arrl.org since 2018; no terms prohibiting research use |
Full details: WSPRNet Downloads | RBN Raw Data | CQ WW Public Logs | ARRL Public Logs
GDPR Compliance¶
Why Callsigns Appear in Our Pipeline¶
Amateur radio callsigns appear in the bronze (raw ingest) and silver (enrichment) layers of our data pipeline for one reason only: to link an observation to a geographic grid square when the source record does not include one directly (e.g., Reverse Beacon Network spots contain no grid square — only a callsign and DXCC prefix). This is the Rosetta Stone's sole function.
By the time data reaches the gold layer (training-ready, model-facing), all callsigns have been removed. The model receives only: grid-pair, band, time of day, month, solar flux index (SFI), geomagnetic index (Kp), distance, and bearing. No callsign, no name, no address, no personal identifier of any kind.
GDPR Analysis¶
We have assessed our data processing against the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and believe our use is compliant on multiple independent grounds:
1. Anonymization (Recital 26)
GDPR Recital 26 states: "The principles of data protection should therefore not apply to anonymous information, namely information which does not relate to an identified or identifiable natural person or to personal data rendered anonymous in such a manner that the data subject is not or no longer identifiable. This Regulation does not therefore concern the processing of such anonymous information, including for statistical or research purposes."
Our gold-layer output is anonymous by design. Callsigns are stripped. Grid squares are 4-character Maidenhead locators representing areas of approximately 100 km x 200 km — far too coarse to identify any individual. The model's input and output contain no personal data whatsoever.
2. Publicly Available Data, Voluntarily Disclosed
Every observation in our dataset was voluntarily made public by the operator:
- WSPR beacons are transmitted over public radio frequencies specifically to be received and reported by anyone. Operators configure their software to upload spots to WSPRNet's public database. This is a deliberate, affirmative act of publication.
- RBN spots are machine-decoded from public radio transmissions. CW and RTTY signals are broadcast on public amateur radio frequencies. The Reverse Beacon Network provides these observations as a public service.
- Contest logs are submitted by operators who explicitly consent to public posting. CQ WW rules require entrants to agree their "log entry may be made open to the public" as a condition of participation. ARRL posts submitted logs publicly at contests.arrl.org.
Amateur radio is, by its nature, a public service. ITU Radio Regulations and national licensing authorities (FCC 47 CFR 97.119, Ofcom, BNetzA, etc.) require operators to identify themselves with their callsign during every transmission. Callsigns are broadcast over the air, published in national licensing databases, and printed in callbooks that have been publicly available for over 70 years. There is no expectation of privacy for amateur radio callsigns.
3. Scientific Research Purpose (Article 89)
GDPR Article 89 provides safeguards and derogations for processing personal data for scientific or historical research purposes and statistical purposes, provided appropriate technical and organizational measures are in place — particularly the principle of data minimization. Our pipeline exemplifies this:
- Callsigns are used only where necessary (grid resolution in silver layer)
- Callsigns are stripped as early as possible (before gold layer)
- The model never receives any personal identifier
- We do not attempt to identify, profile, or contact any individual
- Our purpose is exclusively scientific: understanding ionospheric propagation
4. Data Minimization in Practice
Our medallion architecture enforces data minimization structurally:
| Layer | Contains Callsigns? | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze (raw ingest) | Yes — as received from source | Immutable archive, never modified |
| Silver (enriched) | Yes — used for grid resolution | Cross-source validation, temporal grid matching |
| Gold (training-ready) | No | Aggregated signatures: grid-pair, band, time, solar, SNR |
The callsign does its job in the silver layer (linking observations to grids) and is permanently left behind. By the time any data touches the neural network, it contains only physics — no person.
What We Do Not Do¶
- We do not collect data directly from individuals
- We do not attempt to identify, track, or profile any operator
- We do not correlate callsigns with names, addresses, or other PII
- We do not redistribute raw data containing callsigns
- We do not use callsign data for any commercial purpose
- We do not store callsign data beyond what the public source already provides
- We do not contact operators based on data in our pipeline
What We Redistribute¶
We redistribute only:
- Open source tools (GPLv3) — ingesters, parsers, training scripts
- Trained model weights — callsign-free, anonymous
- Aggregated signature vectors — callsign-free, anonymous
- Published research results — shared with data providers and the public
We do not redistribute raw WSPR spots, RBN spots, or contest logs. Anyone wanting the source data should download it from the original providers.
Contact¶
Questions about our data handling practices can be directed to:
- Greg Beam, KI7MT — Project lead
- Email: See QRZ.com listing for KI7MT
Last updated: 2026-02-08 Status: Living Document