Skip to content

Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.10+
  • No GPU, no database, no special hardware

Check your Python version

Open a terminal (or Command Prompt on Windows) and run:

python --version

If you see Python 3.10 or higher, you're good. If you don't have Python installed, download it from python.org.

Install

Use a virtual environment

We strongly recommend installing into a virtual environment, not your system Python. This keeps your system clean and makes cleanup easy — when you are done testing, just delete the folder.

Step 1 — Create a virtual environment

Open Command Prompt or PowerShell:

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate

Open Terminal:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

You should see (.venv) at the start of your prompt. This means the virtual environment is active and all installs will go into the .venv folder instead of your system Python.

Using uv instead

If you have uv installed, you can use it for faster setup:

uv venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate      # macOS / Linux
.venv\Scripts\activate         # Windows

Step 2 — Install ionis-validate

pip install ionis-validate

This installs:

  • ionis-validate — the CLI tool
  • The V22-gamma model checkpoint and config (safetensors, ~50 MB)
  • PyTorch, NumPy, and safetensors (pulled automatically, ~800 MB)

Verify Installation

ionis-validate info

Expected output includes model version (V22-gamma), parameter count (205,621), PhysicsOverrideLayer status, and your system's PyTorch device (CPU, CUDA, or MPS).

First Run

Run the full test suite:

ionis-validate test

This executes 29 tests across 2 groups:

Group Tests What It Checks
KI7MT Operator Tests 18 Operator-grounded paths from 49K QSOs + 5.7M contest signatures
TST-900 Band x Time 11 Band discrimination across day/night/twilight periods

Expected: KI7MT 18/18 PASS, TST-900 9/11 (TST-903 and TST-904 are known). If any KI7MT test fails, see Reporting Issues.

Try a Prediction

Predict a 20m path from your grid:

ionis-validate predict --tx-grid FN20 --rx-grid IO91 --band 20m --sfi 150 --kp 2 --hour 14 --month 6 --day-of-year 172

ionis-validate predict \
    --tx-grid FN20 --rx-grid IO91 \
    --band 20m --sfi 150 --kp 2 \
    --hour 14 --month 6 --day-of-year 172

The output shows predicted SNR (in sigma and dB) and per-mode verdicts: WSPR, FT8, CW, RTTY, and SSB — open or closed.

Browser UI

The optional browser UI wraps every command in a point-and-click dashboard. Install the UI extras and launch:

pip install "ionis-validate[ui]"
ionis-validate ui

This opens a browser tab at http://localhost:8765 with tabs for Predict, Custom, Report, and Info.

Cleanup

When you are done testing, deactivate the virtual environment and delete the folder. Nothing else to uninstall.

deactivate
rmdir /s /q .venv

deactivate
rm -rf .venv

What's Next