A quick guide to the Station Clock & Propagation Dashboard, the Work On Air Stations page, and the POTA Park Finder.
Before You Start — Works on All Three Pages
Set these up once and everything else works better.
Enter your call sign once.Enter it as Station 1 on the Clock page. It is checked against QRZ or HamQTH, then shared with the Work On Air Stations page and the Park Finder, so you don't have to type it again. SWL listeners can use any identifier.
Set your location.Sunrise and sunset, the day/night line, local MUF, the almanac, and distance and bearing all depend on it. In the Latitude/Longitude widget on the Clock page, click Use My Device Location, or paste a Google Maps link and click Update Location.
Pick your language.The language button at the top of each page switches the whole page to one of 11 languages, and your choice is remembered.
Close what you don't need.The small arrow on a widget header collapses it and the X closes it. Reset Layout brings everything back.
No need to reload.Widgets refresh on their own timers. Your call sign, location, layout, and station list are saved in your own browser, not on our server.
Page 1 — Station Clock & Propagation Dashboard
The main dashboard: live UTC and local time, HF band conditions, solar and space-weather data, the day/night map, active nets, and the AIM chat room.
Open Page 2 in a new tab.The Work on Air Stations button at the top opens Page 2 in a separate tab. Both tabs stay open, so you can flip back and forth.
Watch for the hand cursor.If the pointer turns into a hand over a widget, click it for more detail. For example, click Solar & Geomagnetic Data for the rules of thumb (SFI, 304A, A-index, K-index), or click the Day/Night Map for a larger map.
Read HF Conditions first.It shows the best bands now, the DX bands, and a band-by-band grid. S means short skip, L means long skip, SL is both, and -- means no skywave path. It is our own experimental estimate, so compare it with HamQSL Band Conditions.
Click a call sign.Most call signs are clickable. A popup copies the call sign to your clipboard and opens QRZ.com, and on this page it can also plot the station on the Work On Air Stations map.
See who is running nets.NetLogger — Active HF Nets lists nets on the air right now with their frequencies. Click a column header to sort.
Chat in 5XJ AIM.Enter your call sign and name, then type. Each line has buttons to edit it, translate it with Google Translate, or flash it for everyone. Messages are public, limited to 200 characters, and deleted after 24 hours.
Invite someone to chat.In Who's Online, tap the speech balloon next to a call sign to send that station a pop-up invite to the AIM chat room. Click the red X at the end of your own call sign to leave the list.
Live activity — DX Cluster spots, POTA, SOTA, WWFF, and PSK Reporter — on one world map, plus your own station list.
Click a spot to plot it.Clicking a row in any list drops a pin for that station on the world map. Click the same row again to remove the pin.
Get distance and bearing.Google Maps shows where the station is. Bearing shows the distance and compass direction from you to them. If your call sign isn't saved yet, Bearing asks for it.
Sort by frequency.Each list has a Sort: Time button. Click it to switch to Sort: Freq, which is handy for scanning one band.
Filter the lists.Use the band, mode, and region drop-downs. Or open Grid Map and click a lettered square, such as EL for the south Texas coast, to show only activity in that grid. Clear Grid shows everything again.
Make your own list.Make Your Own List to Plot opens My Station List. Add call signs, click one to plot it, and click again to remove it. Enter WSJT-X Stations to Plot is a quick way to map the stations you see in WSJT-X.
Report a spot.Report a Spot sends a real spot to the DX cluster under your call sign. Enter the DX call sign, the frequency in kHz (not MHz), the mode, and an optional comment.
Find a park.The Park Finder button in the POTA Spots widget opens Page 3.
Search Parks on the Air parks, find parks near you, and see who is activating a park right now.
Two ways to open this page.On Page 2 (Work On Air Stations), click the Park Finder button in the POTA Spots – Parks on the Air widget. Or, from the Ham Radio Tools menu, click the Search for POTA Park button.
Check your station/location.The page uses the same Station 1 call sign and location as the other pages. If it isn't set, look up your call sign; or type a city such as Sweeny, TX, click Find City, then Use Selected City; or click Use My Device Location; or type a latitude and longitude and click Save Coordinates.
Search for a park.Type a park name or number (such as US-3059 or Tyler State) in the first box, a state or region code (such as US-TX) in the second, or a country prefix (such as US) in the third, then click Search Parks. Park numbers go in the first box, not the state box.
Find parks near you.Choose a Nearby radius from 25 to 500 miles and click Parks Near Me.
Search by grid square.Click the grid map link, or scroll down to the Grid Map, and click a lettered square. Every park in that grid is found and listed in the results.
Read the park details.Each result shows whether the park is active and how far away it is, with Map and Directions buttons. U.S. parks may also show amenities, shade, the managing agency, and a link to the official rules.
See who is on the air.Click the Live POTA Activators tab. Filter by call sign or park, location, band, and mode. Click any call sign to open it on QRZ.com. The list refreshes about once a minute.
Check before you go.Map pins are approximate. Before activating, confirm the park boundary and access rules with the agency that manages the park. The Open POTA.app and POTA Rules & Help buttons go to the official POTA sites.