HF+ Propagation Map

View map — Proceed to the propagation map by selecting your location

Use a 4 or 6 character grid square
or a valid amateur radio callsign.

or using the generic view.

The map is most useful when a perspective is selected, typically your operating location.

Use the ⏯ button to start scrolling through the bands. Bands that are not of interest may be skipped by removing the associated checkbox. Selecting a band number will stop the cycling and switch to that band. Maximum usable frequence (MUF) is the highest frequency that supports communication between two points. On this map, MUF can be considered the maximum used frequency, since the display is based on real time data.

Moving the pointer over active areas of the maps will reveal the band and SNR level, indicating whether the band supports SSB, CW, or digital communication.

About — The HF+ propagation map displays real time conditions on amateur radio bands between 1.8 and 50.4 MHz. Choosing an operating location shows areas of the world where contacts are likely now. Shading indicates if there is support for digital, CW, or sideband modes of communication. The map is updated automatically every few minutes.

A prediction feature calculates signal levels between two points on the map for the next 24 hours on the selected band. This is useful for finding the best band and time of day for stations at the selected locations to make a contact.

DX operations show up as a red stars when they are active and in the same way rare entities (countries) are labeled with orange stars.

Data for this project comes from thousands of reception reports submitted every hour by amateur radio operators from around world.

News

22 Jan — The landing page now supports providing a country to set the starting perspective. The position is based on the average latitude and longitude of station positions in the map database. Providing a more accurate location with a 6 character grid designation or callsign is still preferable.

14 Jan — A landing page that provides basic information about the site is now the point of entry. The purpose of this page is to provide a basic overview and highlight the technology behind the map. The page is designed to come up very quickly by not loading bulky scripts and map tiles if the visitor does not intend to proceed farther.

16 Nov — Two DX Cluster clients now run in parallel and statistics are gathered to compare their performances. After a trial period, the lowest performing client is swapped out for another. Clients are chosen from larger pool of candidates than was formerly used.

23 Sep — Support for moblile (small screen) devices was improved.

Donations — Your gift covers expenses such as hosting this service on the Google Cloud Platform and keeps the site free from advertising.

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Amateur Radio — The amateur radio service consists of trained and licensed volunteers authorized to transmit within designated bands across the radio spectrum. The service operates under an international agreement and licensing requirements vary from country to country. Typically there is no minimum age requrirement. Each operator or station is issued a unique callsign that identifies the transmitting station and the country of origin.
Sources — Data for this site is gathered from several sources:
Technologies — this site relies on open-source software and commercial hosting:
  • OpenStreetMap: the map layer.
  • OpenLayers: the map interface library.
  • MariaDB: data storage.
  • Apache HTTP Server: web server.
  • Squid: web delivery optimizer.
  • Rust and its crates: the software that ties it all together.
  • Google Compute Engine: provides the CPU and web presence.
Contact — Feedback may be provided via: