SpotHub is here — What spot integrations do you want next?

[ten9876]

AetherSDR v0.7.7 ships with SpotHub — a completely new, built-in spot management system that eliminates the need for external spotting tools. We'd love to hear what you think and what you'd like to see next.

What's in SpotHub Today

SpotHub lives under Settings → SpotHub and brings four spot sources together in one unified dialog:

DX Cluster (Telnet)

Connect to any DX Spider, AR-Cluster, or CC Cluster node. Full interactive console with command input. Spots appear on your panadapter in real time. Configurable spot color (default: tan).

Reverse Beacon Network (RBN)

Automated CW/RTTY/FT8 skimmer spots from the worldwide RBN network. Built-in rate limiting prevents command flooding during contests. Configurable spot color (default: blue).

WSJT-X Decode Spotter

AetherSDR listens for WSJT-X decode messages via UDP multicast and spots stations you can hear — directly on the panadapter. Features include:

• Smart filters: CQ, CQ POTA, or stations calling you — with mutual exclusion between CQ types
• Per-filter color coding: Green (CQ), Cyan (CQ POTA), Red (Calling Me), White (default)
• SNR-based transparency: Strong signals are fully opaque, weak ones fade out — instant visual propagation assessment
• Short spot lifetime: 30-300 second configurable decay, tuned for the fast pace of FT8/FT4

POTA (Parks on the Air)

Real-time POTA activation feed from api.pota.app. See every active park activation with park reference, park name, and mode. Spot lifetime automatically synced to the POTA API's expiry timer. Configurable spot color (default: yellow).

Spot List

Sortable table showing all spots from all sources. Band filter checkboxes (160m–6m). Source column identifies where each spot came from. Double-click any row to tune. Smart auto-scroll that pauses when you scroll up and resumes at the bottom.

Display Controls

Labels, position, font size, colors, background opacity, spot lifetime — full control over how spots render on the panadapter.

Other Features

• Spot density badges: Overlapping labels collapse into clickable "+N" badges — click to expand and pick a station
• Cross-source deduplication: Same callsign on the same frequency won't flood your panadapter regardless of how many sources report it
• Per-source color coding: Every source has its own color picker so you can tell at a glance where a spot came from
• Worker thread: All network I/O runs off the main GUI thread with 1/sec batched forwarding
• Log history: Each source has its own log file that's replayed when you reopen SpotHub
• Hover cursor: Pointing hand on spot labels so you know they're clickable

Full documentation: SpotHub Wiki Page

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What Would You Like to See Next?

We have some ideas on our roadmap (#326), but we want to hear from you. Some possibilities:

• DXCC-aware spot coloring — color spots based on whether you've worked that entity (needs ADIF logbook import)
• DXWatch / DXHeat web aggregator feeds
• Server-side filter builder — UI to construct DX Spider/AR-Cluster filter commands without knowing the syntax
• Spot audio alerts — beep/chime when a specific callsign, DXCC, or filter match appears
• QRZ/HamQTH lookup — right-click a spot label to open the callsign on QRZ
• SOTA (Summits on the Air) spot feed
• Additional WSJT-X filters — filter by continent, DXCC, grid square
• Spot announcement — post your own spots to the DX cluster from AetherSDR

What integrations would be most useful for your operating style? Are you a DXer, contester, POTA hunter, digital mode operator, or something else? Let us know!

73, Jeremy KK7GWY & Claude (AI dev partner)

[luigiverdicchio1-prog]

great joob
Although there are still many things to fix in the heart of the sdr. You should create an interface page between OM daily software testers to check if some things that happen also happen to other.

1. I would eliminate two things: the S meter in the right vertical bar and insert the S meter with its functions on a single slice.
2. I would eliminate the vertical lines on the spots. This creates confusion on the panadper during a contest.

[N1NAZ]

@ten9876 As always, great work on this update Jeremy! Now all you need to add is an integrated logging software. Just Kidding LOL, I think SSDR has a lot of catching up to do.

George N1NAZ

[K5WH-Walter]

Really great work on this indeed.
For the spots, as with SmartSDR, when you mouse over them, it shows the Time and Date stamp of the spot, with the details of the entry.
Any chance of getting this feature added as well?
Many thanks, Walter/K5WH

[ten9876]

This is available in the latest release.

[luigiverdicchio1-prog]

I mean the vertical line. Now i see half vertical down the spotdx Il dom 29 mar 2026, 16:49 Ten98 ***@***.***> ha scritto:

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[TnxQSO-Admin]

Coming a bit late to this thread, but throwing in an integration idea: native Wavelog backend for spot enrichment.

For those who haven't come across it: Wavelog is an open-source web-based amateur radio logbook, written in PHP, self-hostable on anything from a VPS down to a Raspberry Pi, or, for those who'd rather not run their own infrastructure, available as low-cost hosted service from a few independent providers. It's a fork of Cloudlog by the original Cloudlog core team and has become quite popular over the past two years. Most relevant here: it exposes a REST API that lets external tools query the live log.

The existing local-ADIF DXCC coloring works great for users whose authoritative log is on disk. For users whose log lives in Wavelog, the gap is twofold:

1. Local ADIF drifts, every just-logged QSO is missing until next export
2. ADIF cannot express LoTW membership (active uploader vs not), which Wavelog returns natively

Wavelog has a /api/private_lookup endpoint that returns, for a given (callsign, band, mode), the full DXCC/worked/confirmed/LoTW state in one round trip. JSON response includes flags like dxcc_confirmed, dxcc_confirmed_on_band_mode, call_worked_band, and lotw_member (days since last LoTW upload, or false).

Reference implementation exists: Wave-Flex Integrator is a cross-platform middleware that does exactly this for SmartSDR , DX cluster spots get enriched against Wavelog and pushed to the radio with color/opacity encoding DXCC + LoTW state. Disclosure: I'm one of the WFI author.s

A native AetherSDR backend would mean users don't need to run middleware alongside the client. The plumbing is already mostly in place , DxccColorProvider could become a backend interface (LocalAdif vs Wavelog) and SpotData would need a few extra optional fields for LoTW state.

Related: Passive Spots Mode landed via #1894 / #1897, which already lets users run external spot middleware cleanly. A native backend would be the next step for users who'd rather keep everything in-process.

Curious if this fits your roadmap thinking.

[dave30019]

I use the Spot List and when I double-click the rig QSY's correctly. But, I think a single button, maybe a right-click to select a return to the original freq/mode would be nice. In my old DXBase logging program they used 'Alt R' to return to the freq/mode before QSY from the spot.
Dave k4em

[k3ukandy]

None of the options work for me . I connect to the cluster fine and spots appear in the waterfall but things like POTA, RBN, etc, do nothing . v26.6.2 . The left-hand tab "cluster" remains highlighted when I click on other tabs .
Andy K3UK