Poll POTA activations¶
AetherSDR can periodically fetch current Parks on the Air (POTA) activations from api.pota.app and display them as spots on your panadapter. This lets you find active POTA operators without a separate web browser or cluster feed.
Before you start¶
- AetherSDR must be running. A radio connection is not required to configure this feature.
- Outbound HTTP access to
api.pota.appmust not be blocked by a firewall.
Steps¶
- Click
Settings > SpotHub...to open the SpotHub dialog. - Click the POTA tab.
- Review the Server: indicator, which shows
api.pota.app (HTTP polling). This endpoint is fixed and cannot be changed. - Set Poll Interval: to the number of seconds between each poll. This value is persisted as
PotaPollInterval. - Click Start to begin polling. The status indicator changes to Polling when active. Click Stop to halt polling at any time.
- To change the color used for POTA spots on the panadapter, click Spot Color:. Select a color from the picker. This is persisted as
PotaSpotColor. - To start polling automatically each time AetherSDR launches, click Auto-start on startup so it is active. This is persisted as
PotaAutoStart. - Monitor incoming activations in the POTA Activations console on the same tab.
What each control does¶
| Control | Kind | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Server: | Indicator | Shows the fixed polling endpoint: api.pota.app (HTTP polling). Not configurable. |
| Poll Interval: | Spinbox | Seconds between POTA API polls. Persisted as PotaPollInterval. |
| Start / Stop | Push button | Starts or stops POTA polling. |
| Auto-start on startup | Toggle button | Automatically starts POTA polling when AetherSDR launches. Persisted as PotaAutoStart. |
| POTA Activations | Text field | Read-only console showing the activation feed. |
| Spot Color: | Push button | Opens a color picker for POTA spots on the panadapter. Persisted as PotaSpotColor. |
| Total Spots: | Indicator | Live readout of how many spots are currently tracked across all sources. Updated whenever spots are added or cleared. Resets to 0 when Clear All Spots is pressed. |
| Spots: | Toggle button | Master toggle for DX spot overlay. Persisted as IsSpotsEnabled. |
| Memories: | Toggle button | Toggles memory-channel overlay on panadapter. Persisted as IsMemorySpotsEnabled. |
| Auto: | Toggle button | Automatically switch slice mode when clicking a spot that includes mode info (e.g. CW, FT8, RTTY). Persisted as SpotAutoSwitchMode. Setting key changed from SpotsAutoMode in v26.5.1. |
| Signals (Signal History) | Toggle button | Gold markers for detected voice-width signals on the panadapter. Persisted as SHistoryMarkersEnabled. New in v26.5.1 (#2426). Same toggle as View > Signal History Markers. |
| QRM (Signal History) | Toggle button | Red markers for persistent carriers and wideband interference. Persisted as SHistoryQrmEnabled. New in v26.5.1 (#2426). Same toggle as View > QRM History Markers. |
| Clear All | Push button | Clears all DX spots, memory feed, Signal History markers and QRM markers from the spectrum. |
| Levels: | Slider | Number of vertical stacking rows for spots. Range 1-10. Default 3. Persisted as SpotsMaxLevel. |
| Position: | Slider | Vertical position on panadapter. Range 0-100. Default 50. Persisted as SpotsStartingHeightPercentage. |
| Font Size: | Slider | Spot text size. Range 8-32. Default 16. Persisted as SpotFontSize. |
| Spot Lifetime: | Slider | Seconds before a spot fades away. Non-linear steps from 10 sec to 24 hrs. Persisted as DxClusterSpotLifetimeSec. |
| Override Colors: | Toggle button | Forces a single text color for all spots. Label always shows "Enabled". Persisted as IsSpotsOverrideColorsEnabled. |
| Spot text color picker | Push button | Opens QColorDialog to pick spot text color. Default #FFFF00. Persisted as SpotsOverrideColor. |
| Override Background: Enabled | Toggle button | Enables custom spot background color. Persisted as IsSpotsOverrideBackgroundColorsEnabled. |
| Override Background: Auto | Toggle button | Auto-picks background color for contrast. Persisted as IsSpotsOverrideToAutoBackgroundColorEnabled. |
| Spot background color picker | Push button | Opens QColorDialog for spot background color. Default #000000. Persisted as SpotsOverrideBgColor. |
| Background Opacity: | Slider | Opacity of spot background color. Range 0-100. Default 48. Persisted as SpotsBackgroundOpacity. |
| Spot Lines: | Toggle button | Draws vertical lines from the spectrum up to each spot label. Label always shows "Enabled". Disable during contests to reduce visual clutter. Persisted as IsSpotsLinesEnabled. |
| DXCC Coloring (section) | Indicator | Section header for DXCC coloring controls in the left column below the divider. |
| DXCC Colors: | Toggle button | Colors spots by worked/confirmed/needed DXCC status. Label always shows "Enabled". Persisted as IsDxccColoringEnabled. Setting key changed from DxccColoringEnabled in v26.5.1. |
| Log File (ADIF): | Push button | Loads an ADIF log file to drive DXCC coloring. Auto-watches the file for changes after selection. Persisted as DxccAdifFilePath. Setting key changed from DxccAdifPath in v26.5.1. Auto-Reload is always enabled when a file is selected. |
| Imported: (DXCC stats) | Indicator | Shows QSO count and entity count when a log is loaded. Format: ' |
| DXCC Color swatches (New DXCC / New Band / New Mode / Worked) | Push button | Opens a color picker for each DXCC status category. Persisted as DxccColorNewEntity, DxccColorNewBand, DxccColorNewMode, DxccColorWorked. New in v26.5.1. |
| Signal History (section) | Indicator | Section header for Signal History tunables in the right column below the divider. New in v26.5.1 (#2506). |
| Marker Lifetime: | Slider | How long an inactive Signal History marker persists before being removed. Range 15-300 sec. Default 60 s. Persisted as SHistoryLifetimeS. New in v26.5.1. |
| QRM Gate: | Slider | How long a narrow carrier or wideband signal must persist before being classified as QRM. Range 3-30 sec. Default 6 s. Persisted as SHistoryQrmGateS. New in v26.5.1. |
| Edge Threshold: | Slider | Threshold above noise floor for the slope edge walk that refines the S-History carrier-side edge. Range 1.0-10.0 dB. Default 3.0 dB. Persisted as SHistorySoftEdgeDb. New in v26.5.1. |
| Signal History color swatches (Signals / QRM) | Push button | Opens a color picker for the voice signal markers (gold) and QRM markers (red). Default #FFC800 / #FF0000. Persisted as SHistoryColorSignals / SHistoryColorQrm. New in v26.5.1. |
| Snap to Step: | Toggle button | Rounds S-History click-to-tune to the nearest multiple of the active slice's step size, hiding the small carrier offset. Label always shows "Enabled". Default Disabled. Persisted as SHistorySnapToStep. New in v26.5.1. |
Cluster tab controls¶
The following controls appear on the Cluster tab for DX cluster telnet connections.
| Control | Kind | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Server: | Text field | Hostname of DX cluster to connect to. Persisted as ClusterHost. |
| Port: | Spinbox | Telnet port on DX cluster. Range 1-65535. Persisted as ClusterPort. |
| Callsign: | Text field | Login callsign sent to cluster. Persisted as ClusterCallsign. |
| Connect / Disconnect | Push button | Toggles telnet connection to the cluster. |
| Auto-connect on startup | Toggle button | Auto-connects cluster on launch. Persisted as ClusterAutoConnect. |
| Cluster Console | Text field | Read-only telnet console of raw cluster traffic. |
| Send | Push button | Sends a typed command to the cluster. |
| Spot Color: | Push button | Opens a color picker for cluster spots. Persisted as ClusterSpotColor. |
| Startup Commands… | Push button | Opens the startup commands editor. Commands are sent automatically after every login. One command per line. Persisted as DxClusterStartupCommands. New in v26.5.2.1 (#2683). |
RBN tab controls¶
The following controls appear on the RBN tab for Reverse Beacon Network telnet connections.
| Control | Kind | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Server: | Text field | RBN telnet hostname. Persisted as RbnHost. |
| Port: | Spinbox | RBN telnet port. Range 1-65535. Persisted as RbnPort. |
| Callsign: | Text field | Login callsign to RBN. Persisted as RbnCallsign. |
| Rate Limit: | Spinbox | Caps RBN spots per second. Persisted as RbnRateLimit. |
| Connect / Disconnect (RBN) | Push button | Toggles RBN connection. |
| Auto-connect on startup (RBN) | Toggle button | Starts RBN automatically. Persisted as RbnAutoConnect. |
| RBN Console | Text field | Read-only console of RBN traffic. |
| Send (RBN) | Push button | Sends command to RBN. |
| Spot Color: (RBN) | Push button | Color picker for RBN spots. Persisted as RbnSpotColor. |
| Startup Commands… | Push button | Opens the startup commands editor for the RBN instance. Commands are sent automatically after every login. One command per line. Persisted as RbnStartupCommands. New in v26.5.2.1 (#2683). |
WSJT-X tab controls¶
The following controls appear on the WSJT-X tab for UDP message listening.
| Control | Kind | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Address: | Text field | UDP bind address for WSJT-X messages. Persisted as WsjtxAddress. |
| Port: | Spinbox | UDP port for WSJT-X. Range 1-65535. Persisted as WsjtxPort. |
| Start / Stop | Push button | Starts or stops UDP listener. |
| Auto-start on startup (WSJT-X) | Toggle button | Auto-starts listener on launch. Persisted as WsjtxAutoStart. |
| CQ | Checkbox | Show only CQ calls from WSJT-X. Persisted as WsjtxFilterCQ. |
| CQ POTA | Checkbox | Show CQ POTA calls. Persisted as WsjtxFilterPOTA. |
| Calling Me | Checkbox | Show only decodes addressed to your callsign. Persisted as WsjtxFilterCallingMe. |
| CQ color / POTA color / Calling Me color / Default color | Push button | Color pickers for each WSJT-X spot category. Persisted as WsjtxColorCQ, WsjtxColorPOTA, WsjtxColorCallingMe, WsjtxColorDefault. |
| WSJT-X Decodes | Text field | Console of decoded transmissions. |
| Spot Life: | Spinbox | Seconds WSJT-X spots remain on panadapter. Persisted as WsjtxSpotLife. |
SpotCollector tab controls¶
The following controls appear on the SpotCollector tab for Ham Radio Del