FT8 Live Monitor

About this dashboard

This page is a live monitor of FT8 radio activity received at this site. Two software-defined radios (RTL-SDR dongles connected to ham-band antennas) listen on shortwave amateur frequencies 24/7 in 15-second slots, the standard FT8 transmission window. Captured audio is decoded automatically; every callsign and signal report you see below is a real over-the-air message.

What the panels show

Band conditions — current solar wind, X-ray flux, and geomagnetic indices from NOAA SWPC, translated into a per-band Good / Fair / Poor rating for our location. The coloured stripes in the heatmap below are the predictions for each hour.
Decode counters — total messages decoded today, in the last 24 hours, the last hour, and lifetime. Unique stations counts distinct callsigns, so a busy contest weekend doesn't inflate the number unfairly.
Decodes per hour — an ASCII bar chart for the last 24 UTC hours; tall bars = active band.
By receiver / By band — how many decodes each SDR contributed and which amateur bands (160–10 m) they came from.
Decodes by band by hour — the heatmap. Cell tint = number of decodes; the thin stripe across the top of each cell is the propagation prediction for that hour. When a green-striped cell is empty it usually means no station was transmitting on that band, not that the band was closed.
Top stations / Recent decodes — the most-frequently-heard callsigns in the last 24 hours and the live tail of the last 50 decodes (UTC time, receiver, band, signal-to-noise ratio in dB, audio frequency, and the FT8 message itself).

How it works

Two RTL-SDR receivers on a Raspberry Pi capture the FT8 sub-band audio for whichever amateur band is active in the current 15-second slot.
The 15-second WAV files are written to a network share and decoded by WSJT-X's jt9 engine running on an NVIDIA Jetson Nano.
Each decoded message becomes a line in a JSON log; the dashboard you are reading aggregates those logs every few seconds and re-renders only the panels that changed.
Solar / geomagnetic data is pulled from NOAA's public Space Weather Prediction Center every hour and used to score each amateur band for our latitude/longitude. An optional “auto” mode then steers the receivers to whichever bands are predicted to be open.

All data is read-only. Times are UTC. Bands cover 160 m through 10 m on the standard FT8 frequencies. Learn more about FT8.

Band conditions DAY live · 4 min old

QTH FN00bn (40.56°N 79.88°W) · updated 21:06:39Z · sources: sfi: 2026-06-01T20:00:00 · k: 2026-06-01T18:00:00 · xray: 2026-06-01T21:02:00Z · sn: 2026-06-01T00:00:00 · data: NOAA SWPC

SFI

132

high

Spots

146

active

3.0

unsettled

X-ray

B6.7

background

Predicted right now

	160m	80m	60m	40m	30m	20m	17m	15m	12m	10m	6m
Day now at QTH	P 27	F 47	F 55	G 71	G 80	G 87	G 90	G 90	G 83	G 75	F 53
Night	G 77	G 77	G 72	G 79	G 73	F 57	P 42	P 35	P 27	P 22	P 12

What do these mean? (good vs bad)

Solar Flux Index (10.7 cm)	Daytime ionization driver for the F2 layer; higher = better high-band (15/12/10 m) propagation.	70 quiet sun · 80–120 average · 130–180 high · >180 excellent
Sunspot count	Active regions on the visible solar disc. Loosely tracks SFI.	0 quiet · 30–80 moderate · 100–150 active · >150 very active
A-index (planetary, 24h)	Daily summary of geomagnetic activity. High A = ionosphere still recovering from a storm; everything HF degraded.	0–7 quiet · 8–15 unsettled · 16–29 active · 30–49 minor storm · 50+ major storm
K-index (3 h, planetary)	Real-time geomagnetic disturbance. Most actionable index for HF: K=4 noticeably degrades 20 m+; K=5+ kills HF DX.	0–1 quiet · 2 almost quiet · 3 unsettled · 4 active · 5+ minor → severe storm
GOES X-ray flux	Solar flares ionize the daylit D-layer and absorb HF ("shortwave fade"). Letter-class scale.	A/B background · C minor · M moderate (R1–R2 blackout) · X strong (R3+ blackout)
per-band character
160m	Top band: D-layer absorption murders this band by day; shines at night with low noise and a quiet ionosphere.
80m	Local/regional ragchew band day; opens to DX after dark.
60m	Channelized in many countries. Behaves like 80 m but with lower noise; often surprisingly useful.
40m	The workhorse: usable day OR night; degrades less from geomag activity than the higher bands.
30m	Stable, quiet, low-power friendly. Mostly digital traffic.
20m	DX backbone by day; goes long at sunset; closes after dark in winter.
17m	Like 20 m but quieter and more SFI-dependent. Often the first to close at sunset.
15m	Needs SFI ~110+ to be reliable. Closes shortly after dark.
12m	Strongly SFI-dependent. Often dead unless SFI > 130.
10m	All or nothing: with high SFI, world-wide; with low SFI, almost nothing except sporadic-E.
6m	Magic band: usually quiet on F2; opens via Sporadic E (May–Aug peaks) or on rare high-SFI days.
colour key
Good	score ≥ 70 · expect reliable contacts
Fair	score 45–69 · DX possible but harder; QSB likely
Poor	score < 45 · ragchew range only or band closed

Decodes per hour (last 24 h)

23:00	█████████████	22
00:00	██████████████	25
01:00	███████████	20
02:00		0
03:00	███████████████████	32
04:00	████████████████████████████████	55
05:00	████████████████████████	41
06:00		0
07:00		0
08:00		0
09:00		0
10:00		0
11:00		0
12:00		0
13:00		0
14:00	████████	15
15:00	██████████████████████████	45
16:00	████████████████████████	41
17:00	████████████████████████████████████████	67
18:00	██████████████	24
19:00	█████	10
20:00	██████	11
21:00	███████████████████	32
22:00	██████████	17

By receiver

Radio	Lifetime	Today
v3sixm	3	3
v4hf	2,177	407

By band

Band	Lifetime	Today
40m	911	0
20m	566	127
80m	329	110
17m	312	143
15m	40	9
30m	18	18
6m	3	3
10m	1	0

Decodes by band by hour (last 24 h, UTC)

UTC	17m	20m	80m	30m	15m	40m	6m	total
23:00	7	14	·	·	1	·	·	22
00:00	6	11	·	·	·	8	·	25
01:00	3	16	·	·	1	·	·	20
02:00	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	0
03:00	·	·	22	10	·	·	·	32
04:00	·	·	53	2	·	·	·	55
05:00	·	·	35	6	·	·	·	41
06:00	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	0
07:00	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	0
08:00	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	0
09:00	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	0
10:00	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	0
11:00	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	0
12:00	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	0
13:00	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	0
14:00	9	5	·	·	1	·	·	15
15:00	22	23	·	·	·	·	·	45
16:00	12	29	·	·	·	·	·	41
17:00	33	33	·	·	1	·	·	67
18:00	9	9	·	·	3	·	3	24
19:00	6	3	·	·	1	·	·	10
20:00	7	3	·	·	1	·	·	11
21:00	31	·	·	·	1	·	·	32
22:00	11	6	·	·	·	·	·	17

Cell tint · decode count predicted Good Fair Poor

Top stations heard (last 24 h)

Call	Decodes (24h)
K1SM	56
KQ4SKS	29
W4PSK	18
CO8LY	18
AB2NE	16
NX0R	12
NU1T	11
HK3C	10
W1WT	9
K3RH	9
CO8ZZ	8
AD9GE	7
AE1JR	7
EA5KB	6
AC3KO	5
KZ4GN	5
AA9GE	5
W5THT	5
K3HPA	5
AD9DU	5

Recent decodes (last 50)

UTC	RX	Band	SNR	Hz	Message
21:24:00	v4hf	20m	-22	1182	YT2YZ HK3C -13
21:24:00	v4hf	20m	-11	2114	K2GSH KB2ELA RR73
21:23:30	v4hf	17m	-17	432	GW0SGL CO8ZZ -11
21:23:30	v4hf	17m	-18	2523	CQ CO8LY FL20
21:21:30	v4hf	17m	-13	432	CQ CO8ZZ FL10
21:19:30	v4hf	17m	-10	432	JA2ORW RR73; WB9DEH <...> -14
21:17:30	v4hf	17m	-18	432	CQ CO8ZZ FL10
21:15:30	v4hf	17m	-12	432	CQ CO8ZZ FL10
21:15:30	v4hf	17m	-16	1919	CQ CO8LY FL20
21:13:30	v4hf	17m	-12	1919	CQ CO8LY FL20
21:08:00	v4hf	20m	-15	1440	W4DBT NP4TX RR73
21:07:30	v4hf	17m	-18	432	LZ2FU CO8ZZ RR73
21:06:00	v4hf	20m	-19	1269	RK6AR IZ8VYU R-07
21:06:00	v4hf	20m	-15	1440	CQ NP4TX FK68
21:04:00	v4hf	20m	-20	1269	K3GIL IZ8VYU RR73
21:01:30	v4hf	17m	-18	433	M9IOU CO8ZZ -18
21:01:30	v4hf	17m	-16	2444	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:59:30	v4hf	17m	-14	432	CQ CO8ZZ FL10
20:57:30	v4hf	17m	-15	1085	RW6HP HK3C -08
20:55:30	v4hf	17m	-22	649	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:53:30	v4hf	17m	-16	433	KR4LUL CO8ZZ -18
20:53:30	v4hf	17m	-13	2503	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:51:30	v4hf	17m	-20	885	DF7GG HK3C RR73
20:51:30	v4hf	17m	-13	2502	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:51:00	v4hf	15m	-18	2289	JY4CH GW8DX IO72
20:49:30	v4hf	17m	-17	2502	ON4SS CO8LY RR73
20:47:30	v4hf	17m	-18	1040	UR5WJA HK3C -19
20:47:30	v4hf	17m	-13	2501	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:45:30	v4hf	17m	-21	2512	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:45:30	v4hf	17m	-15	1041	OM8WW HK3C R-16
20:43:30	v4hf	17m	-19	2510	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:43:30	v4hf	17m	-17	1041	SP4MSY HK3C 73
20:35:30	v4hf	17m	-20	1041	SV1MOZ HK3C 73
20:33:30	v4hf	17m	-11	1040	M7HET HK3C -10
20:31:30	v4hf	17m	-15	1041	CT1BFP HK3C -05
20:29:30	v4hf	17m	-13	1040	CQ HK3C FJ24
20:23:30	v4hf	17m	-24	648	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:17:30	v4hf	17m	-17	1442	CQ EA5KB IM99
20:17:30	v4hf	17m	-12	650	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:15:30	v4hf	17m	-18	1442	CQ EA5KB IM99
20:15:30	v4hf	17m	-8	649	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:13:30	v4hf	17m	-19	2444	M7ORI N0MHL EN12
20:13:30	v4hf	17m	-5	648	SV1MOZ CO8LY -20
20:11:30	v4hf	17m	-17	1442	CQ EA5KB IM99
20:11:30	v4hf	17m	-2	647	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:09:30	v4hf	17m	-8	646	IK5YZW CO8LY RR73
20:07:30	v4hf	17m	-19	2387	CQ CO8LY FL20
20:07:30	v4hf	17m	-20	2443	IZ0BNV N0MHL R-03
20:05:30	v4hf	17m	-18	2443	IU6CWS N0MHL RR73
19:55:30	v4hf	17m	-18	2452	GI0LDI WB4SIA EN34