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Attributions

QSO Graph exists because of the services, data, and standards built by these organizations and individuals. We are grateful for their work.

Standards

ADIF Specification (adif-mcp)

The Amateur Data Interchange Format is the foundation of amateur radio logging interoperability. adif-mcp includes ADIF's published specification files, unmodified, for the previous and current versions (3.1.6 and 3.1.7), as ADIF publishes them for reuse.

  • Author: Joe Turley, G3ZOD (R.G. Turley OBE)
  • Website: adif.org.uk
  • Test corpus: CreateADIFTestFiles by G3ZOD — 6,191 records exercising every enumeration value

Reference Data

These packages serve facts from each owner's published list, credited to the owner. The owner's document is not included: each package links to it and records its SHA-256 so anyone can check the facts against it. Our GPL-3.0 licence covers our code, not their data.

CQ zones (cq-zones-mcp)

The 40 CQ zones, used by CQ's Worked All Zones (WAZ) award and the CQ World Wide DX Contest.

  • Owner: CQ Communications, Inc. and the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF)
  • Source: WAZ Zone Definitions ("Updated and correct as of April 1, 2018")

ITU zones (itu-zones-mcp)

The 90 ITU zones for amateur use, used by the IARU HF Championship and ITU-zone awards. Kept in the IARU Region 1 HF Managers Handbook under recommendation REC/99/LH/C4.2; drafted by G3HTA from the ITU's CIRAF zones and approved by all three IARU regions.

  • Owner: International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), Region 1
  • Source: HF Managers Handbook v8.2, chapter 9.8, "Definition of ITU-Zones when used by radio amateurs" (November 2000)

DOKs and special DOKs (darc-dok-mcp)

DARC's local-club and event codes, used for the DLD award, the DOK best-lists and the WAG contest.

  • Owner: Deutscher Amateur-Radio-Club e.V. (DARC)
  • Sources: DOK-Liste (DARC DX-Referat, by Karsten Radwan, DL2ABM, 26.12.2016) and the special-DOK list (DARC SDOK-Referat)

Validation sources (cq-zones-mcp, itu-zones-mcp)

The zone packages' tests check the facts against these, fetched from their sites; where they differ, the owner's list wins.

  • AD1C's country files: Jim Reisert, AD1C, country-files.com
  • ARRL's DXCC list: arrl.org
  • ADIF 3.1.7: the Primary_Administrative_Subdivision zone columns

Logbook Services

eQSL.cc (eqsl-mcp)

Electronic QSL card exchange and confirmation service. eqsl-mcp wraps the eQSL inbox, QSO verification, Authenticity Guaranteed (AG) member list, and last upload status.

  • Operator: Dave Morris, N5UP
  • Website: eqsl.cc

QRZ.com (qrz-mcp)

The world's largest callsign database. qrz-mcp uses both the XML API (callsign lookup, DXCC resolution) and the Logbook API (QSO fetch, logbook status).

Logbook of The World (lotw-mcp)

ARRL's authoritative QSO confirmation system for award credit (DXCC, WAS, VUCC, WAZ). lotw-mcp queries confirmations, QSOs, DXCC credits, and user activity.

HamQTH.com (hamqth-mcp)

Free callsign lookup, DXCC resolution, biography, recent activity, DX cluster spots, Reverse Beacon Network data, and QSO verification. A generous free-tier service for the amateur radio community.

Activation Programmes

Parks on the Air (pota-mcp)

Portable amateur radio operations from parks and protected areas worldwide. pota-mcp queries live activator spots, park information, activator/hunter statistics, and scheduled activations.

Summits on the Air (sota-mcp)

Portable amateur radio activations from mountain summits. sota-mcp queries the official SOTA API for live spots, activation alerts, summit information, and nearby summit search.

  • Organisation: Summits on the Air (SOTA)
  • Website: sota.org.uk
  • SOTA API: api2.sota.org.uk — spots, alerts, summit data, region listings

Islands on the Air (iota-mcp)

Amateur radio operations from islands worldwide, administered by IOTA Ltd in partnership with the RSGB. iota-mcp provides group lookup, island search, DXCC mapping, nearby groups, and programme statistics.

  • Organisation: IOTA Ltd / Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB)
  • Website: iota-world.org

Propagation & Space Weather

NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (solar-mcp, ionis-mcp)

The authoritative source for space weather data. solar-mcp and ionis-mcp query solar flux index (SFI), planetary K-index (Kp), DSCOVR solar wind, X-ray flux, space weather alerts, 27-day forecasts, and HF band condition outlook.

  • Organisation: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC)
  • Website: swpc.noaa.gov
  • API: services.swpc.noaa.gov
  • Note: US government public data — no authentication, no usage restrictions

wspr.live (wspr-mcp)

A volunteer-run public mirror of all WSPRnet data in a ClickHouse database. wspr-mcp queries this service for live spots, band activity, top beacons/spotters, propagation paths, grid activity, longest paths, and SNR trends.

  • Operator: Arne Batelaan — a volunteer who is not a licensed amateur, maintaining this service for the community
  • Website: wspr.live
  • Database: ~2.7 billion WSPR spots (2008-present)
  • Note: wspr-mcp implements rate limiting (20 req/min) and a circuit breaker to respect this volunteer-run service

WSPRnet (wspr-mcp)

The original Weak Signal Propagation Reporter network. WSPR beacons transmit 2-minute encoded signals at low power (typically 200 mW to 5 W), providing continuous automated propagation monitoring worldwide.

  • Creator: Joe Taylor, K1JT — Nobel laureate (Physics, 1993) and creator of WSJT-X, FT8, FT4, and WSPR
  • Website: wsprnet.org

Datasets (ionis-mcp)

IONIS-AI Propagation Datasets

ionis-mcp wraps pre-computed propagation signature datasets distributed via SourceForge. These contain 175M+ signatures derived from WSPR, RBN, Contest, and PSK Reporter observations.

Tools & Frameworks

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

The protocol that makes all of this possible — connecting AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardised interface.

FastMCP

The Python framework used by all QSO Graph servers. Clean, typed MCP server development.

Good Neighbour Policy

QSO Graph servers wrap external APIs — we don't replicate them. Every server implements rate limiting, response caching, and graceful degradation to be respectful consumers of these services. If a service goes down, we back off. We never retry in tight loops.

These services are run by volunteers, non-profits, and small organisations who serve the amateur radio community. We are guests in their house.

Thank You

To every operator who uploads a QSO, every beacon that transmits, every skimmer that decodes, and every volunteer who keeps these services running — thank you. QSO Graph is a thin layer on top of decades of community effort.

73 de KI7MT