itu-zones-mcp

Source: the IARU's HF Managers Handbook, chapter 9.8, "Definition of ITU-Zones when used by radio amateurs" (IARU Region 1, v8.2; the chapter's pages are dated November 2000). The zone border-lines for amateur use are kept there under IARU Region 1 recommendation REC/99/LH/C4.2; the list was drafted by G3HTA from the ITU's CIRAF zones and approved by all three IARU regions. The 90 ITU zones are the IARU's: this package serves facts from that chapter, each citing its page and zone, and links to the handbook rather than copying it. Our GPL-3.0 licence covers our code, not the IARU's data.

Checked against: AD1C's country files (Jim Reisert, AD1C), ADIF 3.1.7's subdivision zones, and ARRL's DXCC list. The tests fetch AD1C's and ARRL's files from their sites to validate the facts; neither is included here. where they differ, the owner's list wins (see docs/TRANSCRIPTION.md).

MCP server for ITU zones as the IARU publishes them for amateur use: the 90 zones of chapter 9.8, "Definition of ITU-Zones when used by radio amateurs", of the IARU Region 1 HF Managers Handbook (v8.2), used by the IARU HF Championship and ITU-zone awards. Each zone's prefixes are given in ADIF's own DXCC and subdivision codes, with the IARU's own wording where it splits an area by a line.

Part of the qso-graph project. No network, no authentication: the facts from the owner's list ship with the package, and every answer names its source.

Install

uvx itu-zones-mcp            # run it; nothing to install

Tools

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
itu_zones_lookup	One zone: every prefix, subdivision and boundary the IARU lists, with the citation	code
itu_zones_codes_for	Which zones cover an ADIF DXCC entity, or one of its subdivisions	dxcc, subdivision
itu_zones_search	Find zones by prefix or wording	text, limit
itu_zones_valid_on	Whether a zone was valid on a date (ITU zones have no validity window)	code, on_date
itu_zones_source_info	Owner, edition, terms, and the owner's file's URL and SHA-256	—
get_version_info	Service version + the owner's edition served (fleet identity attestation)	—

Quick Start

No credentials needed — just install and configure your MCP client.

Configure your MCP client

itu-zones-mcp works with any MCP-compatible client. Add the server config and restart — tools appear automatically.

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ on macOS, %APPDATA%\Claude\ on Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "itu-zones": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["itu-zones-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add to .claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "itu-zones": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["itu-zones-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

ChatGPT Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "itu-zones": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["itu-zones-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json (project-level) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "itu-zones": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["itu-zones-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code / GitHub Copilot

Add to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "itu-zones": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["itu-zones-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Gemini CLI

Add to ~/.gemini/settings.json (global) or .gemini/settings.json (project):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "itu-zones": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["itu-zones-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Ask questions

"Which ITU zone is Arizona in?"

"What does ITU zone 75 cover?"

"Which ITU zones does Antarctica span?"

MCP Inspector

itu-zones-mcp --transport streamable-http --port 8017

Then open the MCP Inspector at http://localhost:8017.

Development

git clone https://github.com/qso-graph/itu-zones-mcp.git
cd itu-zones-mcp
uv sync --group dev
uv run pytest

scripts/fetch_published.py fetches the owner's document(s) into published/ (not committed) and checks their SHA-256s; uv run pytest --live runs the tests that need them. scripts/build.py regenerates derived/ and load.sql, a PostgreSQL load for QSO Graph's reference data (load QG ADIF's adif schema first).

License

itu-zones-mcp's own code is GPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE. The data it serves is the owner's, credited at the top of this page: our licence doesn't cover it, and we claim no rights in it. The owner's document itself is not included; data/SOURCE.json records its URL and SHA-256 so anyone can check the facts against it. Files we built from the facts (data/derived/) are ours and labelled as ours. How the owner's text was read is recorded in docs/TRANSCRIPTION.md. See NOTICE.