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.

Tool Reference¶

Generated from the released server's own tool definitions.

get_version_info¶

Get itu-zones-mcp's version and the edition of the IARU's list it serves.

Returns: service_name, service_version (PyPI), and spec_version (the owner's edition).

No parameters.

itu_zones_codes_for¶

Which ITU zones cover an ADIF DXCC entity, or one of its subdivisions. Where the IARU splits an entity by a line (W7 states at 110W), each zone is returned with the IARU's boundary wording.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`dxcc`	integer	Yes		ADIF DXCC entity code (e.g. 291 for the United States, 1 for Canada).
`subdivision`	string	No	`null`	ADIF Primary_Administrative_Subdivision code, e.g. "QC" or "AZ".

itu_zones_lookup¶

One ITU zone: every prefix, subdivision and boundary the IARU lists for it, with ADIF codes and the citation. Zones 76-77 and 79-89 have no entry in this edition.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`code`	string	Yes		An ITU zone number, 1 to 90.

itu_zones_search¶

Find codes whose name, prefixes, area wording or attributes contain every word of text.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`text`	string	Yes		Words to look for, e.g. "Antarctica", "UA0" or "110W".
`limit`	integer	No	`50`	Most records to return (1 to 200, default 50).

itu_zones_source_info¶

Who owns this list, which edition is served, its terms, and the owner's files' URLs and SHA-256s.

No parameters.

itu_zones_valid_on¶

Whether an ITU zone was valid on a date. The chapter gives no validity window, so every zone it lists is valid; the tool exists so every owner-list server answers the same questions.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`code`	string	Yes		An ITU zone number, 1 to 90.
`on_date`	string	Yes		The date, YYYY-MM-DD.