Hamclock Users Get Free Backend Server

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Good news for HamClock users and fans: A free community backend server has become available. The website, hamclock.com, make HamClock's continued functions available for free following a successful reconfiguration of the clock to the new server. The functions include, among other things, weather pressure maps, aurora map generation, ham news headlines, realtime PSK Reporter spot data, VOACAP propagation reports and Kp index from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The functions are made possible through the work of Bruce Edrich, W4BAE, who built the project upon the open-hamclock-back-end. Updating can be done via two simple text changes - either to the hosts file or to the command that starts HamClock. The project is independent of the feeds from the original site, clearskyinstitute.com.

It is one of several developments as forks of the open HamClock back-end created by Brian Wilkins, KO4AQF, and Austin Parsons, KN4LNB. Brian told Newsline that installation instructions and other information can be found on GitHub. The link is in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org.

The popular shack accessory was left in limbo after the recent death of its creator, Elwood Downey, WBØOEW. Without a new backend service, its varied functions were scheduled to stop working in June.

SpottedHam.com Adds DX Cluster Integration and Customizable Club Widgets

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SpottedHam.com Adds DX Cluster Integration and Customizable Club Widgets

Following its successful launch earlier this month, the spotting and alert platform SpottedHam.com has released a major feature update driven by community feedback. In addition to its signature POTA and SOTA real-time email alerts, the platform now integrates a global DX Cluster feed.

This allows operators to filter for rare DX alongside portable activations, all within the same lightweight, mobile-first interface. Users can still set custom watchlists for specific callsigns, ensuring they never miss a "need" on the bands.

Perhaps the most significant addition is the new SpottedHam Club Widget. Radio clubs can now generate a custom HTML snippet to embed a live member activity table on their own club websites.

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New Satellite Tracking Application Released

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Bob McGwier, N4HY, has announced the release of a new satellite tracking application entitled Visible Ephemeris.

Visible Ephemeris is a modern, spiritual successor to Quiktrak (1986), re-engineered for the Raspberry Pi 5 and modern silicon. It is capable of propagating 13,000+ satellites in real-time with sub-second updates while maintaining <5% CPU utilisation. Visible Ephemeris is high performance physics-based program using Kelso/Villado SGP4 to track satellites (all in the Celestrak TLE). It uses McGwier’s implementation of Pedro Escobal AOS/LOS search, but rewritten for altitude and not Eccentric Anomaly. The code is designed for and intended for the Raspberry Pi and displays graphics components using Web UI.

It features a Hybrid Decoupled Architecture where the UI, Orbital Mechanics, and Network Services run on independent threads, ensuring the interface never freezes—even during heavy calculation loads.

Visible Ephemeris has been released under the MIT license and further details can be found at https://github.com/n4hy/VisibleEphemerisCPP.git