GridTracker
| GridTracker | |
|---|---|
| Type | Mapping and alerting companion for digital-mode software |
| Developed by | Stephen Loomis, N0TTL, and the GridTracker.org team |
| Current generation | GridTracker2 |
| Cost | Free, open source |
| In use | |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS and Linux |
| Works with | WSJT-X and JTDX |
| Main features | Live map, call roster, audio and visual alerts, award tracking |
| Data sources | Decodes, logbooks, PSK Reporter spots, call sign lookups |
GridTracker is a free companion program for WSJT-X and JTDX that shows digital-mode activity on a world map and alerts the operator to stations worth working. It does not decode signals or control the radio itself. Instead, it listens to the information that WSJT-X or JTDX already produces, every decoded call sign, grid square and message, and turns it into a live map, a sortable list of callers, and alarms for anything the operator has asked to hear about. It is especially popular with FT8 and FT4 operators chasing awards. The current generation of the program is called GridTracker2.
How it works
WSJT-X and JTDX can send a running stream of information over a local network connection, using a simple protocol called UDP, to any program that wants it. GridTracker reads that stream on the same computer, or on another computer on the home network. Each time a station is decoded, GridTracker looks up where it is from its grid square or call sign and plots it on the map, colored by band or mode.
GridTracker is not a logging program, but it reads logs. It can import an operator's existing contacts from an ADIF file, the standard log exchange format, and from online services such as Logbook of the World, so it knows which countries, states, grids and zones have already been worked or confirmed. It can also pass newly completed contacts on to logging programs and online logbooks.
Beyond its own decodes, GridTracker can display PSK Reporter reception reports for the operator's own signal, along with overlays such as the day-night terminator, weather and solar conditions, which help show which paths are open.
Call roster and alerts
The call roster is the feature most operators use all the time. It is a table of every station currently being decoded, with columns for country, grid, distance, LoTW membership and whether each station counts toward a needed award. Rows can be filtered to show only what matters: for example, stations calling CQ from countries not yet confirmed, from needed US states or counties, or from Parks on the Air activations. A click on a roster entry tells WSJT-X or JTDX to answer that station.
Alerts sound or flash when something specific appears: a new country, a particular call sign, a needed grid on 6 meters during a sporadic E opening. Operators who leave the radio running in the background often depend on these to catch a rare station that is decoded for only a few minutes.
GridTracker stations can also see one another and exchange short off-air text messages through the GridTracker network, separate from anything sent on the radio.
History
The original GridTracker appeared around 2018, with the simple aim of plotting WSJT-X traffic on a map. It grew steadily into an award-tracking and alerting tool, and in 2023 it received the annual Amateur Radio Software Award as a project led by N0TTL and the GridTracker.org team. The team then moved development to GridTracker2, a new generation of the program, and the original version 1 project, last updated in 2024, was archived. GridTracker2 keeps the same core features while extending them to more data sources and operating activities, including an offline mode for Field Day, SOTA and other portable operation away from the internet.