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Reverse Beacon Network

The Reverse Beacon Network tool shows where automated CW skimmers recently copied your callsign. It queries the network for your callsign and CW only, plots the receiving skimmers, and lists every returned spot newest first.

Open Tools → Reverse Beacon Network after signing in. Hamtrax fills in the callsign on your account and checks the previous 30 minutes automatically. You can enter another portable, club, or special-event callsign and press Check; the override is discarded when you leave the page.

Reading the Result​

  • Heard recently means at least one RBN skimmer copied your CW signal.
  • Each row shows the skimmer, age, band, frequency, signal-to-noise ratio, and sending speed when RBN supplies it.
  • The map shows skimmer locations only. Spots without usable coordinates stay visible in the list as Location unavailable.
  • Selecting a row highlights its skimmer on the map.

An empty result says No new CW reports yet. It does not mean your signal failed: no participating skimmer may have copied that transmission, and an outage or network problem makes the check inconclusive rather than negative.

Refresh Timing​

Hamtrax takes one recent snapshot instead of running a background monitor. Refresh becomes available again after 30 seconds. If RBN returns its maximum 250 rows, Hamtrax labels them as the latest 250 reports rather than implying that the list is complete.

Data and Privacy​

Spots come from the Reverse Beacon Network. Hamtrax asks RBN for the exact spotted callsign and CW mode; it does not infer an empty result from a capped global feed. An edited callsign is not saved to your account, preferences, URL, or analytics.