Ham Radio DX Monitor

Monitor DX clusters for rare station spots, track active DX expeditions, and get daily band activity digests for amateur radio operators.

Security Scan

The skill's code and instructions are coherent with a DX-cluster monitoring tool: it connects to listed telnet cluster nodes, parses spots, writes a small /tmp state file, and suggests optional cron/notification usage — nothing in the provided files requests unrelated credentials or external endpoints.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description (Ham Radio DX monitoring) match the code and SKILL.md: the script connects to DX cluster telnet nodes, parses spots, produces digests and supports cron-run alerts. The declared dependencies (Python stdlib) align with the code.

Instruction Scope

Instructions are scoped to monitoring and digest generation. They recommend using your callsign and adding cron jobs, and show how to pipe output into external notification tools (e.g., grep + Clawdbot). The skill does write/read a local state file (/tmp/dx-monitor-state.json) and suggests log files (/tmp and ~/), which is expected for this use case. SKILL.md/README mention a setup script (./scripts/dx-monitoring-setup.sh) that is not present in the provided files — this is a documentation/packaging inconsistency to be aware of but not a security contradiction.

Install Mechanism

No install spec is present (instruction-only with included script). That is low risk since nothing is downloaded or extracted during install. The script depends only on Python stdlib.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables or secret credentials. It asks users to provide their callsign (a public identifier for ham ops) optionally. No unrelated credentials, tokens, or config paths are requested.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill does persist state to /tmp/dx-monitor-state.json and the README/SKILL.md recommend adding cron jobs to run the script periodically — these are reasonable for an automated monitor. It does not require always:true and does not modify other skills or system-wide agent settings. As with any cron job, run under a least-privilege user and review cron targets before installing.

Assessment

This skill appears to be what it claims: a telnet-based DX cluster monitor implemented in Python using only the standard library. Before installing, consider: 1) The README references a setup script (./scripts/dx-monitoring-setup.sh) that was not included — don't run missing/unknown installers; 2) The script writes state to /tmp/dx-monitor-state.json and suggests cron jobs that will run the script on a schedule — install cron entries only for a non-privileged user and inspect the exact crontab lines; 3) The SKILL.md shows piping output to external notification tools (e.g., Clawdbot/Telegram) but no built-in notification code is present — ensure any notification CLI/tools you use are trusted and correctly configured; 4) The script connects to the listed DX cluster hostnames over TCP (telnet-style). If your network policies restrict outbound connections, or if you only want to use certain nodes, adjust the cluster list; 5) I reviewed the visible portions of the code (parsing, socket use, state save); the provided file content was truncated in the prompt, so if you plan to deploy, open and review the entire dx-monitor.py yourself (or run it in a sandbox) to confirm there are no unexpected behaviors in the remainder of the file. Running it as-is under a standard user account is reasonable.

Monitor DX clusters in real-time, get notified of rare DX stations, and track active DX expeditions. Perfect for ham radio operators who want to catch rare contacts!

Features

📡 Live DX Spots - Connect to global DX cluster network
🌍 Rare DX Alerts - Notify when rare stations appear
📊 Daily Digest - Band activity summary
🗺️ DX Expeditions - Track active expeditions
⏰ Automated Monitoring - Run via cron for alerts

Quick Start

Watch Live Spots

# Get latest DX spots
python3 dx-monitor.py watch

# Specific cluster node
python3 dx-monitor.py watch --cluster ea7jxh

# Use your callsign
python3 dx-monitor.py watch --callsign KN4XYZ

# Only show NEW spots (filters duplicates)
python3 dx-monitor.py watch --new-only

Output:

📡 Latest DX Spots from EA7JXH

   20m   SSB      14.195   K1ABC        - CQ Contest
   40m   CW        7.015   VP8/G3XYZ    - Falklands
   15m   FT8      21.074   ZL2ABC       - New Zealand

Daily Digest

python3 dx-monitor.py digest

Output:

# 📡 DX Digest - 2026-01-27

## Band Activity (last 100 spots)

   20m   ████████████ 24
   40m   ████████ 16
   15m   ██████ 12
   10m   ████ 8

## Rare DX Spotted

   🌍 VP8/G3XYZ    40m      7.015 - Falklands Expedition
   🌍 ZL2ABC       15m     21.074 - New Zealand

DX Cluster Nodes

Available clusters:

• ea7jxh - dx.ea7jxh.eu:7373 (Europe)
• om0rx - cluster.om0rx.com:7300 (Europe)
• oh2aq - oh2aq.kolumbus.fi:7373 (Finland)
• ab5k - ab5k.net:7373 (USA)
• w6rk - telnet.w6rk.com:7373 (USA West Coast)

Automated Monitoring

Real-Time Alerts (Check Every 5 Minutes)

# Add to crontab
*/5 * * * * cd ~/clawd && python3 skills/ham-radio-dx/dx-monitor.py watch --new-only --callsign YOUR_CALL >> /tmp/dx-alerts.log

This checks for new DX spots every 5 minutes and logs them.

Daily Digest (9am Every Day)

# Add to crontab
0 9 * * * cd ~/clawd && python3 skills/ham-radio-dx/dx-monitor.py digest >> ~/dx-digest-$(date +\%Y-\%m-\%d).txt

Telegram Notifications

Integrate with Clawdbot message tool:

# When rare DX appears, send Telegram alert
python3 dx-monitor.py watch --new-only | grep -E "(VP8|ZL|VK|ZS|P5)" && \
  echo "🚨 Rare DX spotted!" | # Send via Clawdbot message tool

Example Prompts for Clawdbot

• "Check the DX cluster for new spots"
• "What's active on 20 meters?"
• "Show me today's DX digest"
• "Any rare DX on the air?"
• "Monitor for VP8 or ZL prefixes"

Rare DX Prefixes to Watch

Most Wanted:

• VP8 - Falkland Islands
• VK0 - Heard Island
• 3Y0 - Bouvet Island
• FT5 - Amsterdam & St. Paul Islands
• P5 - North Korea
• BS7 - Scarborough Reef

Other Rare:

• ZL - New Zealand
• VK - Australia
• ZS - South Africa
• 9G - Ghana
• S9 - São Tomé and Príncipe

DX Expedition Resources

Track active expeditions:

• NG3K Calendar: https://www.ng3k.com/misc/adxo.html
• DX News: https://www.dx-world.net/
• 425 DX News: http://www.425dxn.org/

Band Plans

Common DX frequencies:

• 160m: 1.830-1.840 (CW), 1.840-1.850 (Digital)
• 80m: 3.500-3.600 (CW), 3.790-3.800 (Digital)
• 40m: 7.000-7.040 (CW), 7.070-7.080 (Digital)
• 30m: 10.100-10.140 (CW/Digital only)
• 20m: 14.000-14.070 (CW), 14.070-14.100 (Digital)
• 17m: 18.068-18.100 (CW), 18.100-18.110 (Digital)
• 15m: 21.000-21.070 (CW), 21.070-21.120 (Digital)
• 12m: 24.890-24.920 (CW), 24.920-24.930 (Digital)
• 10m: 28.000-28.070 (CW), 28.070-28.120 (Digital)

Tips

1. Use Your Callsign - Some clusters require valid callsigns
2. Check Multiple Clusters - Coverage varies by region
3. Filter by Band - Focus on bands you can work
4. Track Rare Prefixes - Set up alerts for most-wanted
5. Morning Check - Best DX often in early morning

Technical Details

• Protocol: Telnet to DX cluster nodes
• Format: Standard PacketCluster/AR-Cluster format
• State Tracking: /tmp/dx-monitor-state.json
• Dependencies: Python 3.6+ (stdlib only)

Future Ideas

• Band-specific filtering
• DXCC entity tracking
• Propagation prediction integration
• Log integration (check if you need that one)
• Contest mode (filter contest stations)
• FT8/FT4 integration via PSKReporter

73 and good DX! 📻🌍