Working DX is a lot of fun. It’s full of highs and lows. The exhilaration of working a new country never gets old, even working Sporadic E and tropo over thousands of kilometers has a certain adrenaline rush about it. But how many times have you missed the DX window?

If you’ve ever been hunting that elusive DX and wish you’d get a notification on your phone or tablet when the bands are open… then Ham Alert is what you’ve been waiting for!

According to the author’s website, HamAlert is a system that allows you to get notifications when a desired station appears on the DX cluster, the Reverse Beacon Network, SOTA watch, POTA, or PSK Reporter.

As someone who works 6m and to a lesser extent 10m, openings on 6, in particular, can be short-lived due to the nature of sporadic E propagation. Some openings can last an hour or so, others just minutes, so when the local ops start working JAs for example, I’ll get a ping on my phone to head to the shack.

I’ve also used HamAlert to spot Mike, VK3BDL when recently portable in the United States. It’s like having someone listen to the radio for you when you’re not in the shack.

There are many features and advantages to software like HamAlert that I’m probably not using for my style of amateur radio, so for those who seek POTA or Parks on the Air stations, it will no doubt make contacts very easy.

You’ll need to create an account to configure the software as well as the devices you want to send the push notifications to. Be sure to follow the instructions on the HamAlert website.

You’ll also need to set triggers. This is what Ham Alert is all about. Ham Alert looks out for these triggers – or callsigns, on the platforms mentioned earlier.

When there’s a match you’ll get a ping on your phone.

My tip is to set a few local callsigns on the bands you’re interested in – say 6m, as well as the call prefixes you’re looking for. The good news is that setting up the app is intuitive.  Now, when the locals are working the DX, you’ll know you should be on the radio too.

You can receive alerts via Push notifications, Threema, SMS or URL GET/POST. You can also filter spots by various criteria, including:

• DXCC (both actual and callsign home DXCC)
• Callsign
• IOTA group reference
• SOTA summit reference
• WWFF/POTA division/reference
• CQ zone
• Continent
• Band
• Mode
• Time and days of week
• Source
• Spotter callsign and DXCC

For more information visit the HamAlert website and you can download the app by searching for it in your phone’s app store.

Triggers

Prefixes