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📋 Ham Logging

Privacy Policy
by A41UX - Unixeer™
Last Updated: October 2026 · App Version 1.3.0+7

1. Introduction

Welcome to Ham Logging! This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use our amateur radio QSO logging application. Ham Logging is developed by A41UX (Unixeer™) and is designed for licensed amateur radio operators who need a full-featured, privacy-respecting electronic logbook.

Our Commitment to Privacy: Ham Logging is built with your privacy in mind. All your QSO data, credentials, and settings are stored locally on your device. Ham Logging has no backend servers of its own — we never collect, transmit, or sell your personal data. Any external service the app talks to (QRZ.com, eQSL, LoTW, ClubLog, APRS, map tile providers, etc.) is used only when you configure it and only to deliver the feature you requested. One exception worth naming plainly: when the Map is showing your live position, an approximate position — rounded to about 100 m — is sent to open-meteo.com to look up your height above sea level. It is not attached to a QSO and never reaches a logging service.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information Stored Locally on Your Device

Ham Logging stores the following information locally on your device:

2.2 Callsign Lookup (QRZ.com)

When you enter a worked callsign on the QSO entry page (or Rover Mode), Ham Logging can auto-fill identity fields (name, country, grid, CQ/ITU zones, state, county) via the QRZ.com XML API and — for richer data like QSL preferences, LoTW/eQSL status, license class, and profile photo — via authenticated requests to QRZ.com's web interface.

2.3 Sync & Upload Services (Optional)

Ham Logging integrates with 20 amateur-radio logging / awards / confirmation services. Nothing is ever uploaded or downloaded automatically — every sync is user-initiated from the Sync page.

Services with live upload / download API integration:

Services with export-only integration (you export ADIF / CSV from Ham Logging and upload it via the service's own website or desktop tool): QRZ-CQ, QSO360, AwardWatch, POTA, SOTA, WWFF, TCL-QSO, ARRL Contest, Log4OM Cloud. Since version 1.3.0 the POTA, SOTA, WWFF and ARRL Contest files hold only the contacts that belong to that programme, not your whole log.

That list is strictly about your logbook, which Ham Logging never uploads to any of them. Some of the same names appear elsewhere in this policy for entirely different reasons, and it is worth being explicit rather than leaving it to be inferred: the app reads live spot feeds from POTA and SOTA (Section 2.6), and it can publish a spot of you to POTA, WWFF, GMA and a DX cluster node when you ask it to (Section 2.7). Neither of those carries a single QSO from your log.

What is sent during a sync:

2.4 APRS Map Layer (Optional)

If you enable "Show My APRS Beacons on Map" in Settings, Ham Logging opens a TCP connection to a public APRS-IS server (rotate.aprs2.net:14580) with a read-only passcode (-1) — or, if you have entered your APRS-IS passcode to send messages, with that passcode — and a filter scoped to your APRS callsign and to messages addressed to it. It also optionally queries the aprs.fi REST API every 30 seconds to pull recently-seen positions.

APRS messages: While the layer is on, messages addressed to your APRS callsign (any SSID) are received and shown in the app. If you have entered your APRS-IS passcode, you can also send messages: the app then sends each message you write to APRS-IS, and an acknowledgement for each message you receive at its own APRS callsign (or at your callsign with no SSID). Like all APRS traffic, messages are public on the APRS network. They are kept only while the app is running — they are not saved on your device.

APRS Broadcasting is Public: Ham Logging does NOT transmit any APRS beacons of its own — your radio (TNC, mobile rig, or hand-held) does the transmitting. Once your rig beacons over RF and an iGate forwards it to the APRS-IS network, your callsign, GPS position, comment, and symbol are public information visible to anyone on the APRS network (aprs.fi, aprsdigi.net, and countless archive sites). Use a dedicated APRS callsign (e.g. SSID -9 or -13) if you want separation between your QSO logbook and your APRS identity.

2.5 Map Tiles

The Map tab and Gray-Line / Propagation tabs load map tiles from public providers:

Tile providers see only the tiles you browse (not your callsign or identity). No authentication is used. Tiles are cached by the Flutter flutter_map tile cache on your device.

2.6 Propagation & Spotting Data Sources

The Extra tab (Solar / Conditions / Tropo / Gray Line / Path / Spots) pulls public data:

2.7 Activations & Spottings (publishing a spot of yourself)

From Extra → Spots you can announce a planned activation or spot yourself live. Nothing in this section happens unless you open that dialog and send — there is no background or automatic spotting anywhere in the app.

A spot or announcement is published to the programmes you tick, and to nothing else:

What a spot carries: the callsign shown in the announcement window (your saved callsign, unless you change it for that announcement — A41UX/P, for example — or a programme's fallback callsign when none is saved), the park or summit reference, the frequency, the mode, the time, and whatever comment you type. That is the whole point of a spot — it is published so that other operators can find you on the air, and it is public the moment it is sent.

Announcements are queued rather than fired and forgotten, so one composed where there is no signal is held on your device and sent when coverage returns. Nothing else is attached: no position fix, no device identifier, and not one QSO from your log.

SOTA is deliberately not in that list. Ham Logging reads SOTAwatch (Section 2.6) but cannot post to it. The SOTA project confirmed in September 2026 that it permits read-only use of its API and is not issuing new client credentials, so the app does not offer SOTA as a spotting destination and does not ask you for a SOTA login.

2.8 Voice Phonetic Dictation (Rover Mode)

Rover Mode includes a press-and-hold microphone button for dictating callsigns in NATO phonetics ("alpha four six uniform"). When you hold the button:

2.9 Information We Do NOT Collect

Ham Logging does NOT collect, transmit, or store:

Important: Ham Logging does not include any analytics SDK, advertising framework, or third-party tracking service. Your data never leaves your device unless you explicitly sync with a third-party amateur-radio logging service, publish a spot of yourself (Section 2.7), export a file, send an APRS message, or use the APRS / map / propagation features that query public data sources described above. In every one of those cases the data goes to the service you chose, at the moment you ask it to — never to Unixeer, which operates no servers of any kind and receives nothing.

3. How We Use Your Information

3.1 Core Functionality

3.2 Data Export and Import

You can fully export and re-import your QSO log in the following formats:

These options are user-initiated and under your complete control. A single "Share Backup" action produces CSV + JSON + ADIF in one share sheet for full archival.

4. Third-Party Services

4.1 QRZ.com (Callsign Lookup + Logbook)

If you configure QRZ credentials in Settings, Ham Logging queries the QRZ XML API and (for richer profile data) authenticates to the QRZ.com web interface. Information sent:

Results are cached locally so subsequent lookups of the same callsign don't re-hit QRZ. You can clear the cache from Settings at any time.

4.2 Amateur Radio Logging & Confirmation Services

Ham Logging can sync with the services listed in Section 2.3. Each service has its own privacy policy — Ham Logging's only role is to authenticate on your behalf and transmit the QSO records you choose to upload. Credentials are stored locally and only used for the specific service they belong to.

4.3 APRS-IS and aprs.fi

When APRS is enabled (Section 2.4), Ham Logging connects to public APRS-IS infrastructure (rotate.aprs2.net:14580) with a read-only passcode (-1), or with your own APRS-IS passcode if you have entered one to send messages. Your APRS callsign is used as the login identity. The optional aprs.fi API key enables the "heard-by" feature via the aprs.fi REST API.

See the aprs.fi privacy notice for their data handling.

4.4 Map Tile Providers

OpenStreetMap and CartoDB tile providers deliver map imagery. No authentication or personal data is sent — only the tile coordinates your map is currently viewing.

4.5 Public Propagation Feeds

HamQSL (solar indices), NOAA SWPC (aurora / space weather), PSK Reporter + WSPR Live (path prediction), POTA spot API, SOTA API (api-db2.sota.org.uk, read-only), GMA spot lists (www.gma.rocks), WA7BNM Contest Calendar, DX cluster spotters — all public, and none of them is told who you are.

The RBN sub-tab is the exception, because its whole purpose is to find spots of your own callsign: it authenticates to HamQTH with the credentials you entered and queries your call. That is the only spotting source that learns your identity, and it is never contacted unless you supply those credentials.

5. Location Services

5.1 When Location Is Used

Your home position is a Maidenhead grid square you type into Settings. It is not sensed, and most of the app works from it alone — propagation, bearings and distances to entered grids are all calculated from that grid, not from GPS.

The app reads your device location in exactly two places:

Your position stays on the device in both cases. It is never uploaded to Unixeer, never attached to a QSO record, and never included in a shared image or export — a shared spot list names the origin a distance was measured from, but never the coordinates.

One exception, and it is worth stating plainly. The Map panel shows your height above sea level, and that figure is looked up from a public terrain model rather than read off the GPS — phones disagree about what “altitude” means and the raw reading is the least accurate thing a receiver reports. To look it up, an approximate position is sent to api.open-meteo.com: the coordinates are rounded to three decimal places first, about 110 m, and no callsign, device identifier or anything else accompanies them. The result is cached on the device, so the same place is never looked up twice. If you are offline, your device’s own altitude reading is used instead and nothing leaves the phone.

The propagation forecast on the Extra tab also fetches from api.open-meteo.com. That request carries the region you are viewing, not your position.

If you decline the permission, both features degrade rather than fail: the Map simply has no “YOU” marker, and distance sorting falls back to your saved QTH grid.

5.2 Revoking Location Access

The app remains fully functional with location permission denied — simply enter your grid square manually.

6. Data Storage and Security

6.1 Local Storage

6.2 Data Security

6.3 Backup and Sync

Ham Logging does NOT automatically back up or sync your data to any cloud service. To back up your data:

7. Permissions Required

Permission Platform Purpose
Internet All QRZ lookup, Sync services, APRS-IS, map tiles, propagation feeds
Location (Optional) Mobile Live “YOU” marker while the Map tab is open (about 1 Hz, paused in the background); one single fix when you sort spots by distance from your current location. Never uploaded to Unixeer or to a logging service; an approximate position rounded to about 110 m goes to api.open-meteo.com only to look up your height above sea level (see §5.1).
Storage / Files All Save / load QSO log, export ADIF / CSV / JSON, import backups, save QSL PNGs
Photo Library Add iOS Save QSL card PNGs + shared images to Photos
Local Network iOS N1MM Logger+ UDP bridge on your LAN (only if configured)
Microphone (Optional) All Rover Mode press-and-hold voice phonetics. Audio is parsed locally by the OS speech engine; no audio is recorded, stored, or sent to any server. Only the resulting callsign text is kept.
Speech Recognition (Optional) iOS Same Rover Mode feature as above. Apple's on-device or cloud Siri engine handles the recognition; we never see the audio, only the recognised text.

8. Children's Privacy

Ham Logging is designed for amateur radio operators who hold valid amateur radio licenses. In most countries, obtaining a license requires passing an examination and meeting age requirements set by national telecommunications authorities. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction) without appropriate consent. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided information to Ham Logging, please contact us.

9. Your Rights and Choices

9.1 Access Your Data

9.2 Modify Your Data

9.3 Delete Your Data

10. International Users

Ham Logging is available worldwide and is used by licensed amateur radio operators in many countries. Your data is processed locally on your device regardless of your location. When you sync with external services, their jurisdiction and data-handling practices apply — please review each service's privacy policy before enabling it.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal / regulatory / operational reasons.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

12. Data Retention

All on-device data is permanently deleted when you uninstall Ham Logging.

13. Compliance and Jurisdiction

Ham Logging is developed in Oman and is intended for use by licensed amateur radio operators worldwide. We strive to comply with applicable data-protection laws including:

If you have specific questions about compliance in your jurisdiction, please contact us.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or Ham Logging's data practices, please contact us:

Developer: A41UX - Unixeer™
Email: unixeer@gmail.com
Website: https://unixeer.com
Support: Ham Logging Support

We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 48 hours.