Map View | Carrier Wave Manual

The Map View displays your QSOA contact or conversation between two amateur radio stations. contacts on an interactive world map with markers, geodesic paths, overlays, and performance-optimized rendering.

Overview

Map View provides visual insight into your operating patterns by showing:

Contact locations with marker pins
Geodesic arc paths from your station to contacted stations
Distance and direction statistics
Geographic coverage (states, DXCCDX Century Club - an award for confirming contacts with 100 or more DXCC entities (countries). entities)
Real-time session maps during active logging
Park boundaries, summit pins, and grid square overlays

All map rendering respects your privacy settings and only displays contacts you’ve logged locally.

QSO Map

The main map displays your logged contacts as markers on a world map.

Contact Markers

Each marker represents a station you’ve contacted. The marker is placed at the station’s location based on:

Grid SquareA location identifier using the Maidenhead Locator System (e.g., FN31 for the Boston area). coordinates (if logged)
QTHYour location or station address. data from QRZ"Who is calling?" - also the name of a popular callsign lookup and logging website. lookup
State/country geolocation (fallback)

Markers are color-coded and sized to indicate density in areas with many contacts.

Geodesic Arcs

Lines connecting your station to each contacted station follow the great circle (shortest) path over Earth’s surface. These arcs show:

True bearing from your location
Visual representation of propagation paths
Distance coverage patterns

Arcs are semi-transparent to prevent clutter in densely-contacted areas.

Performance Limit

To maintain smooth interaction on large logs, the map defaults to displaying 500 QSOs maximum. This limit ensures:

Fast rendering and panning
Responsive zooming
Low memory usage

Show All Toggle: Tap the “Show All” button to render your entire log on the map. On logs with thousands of contacts, rendering may take a few seconds. The app caches the result for subsequent loads.

Azimuthal Map

The Azimuthal map provides an azimuthal equidistant projection centered on your station location, rendered using a high-performance Canvas renderer.

Projection

Center point - Your grid square (configurable)
Equidistant - All distances from center are accurate and proportional
True bearing - Directions from center to any point are correct
Canvas-rendered - Uses Core Graphics for smooth 60fps rendering

SNR Heatmap

When RBN spot data is available, the azimuthal map can display an SNR heatmap:

Color gradient from blue (weak) through green (moderate) to red (strong)
Geographic overlay showing signal strength by direction
Time-windowed - Shows data from the last 10-30 minutes (configurable)
Band-filtered - Heatmap updates when you change the band filter

QSO Arcs

Geodesic arcs from your station to contacted stations are drawn as curves on the azimuthal projection:

Band-colored arcs distinguish contacts on different bands
Opacity indicates recency (newer contacts are more opaque)
Tap an arc to see QSO details

Antenna Patterns

Overlay your antenna’s radiation pattern on the azimuthal map:

Directional patterns show the main lobe and nulls
Pattern data loaded from equipment profiles
Rotate to match your antenna’s actual bearing
Compare propagation paths against antenna coverage

Compass

A compass rose overlay shows cardinal directions from your station, helping orient the azimuthal projection to real-world bearings.

Park Boundaries

POTA Park Boundaries

POTA park boundaries are rendered as filled polygons on the map:

GeoJSON source - Boundaries loaded from POTA boundary data
Polygon with holes - Properly renders parks that have excluded interior areas (e.g., private land within a national forest)
Fill opacity - Semi-transparent fill to show underlying terrain
Boundary color - Matches the POTA brand green

Tap to View Park Details

Tap any park boundary polygon to open the park detail sheet showing:

Park reference and name
Your activation history at this park
Top activators leaderboard
Distance from your current location

My Parks List

The map includes a My Parks layer showing all parks you’ve activated:

Filled polygons for parks with successful activations (10+ QSOs)
Outlined polygons for parks you’ve visited but haven’t completed an activation
QSO count badges on each park

Toggle this layer from the map layers menu.

SOTA Summit Pins

SOTA summits appear as mountain-icon pins on the map:

Point value displayed on the pin (1-10 based on altitude)
Color coding - Green for unworked summits, gold for worked summits
Altitude label shown on tap
Summit reference (e.g., W7W/KG-001) in the callout

Summit Lookup

Tap a SOTA pin to view:

Summit name and reference
Altitude and point value
Your QSO history with this summit
Recent activations from SOTAwatch

WWFF References

WWFF nature reserve boundaries appear as a distinct map layer:

Green-bordered polygons showing reserve boundaries
WWFF reference (e.g., KFF-1234) in the callout
Activation status - Worked vs unworked indicator

Historic Trail Overlays

For parks and areas with historic trails (e.g., Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail):

Trail path rendered as a dashed line overlay
Trail name shown on long-press
Intersection with parks highlighted where trails pass through POTA parks

Grid Square Overlay

Toggle the Maidenhead grid square overlay to display grid boundaries on the map:

4-character grid squares shown as a broad grid
6-character sub-squares shown when zoomed in
Grid labels at each cell center
Worked grids highlighted with a fill color
Unworked grids shown as outlines only

This overlay is useful for tracking grid square awards (VUCC, Grid Squares WAS) and planning operations to fill gaps.

Map Statistics Overlay

A heads-up statistics panel displays key metrics for the visible contacts:

Metric	Description
QSO Count	Total contacts displayed on the map
Average Distance	Mean distance from your station to all contacts
Longest Distance	Furthest contact (DXLong-distance communication, typically referring to contacts with stations in other countries. record)
States Worked	Count of unique US states and Canadian provinces
DXCC Entities	Count of unique countries worked
QSOs/hr Rate	Average contact rate during the time span
Time Span	Date range of displayed contacts

These statistics update in real time as you apply filters.

Filtering

The map supports multi-dimensional filtering to focus on specific operating conditions.

Date Range Filter

Set a start and end date to view contacts from a specific period. The filter defaults to your earliest QSOA contact or conversation between two amateur radio stations. date through the current date.

Band Filter

Filter by amateur bandA range of radio frequencies allocated for amateur radio use (e.g., 20 meters, 40 meters, 2 meters). (e.g., 20m, 40m, 2m).

Mode Filter

Restrict the map to contacts using a specific modeThe type of transmission used (e.g., SSB, CW, FM, FT8). (SSBSingle Sideband - a voice mode commonly used on HF bands. , CWContinuous Wave - another term for Morse code communication. , FT8A digital mode designed for weak-signal communication, popular for making contacts with minimal power. , etc.).

Park Filter

For POTAParks on the Air - a program encouraging portable operation from parks and public lands. activators, filter by park reference (e.g., US-0001) to display only contacts made during that activation.

Confirmed Filter

Show only QSOs confirmed via QRZ"Who is calling?" - also the name of a popular callsign lookup and logging website. or LoTWLogbook of The World - ARRL's system for confirming contacts electronically. . The app displays the union of both confirmation sources.

Active Filter Badges

All active filters are displayed as badges at the top of the map. Tap any badge to remove that filter.

Individual QSO Toggle

The Show Individual QSOs toggle switches between two rendering modes:

Grid Square Mode (Default)

Contacts are aggregated by grid square. A single marker represents all QSOs within that grid. The marker label shows the QSO count.

Individual QSO Mode

Every contact is displayed as a small dot marker. Tapping a marker shows that specific QSO’s details.

Activation Maps

POTAParks on the Air - a program encouraging portable operation from parks and public lands. activations have dedicated map views accessible from the activation detail screen.

RST-Based Contact Coloring

On activation maps, QSO markers are color-coded by signal report:

Color	RST Range	Interpretation
Green	59, 599	Strong signals
Yellow	57-58, 579-589	Good signals
Red	<57, <579	Weak signals

Accessing Activation Maps

Open the POTA tab
Tap an activation entry
Tap View Map in the activation detail view

QSO Callouts

Tap any contact marker to see a detailed callout overlay with callsign, frequency, mode, RST, equipment, and solar conditions (for POTA activations).

Rove Session Maps

Rove sessions display numbered park markers, a dashed route line connecting stops in chronological order, and QSO locations overlaid on the route.

Session Map (MAP Command)

While logging an active session, type MAP to view a real-time map of your current QSOs. The map updates live as you log additional contacts and automatically zooms to fit all contacts.

Weather Radar Overlay (US, Experimental)

Enable Settings -> Experiments -> Weather Radar to add a NEXRAD base-reflectivity overlay on top of the Parks & Summits map. A cloud-rain button in the map toolbar toggles the layer on and off; an opacity picker (25 / 50 / 75 / 100 %) sets how dominant the radar reads against the basemap. The overlay pans and zooms in lockstep with park polygons, trail polylines, and pins — there is no separate “radar mode.”

Active NWS alerts for the visible area surface as a severity-tinted chip in the corner; tap to open the full alert list with event headline, area, and timeline.

The radar tile feed is Iowa State’s Mesonet cache (refreshed roughly every five minutes, no API key required). Coverage is the contiguous US only — Hawaii, Alaska, and outside-US users will see an empty layer.