General

The big picture

HamClock and OpenHamClock are both free. Why would I pay for this?

Because Helioclock works the moment you plug it in. That’s really the whole answer. It just works. Free is a great price, but both of those projects assume you’re comfortable flashing a Linux OS image, working through a multi-page setup screen, installing a specific Node.js version because the one your OS ships is too old, cloning a repo, and hand-editing a hidden config file in a Linux SSH terminal. None of that is a knock on either project; they’re both real, capable software built by people who earned their goodwill in this community. It’s just not what most operators want to spend their evening doing. With Helioclock, you get an SD card, a USB stick, or a ready-to-run appliance. You plug it in, and it works. That’s the entire setup process, and it’s the biggest reason people choose to pay for this instead of building it themselves for free from code available. Why waste hours pulling your hair out over Linux when we’ve solved all the problems for you?

What exactly is Helioclock?

A dedicated, always-on global situational awareness display. It shows live HF band conditions, space weather, world and regional maps, weather radar, tropical systems, financial markets, and dozens of other real-time data feeds on one screen, arranged however you like. It runs 24/7 on its own hardware, with no browser tabs to juggle and no subscription required.

Is Helioclock open source software?

No. Unlike HamClock and OpenHamClock, which are both open source, Helioclock is commercial software: the source isn’t published, and it’s sold rather than given away. That’s a deliberate trade rather than an oversight. Being closed source is part of what lets Helioclock be a single, supported, plug-in-and-it-works product instead of a project you assemble and maintain yourself. It also ensures a unified vision rather than software designed by committee.

Do I need to be a licensed ham radio operator to use it?

No. Helioclock started as a ham radio tool and that’s still its heart, but the world clock, weather, space weather, and situational awareness features are useful in an EOC, a NOC, a dispatch center, a corporate lobby, or just someone’s home office. Plenty of what’s on screen has nothing to do with a radio license.

Does it require an internet connection?

Yes, to pull live data (band spots, space weather, radar, and so on), the same way any live display would. What it doesn’t need is a Helioclock-operated central server standing in between. Every unit fetches directly from public data sources like NOAA and USGS. There’s nothing on our end that can go offline and take your display down with it. Wired LAN/Ethernet or WiFi – either works fine.

Is there a subscription or recurring fee?

No. You buy the hardware once, and it’s yours. Just like buying a radio. No monthly fee, no app-store account, nothing that expires.

Hardware & Setup

Getting one running

Which SKU is right for me?

If you already own a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5, the SD card is the cheapest way in. If you have an old Intel or AMD PC gathering dust that was made in the last decade, the Live USB stick turns it into a Helioclock display without touching its installed OS. If you’d rather not think about hardware at all, the turnkey appliance ships ready to plug in to any display. If you’re running multiple screens for a NOC, dispatch floor, or lobby, the multi-display server is built for that. See the full breakdown on the SKUs page.

How long does setup actually take?

Minutes. Insert the SD card or USB drive, connect power and a network cable or WiFi, and it boots straight into Helioclock. There’s no OS to flash, no package manager, no config file. The turnkey appliance is even simpler: plug it in, turn it on.

Do I need any Linux experience?

No. Helioclock runs on Ubuntu underneath, automatically, but you never need to see a terminal, run a command, or SSH into anything to use it day to day. That’s a deliberate design choice, not an accident.

Can I access it from a laptop or phone instead of a dedicated screen?

Yes. Every SKU runs a built-in web server, so you can open Remote View from any browser on the same network, just type helioclock.local, no IP address to look up, no app to install. It’s the same live display, interactive, on whatever screen you’re near.

What if I don’t own a Raspberry Pi or a spare PC?

The turnkey appliance is built for exactly that. It ships complete with its own HDMI display output, ready to plug in to a TV or monitor and run.

Can I run it on more than one screen?

Yes. The multi-display server (SKU-4) is built specifically to drive several screens from a single unit, with per-display configuration and simple claim-code pairing at setup, ideal for a NOC wall, a club station, or a lobby with multiple monitors. But, all the other models can support two or more HDMI outputs plus a web browser output.

Features & Data

What’s actually on screen

What is Best Band Now?

It’s Helioclock’s signature feature: a live, continuously ranked leaderboard of every open or marginal HF band, similar to a golf leaderboard, built from real DX Cluster and Reverse Beacon Network activity rather than a single black-box guess. A band has to hold the top ranking for a full 20 minutes before it’s marked CONFIRMED, so you can watch a band opening develop in real time instead of reacting after the fact. See the Features page for the full breakdown.

Is it just for HF propagation, or does it do weather too?

Both, and quite a bit more. Live NEXRAD radar, satellite imagery, tropical storm tracking, wildfire and volcanic activity, air quality, tides, sea surface temperature, financial markets, and a photorealistic world map that changes with the seasons are all part of the same display, alongside the ham radio panels.

Can I add a Software Defined Radio to it?

Yes, an RTL-SDR USB dongle (sold separately) can be added for real-world reception confirmation, actually hearing WWV, WWVH, and NCDXF beacon signals at your own QTH rather than relying on someone else’s spot report, plus manual listening and tuning through OpenWebRX running on the same device.

Can I choose which panels show up on my screen?

Yes. Over 40 active features can be arranged freely, with a quick-glance Mini Panel and a click-through Detail Panel for anything you want more information on. You can also save favorite arrangements and let the display rotate through them automatically.

Does it work on a 4K TV, or only smaller screens?

Both. It renders cleanly from 720p up through 4K, and it also works in any web browser, so it isn’t limited to whatever display is physically attached to the hardware.

Ham Radio Specific

For the shack

Does Helioclock do QSL logging?

Yes. It does show live WSJT-X and JTDX decodes if your logging software is running on the same network, but your actual log stays exactly where it already lives. We do have a map logging feature where you can pinpoint DX contacts and add them to the map.

Is it useful for POTA, SOTA, or WWBOTA activations?

Yes. Helioclock has live panels and map layers for POTA, SOTA, and WWBOTA spots, alongside the contest calendar and DXpedition tracker, all on the same screen as your propagation picture.

Does it control my radio?

Not just yet. Rig and rotator control is on the roadmap, right after the Huntsville show. Helioclock today is a display, not a yet control surface for your station.

Can I use it as an ON-AIR indicator when I’m transmitting?

Yes. A PTT/ON-AIR banner is built in, wired either through GPIO on a Raspberry Pi or a universal USB-to-serial adapter on any SKU.

Reliability & Support

Keeping it running

What happens if my internet goes down?

The display keeps running with the last data it had, and picks back up automatically the moment your connection returns. Nothing needs to be restarted or reconfigured.

How do I know the unit itself is running OK?

A built-in Health Report shows disk usage, memory, CPU temperature, uptime, and NTP time-sync status at a glance, so you can check on it without ever opening a terminal.

How do software updates work?

Updates are delivered automatically in the background. You don’t need to SSH in, run a package manager, or pull a git repo. If something ever needs fixing, an update handles it the same way it arrived. We have options built in for manual and unattended updates.

Do you have a solid manual? Many projects treat documentation as an afterthought.

Yes, and it hasn’t been bolted on after the fact. The built-in help file has been written and updated in parallel with every feature as it was added, not assembled at the end from memory. When a new panel or map layer ships, its documentation ships with it in the same update. It’s available right on the unit and covers every panel, every keyboard shortcut, and every setting, in plain language. See the Documentation page for the full thing.

Who do I contact if something goes wrong?

Me, directly. Helioclock is built and maintained by one person. There’s no support ticket queue to sit in; reach out through the Contact page and you’ll be talking to the developer who actually wrote the code. A community forum also provides support from other uses.

Is any of my personal data collected, sold, or sent anywhere?

No. Helioclock talks directly to public data sources for the information it displays. There’s no Helioclock account, no telemetry sent back to us, and no central server watching what your unit does.

Is the software copy protected?

Each SD card, USB stick, and turnkey appliance ties to its own running hardware, so a copy can’t simply be lifted off one unit and run on another. We won’t get into the mechanics of how that works here, but protecting the huge amount of work that goes into this product is something we take very seriously. We worked really hard on this, so please don’t try to pirate the software. It’s not only “not cool,” it’s illegal too.

Buying One

Getting your own

When can I actually buy one?

Helioclock will make its public debut at the Huntsville Hamfest, August 22 to 23, 2026, booth #V55, with SD cards, USB sticks, and turnkey units available for purchase in person.

Will you be at Huntsville Hamfest?

Yes, in person, at booth #V55. Best Band Now will be running live against real band conditions, and I’ll be there the whole show to answer questions.

Can I upgrade from one SKU to another later?

Since every SKU runs the same software but managed differently on different hardware, moving up simply means running a different Helioclock SKU. There’s no lock-in or upgrade fee tied to the software itself, but let’s say you have a Raspberry Pi and you want to move to running our USB stick on some old hardware for better performance than the Pi4 affords. You need to buy the USB stick. Sorry, trying to make the software portable isn’t as easy as it looks, especially since the Pi 4/5 run on reduced memory footprints and have adaptations for that environment.

Do you have a “lite” version of the software that will run on my DOS or Windows PC from the 1990’s?

Since there’s no subtle way to put this, I’ll be blunt: no and hell no. 😉

Still have a question? Get in touch