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JS8Reporter is a Situational Awareness program, and a companion program to JS8Spotter. It reads MCF505 Area Assessment form data received via JS8Call / JS8Spotter and displays that data on an offline map of North America, and in filtered and tabulated reports, allowing emergency managers, radio operators, and others to visualize the operational status of infrastructure across a wide area. Area Assessments are produced by a decentralized network of individual radio operators, making it relatively free of media or institutional bias for a very realistic assessment of conditions around the country.
JS8Reporter operates entirely offline at runtime. No internet connection is required once the program and its map data are installed. JS8Reporter can be used as a stand-alone program when provided with files exported directly from JS8Spotter; this gives emergency management professionals a powerful tool when supported by their local amateur radio operators.
JS8Reporter is a project of SitRepNet.
Key capabilities:
• Displays color-coded map pins showing infrastructure condition at each reporting station’s grid square location
• Tabulated summary and detail views of all received assessments
• Date filtering to focus on a specific time window
• Circle filter to focus on a geographic area
• Time Lapse playback to see trends and changing conditions over time
• ALERT detection with prominent notification
• Twelve analytical report types exportable to text files
• Export of map images and tabular data
Best Practice Notes for F!505
JS8Reporter depends entirely on receiving F!505 reports from other stations – and other stations depend on the reports you send. Following these guidelines for using JS8Spotter and F!505 will help build an effective network for exchanging local conditions around the country.
- Primary frequency is the standard JS8 calling frequency – 7.078
- F!505 should always have the current date. Without a current date, reports are seen as duplicates, and only the original date on the report is used.
- On a daily basis, or as appropriate, update your F!505 report as follows:
- Go to Tools > Forms > F!505 Area Assessment
- Click on Load Posted Expect Form (or complete a new report if this is the first time)
- Review and make any needed changes to update the assessment
- If the situation truly calls for it, enter ALERT in the Form Comment field.
- Don’t keep ALERT on the form any longer than necessary. Overuse of it will reduce its effectiveness and it will soon be ignored.
- Click on Post Form to Expect – this will update your report to the current date and time
- Set JS8Spotter to automatically send the F!505 report as follows:
- Click on Tools > Expect System
- Double-click on F!505
- Set Auto TX Target to @SITREP
- In Auto TX Schedule, enter 2 or 3 times to automatically send this form.
- Generally, the best time on 7.078 is just before or soon after sunset or just before or soon after sunrise.
- Time is in UTC (not local time), and uses your system date and time
- Occasionally check to confirm that both your system date and system time are correct
- Avoid sending more frequently than needed – use your best judgement based on the situation
- Try to pick fairly random times so we don’t interfere with each other. If everyone posts at the top of the hour, you will miss reports because your station is sending and not receiving.
- Include “ALERT” in the Comment field IF APPROPRIATE.
Current version is 1.4.1 released 03/24/2026
➊ this can be improved, and
➋ we can get you up and running.
⚑ JS8Reporter Version Log – https://sitrepnet.com/js8reporter-version-log/
Download the JS8Reporter User’s Guide, current version. This includes full instructions on downloading, installing, and using the program.
● https://sitrepnet.com/js8reporter-download/JS8Reporter-UserManual_1.4.0.pdf
Download the JS8Reporter install package. Be sure to read the installation instructions in the User’s Guide first.
● https://sitrepnet.com/js8reporter-download/js8reporter_v1.4.1.zip
Download the PGP signature file for the install package to authenticate the file using the PGP key – KN4AM – Stephen Clay McGehee – 0x7C57A3E5
Available here – https://sitrepnet.com/public-keys/.
● https://sitrepnet.com/js8reporter-download/js8reporter_v1.4.1.zip.sig
Updating from a previous version:
Simply replace js8reporter.py (and setup.py) with the new versions. Re-running setup.py is not necessary unless directed.
Test Scenario – Operation DarkFall
Operation DarkFall was created using AI as a fictional terrorist attack scenario to test JS8Reporter. Details are here – https://sitrepnet.com/operation-darkfall/
⚑ Sample reports created using Operation DarkFall sample data – 10 reports in .txt format (Download .ZIP file)
(standard MIT license)
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
