The following is a press release from Helioclock:
Helioclock to Debut at Huntsville Hamfest: A New All-in-One Next Generation Situational Awareness Display with live SDR
Reno, NV. August 17, 2026.
Helioclock, a new dedicated live dashboard appliance built for amateur radio operators, EOC’s
NOC’s Civil Defense and others will make its public debut at the ARRL National
convention/Huntsville Hamfest, August 22–23, 2026.
The product brings live HF band conditions, space weather, contest information, and a wide range of
real-time situational data feeds together on a single always-on screen: no juggling browser tabs, no
subscription required. Fully automated operation 24/7/365 designed explicitly to have no single point
of failure risk.
Further, Helioclock now features a real-time integrated SDR (Software Defined Radio) interface that
serves as a standalone all-band receiver, plus offers NCDXF beacon monitoring for real-time band
conditions.
New: Live RTL-SDR Integration
Helioclock’s newest release adds full support for the popular RTL-SDR USB dongle, turning any
Helioclock display into a live, all-band software-defined radio receiver right alongside its propagation
and space weather data. Operators get an on-screen waterfall, frequency tuning, and demodulation
controls (AM, FM, SSB, and more) with no separate SDR software, no second screen, and nothing
extra to buy.
See It in Huntsville
Helioclock will be shown live at the Huntsville Hamfest, August 22–23, 2026, at booth #V55.
Attendees can see Best Band Now running against live band conditions in real time and talk with the
developer that built it. Ready-to-run systems, bootable SD cards for Raspberry Pi 4/5 platforms, and
Live USB devices will be available for purchase at the show.
A Stunning Shack Display Built Around Real Time Data, Not Guesswork
The centerpiece is Helioclock's signature “Best Band Now” feature. Rather than reducing complex
propagation data down to a single “best guess,” Helioclock now presents every open or marginal HF
band on a live, continuously ranked leaderboard, similar to a golf leaderboard, so operators can see
exactly how each band stacks up and why.
Each band's score is intelligently analyzed from real DX cluster and Reverse Beacon Network spot
activity, and if equipped with an SDR USB RTL-SDR dongle, real time beacon DX measurements. All
are weighted by frequency and available headroom below the Maximum Usable Frequency, so a
band with genuinely strong evidence can never be quietly outranked by a band with only a handful of
spots. A band must hold the #1 ranking continuously for 20 minutes before it's marked CONFIRMED;
until then it displays LEADING with a live countdown, so operators can watch a band call developing
in real time rather than reacting to a single flip.
Plus, a per-band “Band Scope” graph shows the last 60 minutes of activity for every band at a glance,
and every column on the leaderboard with plain-language explaining exactly what it means and how
it's calculated. Full transparency, nothing hidden behind a black-box verdict.
More Than DX and Propagation
Beyond Best Band Now, Helioclock's next generation screen brings together:
- Stunning photorealistic maps of the world and CONUS that change with seasons.
- Live contest calendar and DX information. Grey line, solar flux, and imagery.
- Wildfire, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, air quality, live camera site feeds, news and weather bulletin feeds. Configurable with local alerts too.
- Live NEXRAD Radar, Satellite imagery, forecasts, data tracks, and more.
- Financial markets (major indices, favorite stocks, plus gold and silver).
- Tides for coastal stations, sea surface temperature, and hurricane/tropical storm tracking.
- Over 40 active live features can be arranged on-screen and displayed on a multiple screen slideshow so you never miss a beat. See the features at helioclock.com.
- PTT/ON-AIR banner, code practice, electronic references, even TV test patterns for SSTV!
- Supports optional Software Defined Radio (SDR) using the popular RTL-SDR USB devices for automated band testing or use as your own listening receiver with on-screen control.
- All of it updates continuously in the background, giving operators one glanceable display for “what's happening right now” on the bands and around them. Helioclock can drive multiple big screen TV’s at 4K or 2K directly while at the same time supporting remote browser connections.
Flexible, Low-Cost Hardware
Helioclock is designed to run on whatever hardware a ham shack already has or wants to add cheaply:
- A dedicated small-form-factor x86 mini PC (Intel N100 at 4GB class hardware or better)
- Raspberry Pi model 4 and 5 (2GB minimum, 4GB recommended.)
- A bootable Live USB stick that turns most existing spare PC’s/laptops built in the last decade into a Helioclock display without touching its installed OS.
- Ready to run appliances are also available.
Helioclock was built because every operator I know has five browser tabs open just to answer one question: what band should I be on right now? This puts the real evidence in front of you instead of a black-box guess.” “Plus, I wanted a modern, polished, real-time display that gives a solid next generation modern look and feel that runs completely unattended. — Anthony Watts, KA9NWM, creator, Helioclock
Availability
More information, screenshots, features, and a live interactive demo are available at helioclock.com.
Media Contact:
Anthony Watts, KA9NWM contact@helioclock.com 530-570-8434
Source: Helioclock
