This month, I began working on a new project called WaveWatch — an AI-powered app designed to predict shortwave radio propagation. It’s being developed as an open-source tool using Cursor, a powerful, AI-enhanced coding environment built on top of Visual Studio Code (VSCode), Microsoft’s popular IDE.
There are a lot of YouTube videos about this amazing tool. If you are a pro programmer, or just learning, this is the way to go.
WaveWatch is intended to be beginner-friendly, and I’m planning to create a video walkthrough showing just how accessible software development can be — even for those with little to no coding experience. While you won’t need to write code yourself, you will need to understand some of the basics, like which libraries to install and how to configure supporting tools.
The app is written in Flutter using the Dart programming language. I chose Flutter because it’s a true multi-platform framework — allowing me to build one codebase that runs seamlessly on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux, and the web.
Stay tuned for updates and a hands-on demo showing just how easy (and powerful) modern app development can be.
I’m having to use real time propagation tools like….
VOACAP Online HF Prediction
- Forecast HF propagation by band and time between any two points.
- Link: https://www.voacap.com/hf/
DXMaps
- Real-time maps showing HF band openings via reports and cluster data.
- Link: https://www.dxmaps.com/
PSKReporter
- Crowd-sourced propagation visualization tool, especially useful if you’re using digital modes like FT8.
- Link: https://pskreporter.info/
HamQSL – Solar Conditions Page
- Quick-look solar and geomagnetic indices: SFI, A-index, K-index, MUF, etc.
- Link: https://www.hamqsl.com/solar.html
HF Conditions
- Real-time band opening analysis by frequency band.
- Link: https://www.hfpropagation.com/
I have asked the AI to take a lead on design and useful features. I’m amazed at how easy it is to develop software. everything is being done for me