Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main'

README.md

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# ![Spothole](/static/img/logo.png)
+# ![Spothole](https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole/raw/branch/main/static/img/logo.png)
 
 Spothole is a utility to aggregate "spots" from amateur radio DX clusters and xOTA spotting sites, and provide an open
 JSON API as well as a website to browse the data, and its own telnet server for integration with desktop loggers.
@@ -17,42 +17,25 @@ individual data source presents its data.
 
 Spothole itself is also open source, Public Domain licenced code that anyone can take and modify.
 
-Supported data sources include DX Clusters, the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), the APRS Internet Service (APRS-IS), POTA,
+You can read more about Spothole on [the "Help" pages of the main server instance](https://spothole.app/help).
-SOTA, WWFF, GMA, WWBOTA, HEMA, Parks 'n' Peaks, ZLOTA, WOTA, BOTA, LLOTA, WWTOTA, Tiles on the Air, the UK Packet
-Repeater Network, NG3K, and any site based on the xOTA software by nischu. It also integrates with QRZ.com and HamQTH,
-retrieves solar data from various sources, provides information about upcoming contests, and more.
-
-You can read more about Spothole on [the "About" page of the main server instance](https://spothole.app/about).
 
 ![Screenshot](/images/screenshot2.png)
 
-![Screenshot](/images/screenshot3.png)
-
 ## Accessing the public version
 
 You can access the public version's web interface at [https://spothole.app](https://spothole.app), and
 see [https://spothole.app/apidocs](https://spothole.app/apidocs) for the API details.
 
-This is a Progressive Web App, so you can also "install" it to your Android or iOS device by accessing it in Chrome or
-Safari respectively, and following the menu-driven process for installing PWAs.
-
 You are more than welcome to use the data and the API that Spothole provides to power your own software, to run your own
-Spothole server, or to modify it in any way. More details can be found in the following sections:
+Spothole server, or to modify it in any way. More details can be found
+in [the "Help" pages of the main server instance](https://spothole.app/help).
 
-* [Embedding Spothole in another website](docs/embedding.md)
+![Screenshot](/images/screenshot3.png)
-* [Writing your own client](docs/clients.md)
-* [Running your own copy](docs/running.md)
-    * [nginx reverse proxy configuration](docs/nginx.md)
-    * [systemd service file](docs/systemd.md)
-    * [Running in Docker](docs/docker.md)
-    * [Use of multiple cluster logins](docs/multicluster.md)
-* [Modifying the source code](docs/modifying.md)
-
-![Screenshot](/images/screenshot4.png)
 
 ## Thanks
 
-[Spothole's "About" page](https://spothole.app/about) contains the full details of the thanks I owe to the various
+[Spothole's "Thanks" page](https://spothole.app/help/thanks) contains the full details of the thanks I owe to the
+various
 programme teams, software library providers, bug fixers etc. The extra detail below contains the extra detail of
 specific files in this repository which are not all my own work and may be subject to other licences.
 

core/activity_lookup_helper.py

@@ -52,11 +52,11 @@ def get_activity_ref_info(activity_name, ref_id):
         if activity_name.upper() == ActivityName.DTMBA:
             ref_id = ref_id.replace("-", "").replace(" ", "")
 
-        ### NO DATA ACTIVITIES ###
+        ### NO REFERENCE ACTIVITIES ###
         #
-        # If the activity is HEMA or BIWOTA, we have no way to either generate useful data or look it up on a
+        # If the activity doesn't have references, we have no way to either generate useful data or look it up on a
         # reference list, so just skip the lookup here.
-        if activity_name.upper() == ActivityName.HEMA or activity_name.upper() == ActivityName.BIWOTA:
+        if not activity.has_refs:
             return activity_ref
 
         ### PROGRAMMATIC DATA GENERATION INSTEAD OF LOOKUPS ###

core/constants.py

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ from core.config import SERVER_OWNER_CALLSIGN
 from data.band import Band
 
 # General software
-SOFTWARE_VERSION = "2.2-pre"
+SOFTWARE_VERSION = "2.2"
 
 # HTTP headers used for spot providers that use HTTP
 HTTP_HEADERS = {"User-Agent": f"Spothole v{SOFTWARE_VERSION} (operated by {SERVER_OWNER_CALLSIGN})"}

core/enums.py

@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ class ActivityRefType(str, Enum):
     BUILDING = "BUILDING"
     REGION = "REGION"
     GRID = "GRID"
+    SATELLITE = "SATELLITE"
     TOILET = "TOILET"
 
 

core/utils.py

@@ -156,3 +156,13 @@ def get_callsign_object_from_pyhamtools_callinfo(callsign, callinfo):
     except (KeyError, ValueError):
         # Unknown callsign, can't look anything up, return a Callsign object with basic data so that gets cached
         return Callsign(call=callsign)
+
+
+def decode_telnet_bytes(data: bytes) -> str:
+    """Decode a line of text received from a telnet connection, which might be UTF-8 or Latin-1 depending on the
+    whims of the server owner."""
+
+    try:
+        return data.decode("utf-8")
+    except UnicodeDecodeError:
+        return data.decode("latin-1")

data/activities.py

@@ -20,9 +20,7 @@ ACTIVITIES: dict[ActivityName, Activity] = {
         sig_type=ActivityType.TRADITIONAL,
         has_refs=False,
         refs_globally_unique=False,
-        # DXpedition stations are never really spotted with "DXpedition" in the comments, but we can assign
+        comment_names=["DXPEDITION"],
-        # this activity to a spot other ways.
-        comment_names=[],
         icon="fa-book-atlas",
         alerts_possible=True,
     ),
@@ -30,8 +28,12 @@ ACTIVITIES: dict[ActivityName, Activity] = {
         name=ActivityName.SATELLITE,
         description="Amateur Radio Satellite",
         sig_type=ActivityType.TRADITIONAL,
-        has_refs=False,
+        # Satellite "references" are the names of the satellites themselves. This is not an exhaustive list, it just
-        refs_globally_unique=False,
+        # matches some of the most commonly used amateur radio satellites so they can be picked out of spot comments.
+        has_refs=True,
+        refs_globally_unique=True,
+        ref_type=ActivityRefType.SATELLITE,
+        ref_regex=r"ISS|AO-(?:7|27|73|91|95|123)|QO-100|QO100|QO 100|RS-44|SO-50",
         comment_names=[],
         icon="fa-satellite",
         alerts_possible=True,

data/alert.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 
 import pytz
+from pyhamtools.locator import locator_to_latlong, latlong_to_locator
 
 from core.activity_lookup_helper import populate_missing_activity_ref_info
 from core.activity_utils import get_icon_for_activity
@@ -40,6 +41,11 @@ class Alert:
     dx_cq_zone: int | None = None
     # ITU zone of the DX operator
     dx_itu_zone: int | None = None
+    # Maidenhead grid locator for the DX. This could be from a geographical reference e.g. POTA or grid.
+    dx_grid: str | None = None
+    # Latitude & longitude of the DX, in degrees. This could be from a geographical reference e.g. POTA or grid.
+    dx_latitude: float | None = None
+    dx_longitude: float | None = None
 
     # General alert info
 
@@ -108,8 +114,7 @@ class Alert:
             if self.received_time and not self.received_time_iso:
                 self.received_time_iso = datetime.fromtimestamp(self.received_time, pytz.UTC).isoformat()
 
-            # DX country, continent, zones etc. from callsign. CQ/ITU zone are better looked up with a location but we don't
+            # DX country, continent, zones etc. from callsign.
-            # have a real location for alerts.
             if self.dx_calls and self.dx_calls[0]:
                 call_info = get_call_info(self.dx_calls[0], credentials)
                 if self.dx_calls and self.dx_calls[0] and not self.dx_country:
@@ -125,18 +130,41 @@ class Alert:
                 if self.dx_dxcc_id and not self.dx_flag:
                     self.dx_flag = get_flag_for_dxcc(self.dx_dxcc_id)
 
-            # Fetch activity data. In case a particular API doesn't provide a full set of name, lat, lon & grid for a
+            # Fetch activity data, and set a real position if we can get one.
-            # reference in its initial call, we use this code to populate the rest of the data. This includes working
-            # out grid refs from WAB and WAI, which count as an activity even though there's no real lookup, just maths
             if self.sig_refs:
                 for activity_ref in self.sig_refs:
-                    populate_missing_activity_ref_info(activity_ref)
+                    activity_ref = populate_missing_activity_ref_info(activity_ref)
+                    # If the alert itself doesn't have location yet, but the activity ref does, extract it
+                    if activity_ref.grid and not self.dx_grid:
+                        self.dx_grid = activity_ref.grid
+                    if (
+                        activity_ref.latitude
+                        and not self.dx_latitude
+                        and activity_ref.longitude
+                        and not self.dx_longitude
+                    ):
+                        self.dx_latitude = activity_ref.latitude
+                        self.dx_longitude = activity_ref.longitude
 
             # If the spot itself doesn't have an activity yet, but we have at least one activity reference, take that
             # reference's activity and apply it to the whole spot.
             if self.sig_refs and self.sig_refs[0] and not self.sig:
                 self.sig = self.sig_refs[0].sig
 
+            # DX Grid to lat/lon and vice versa in case one is missing
+            if self.dx_grid and (not self.dx_latitude or not self.dx_longitude):
+                try:
+                    ll = locator_to_latlong(self.dx_grid)
+                    self.dx_latitude = ll[0]
+                    self.dx_longitude = ll[1]
+                except Exception:
+                    logger.debug("Invalid grid received for spot", exc_info=True)
+            if self.dx_latitude and self.dx_longitude and not self.dx_grid:
+                try:
+                    self.dx_grid = latlong_to_locator(self.dx_latitude, self.dx_longitude, 8)
+                except Exception:
+                    logger.debug("Invalid lat/lon received for spot", exc_info=True)
+
             # Create an ID based on the source and source ID if possible, as these guaranee uniqueness. If there is no
             # source ID, use a combination of callsign and start time. Excluding things like the comment here allows for
             # user updates of their alert comments without duplicating in the system.

docs/clients.md

@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-## Writing your own client
-
-One of the key strengths of Spothole is that the API is well-defined and open to anyone to use. This means you can build
-your own software that uses data from Spothole.
-
-As well as the main API endpoints to fetch spots and alerts, with various possible query parameters, there are also
-Server-Sent Events (SSE) API endpoints to receive a live feed, plus various utility lookup endpoints for things like
-callsign and park data.
-
-Various approaches exist to writing your own client, but in general:
-
-* Refer to the API docs. These are built on an OpenAPI definition file (`/static/apidocs/openapi.yml`), which you can
-  automatically use to generate a client skeleton using various software.
-* Call the main "spots" or "alerts" API endpoints to get the data you want. For example, your app could call
-  `https://spothole.app/api/v2/spots` once every few minutes. Apply filters if necessary.
-* Call the "options" API to get an idea of which bands, modes etc. the server knows about. You might want to do that
-  first before calling the spots/alerts APIs, to allow you to populate your filters correctly.
-* Refer to the provided HTML/JS interface for a reference on different approaches. For example, the "alerts"/"upcoming"
-  page simply query the main spot API on a timer, whereas the spots, map and bands pages combine this approach with
-  using the Server-Sent Events (SSE) endpoint to update live.
-* Let me know if you get stuck, I'm happy to help.
-
-Please don't hammer the API with an unnecessarily high request rate. For example, Spothole only queries the POTA API
-once every two minutes, so if your client is interested in POTA data there's no need to poll Spothole any more often
-than that.
-
-If you absolutely must be informed within seconds of a spot arriving in Spothole, please use the SSE endpoints instead,
-e.g. `https://spothole.app/api/v2/spots/stream`.
-
-If you want to handle different types of spot or alert differently within your client, please consider making a single
-request to the Spothole API to retrieve all the data, then filtering on your side. For example, call
-`https://spothole.app/api/v2/spots?sig=POTA,SOTA` rather than making two separate calls to
-`https://spothole.app/api/v2/spots?sig=POTA` and `https://spothole.app/api/v2/spots?sig=SOTA`.
-
-Remember, here at Spothole Inc. we offer an industry-standard "five nines" uptime on our server, with our own unique
-twist: we don't tell you which side of the decimal point the nines start! (Translation: This is a hobby project.
-`spothole.app` runs on the same server as my blog and other stuff. It might go down without warning. By all means base
-your own project on data from the main server if you like, but if you want any control over reliability and downtime,
-please run your own copy instead.)

docs/embedding.md

@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-## Embedding Spothole in another website
-
-You can embed Spothole's web interface in another website, e.g. for use as part of a ham radio custom dashboard.
-
-URL parameters can be used to trigger an "embedded" mode which hides the headers, footers and settings. In this mode,
-you provide configuration for the various filter and display options via additional URL parameters. Any settings that
-the user has set for Spothole are ignored. This is so that the embedding site can select, for example, their choice of
-dark mode or activity filters, which will not impact how Spothole appears when the user accesses it directly. Effectively, it
-becomes separate to their normal Spothole settings.
-
-Setting `embedded` to true is important for the rest of the settings to be applied; otherwise, the user's defaults will
-be used in preference to the URL params.
-
-These are supplied with the URL to the page you want to embed, for example for an embedded version of the band map in
-dark mode, use `https://spothole.app/bands?embedded=true&dark-mode=true`. For an embedded version of the main spots/home
-page in the system light/dark mode, use `https://spothole.app/?embedded=true`. For dark mode showing 70cm TOTA spots
-only, use `https://spothole.app/?embedded=true&dark-mode=true&sig=TOTA&band=70cm`. Providing no URL params causes the
-page to be loaded in the normal way it would when accessed directly in the user's browser.
-
-The supported parameters are as follows. Generally these match the equivalent parameters in the real Spothole API, where
-a mapping exists.
-
-| Name             | Allowed Values          | Default | Example                 | Description                                                                                                                                                           |
-|------------------|-------------------------|---------|-------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-| `embedded`       | `true`, `false`         | `false` | `?embedded=true`        | Enables embedded mode.                                                                                                                                                |
-| `color_scheme`   | `light`, `dark`, `auto` | `auto`  | `?color_scheme=dark`    | Forces light or dark mode in preference to the operating system default.                                                                                              |
-| `time_zone`      | `UTC`, `local`          | `UTC`   | `?time_zone=local`      | Sets times to be in UTC or local time.                                                                                                                                |
-| `limit`          | 10, 25, 50, 100         | 50      | `?limit=50`             | Sets the number of spots that will be displayed on the main spots page                                                                                                |
-| `limit`          | 25, 50, 100, 200, 500   | 100     | `?limit=100`            | Sets the number of alerts that will be displayed on the alerts page                                                                                                   |
-| `max_age`        | 300, 600, 1800, 3600    | 1800    | `?max_age=1800`         | Sets the maximum age of spots displayed on the map and bands pages, in seconds.                                                                                       |
-| `band`           | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?band=20m,40m`         | Sets the list of bands that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.         |
-| `sig`            | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?sig=POTA,SOTA,NO_SIG` | Sets the list of activities that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.    |
-| `source`         | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?source=Cluster`       | Sets the list of sources that will be shown on any spot or alert pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.              |
-| `mode_type`      | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?mode_type=PHONE,CW`   | Sets the list of mode types that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.    |
-| `dx_continent`   | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?dx_continent=NA,SA`   | Sets the list of DX Continents that will be shown on any spot or alert pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.        |
-| `de_continent`   | Comma-separated list    | (all)   | `?de_continent=EU`      | Sets the list of DE Continents that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface. |
-| `map-center-lat` | Numeric (decimal)       | (auto)  | `?map-center-lat=51.5`  | Sets the initial latitude of the map centre on the map page. If omitted, the map auto-fits to the loaded spots.                                                       |
-| `map-center-lon` | Numeric (decimal)       | (auto)  | `?map-center-lon=-0.1`  | Sets the initial longitude of the map centre on the map page. If omitted, the map auto-fits to the loaded spots.                                                      |
-| `map-zoom`       | Numeric (integer)       | (auto)  | `?map-zoom=6`           | Sets the initial zoom level of the map on the map page. If omitted, the map auto-fits to the loaded spots.                                                            |
-
-See the comment at the end of the next section regarding reliability and uptime of the "main" server.

docs/modifying.md

@@ -1,79 +0,0 @@
-## Modifying the source code
-
-Spothole is Public Domain licenced, so you can grab the source code and start modifying it for your own needs.
-Contributions of code back to the main repository are encouraged, but completely optional.
-
-### Code structure
-
-To navigate your way around the source code, this list may help.
-
-*Python back-end code*
-
-* `/core` - Core classes and utilities
-* `/data` - Data storage classes
-* `/providers/spot` - Classes providing spots by accessing the APIs of other services
-* `/providers/alert` - Classes providing alerts by accessing the APIs of other services
-* `/providers/solarconditions` - Classes providing solar and propagation by accessing the APIs of other services
-* `/providers/staticdata` - Classes providing static lookup data by accessing bundled data files or the APIs of other
-  services
-* `/providers/callsign` - Classes providing callsign lookup data by accessing bundled data files or the APIs of other
-  services
-* `/providers/activityrefdata` - Classes providing activity reference lookup data by accessing bundled data files or
-  the APIs of other services
-* `/webserver` - Classes for running Spothole's own web server
-* `/telnetserver` - Classes for running Spothole's telnet server
-* `spothole.py` - Main application script
-
-*Templates*
-
-* `/templates` - Templates used for constructing Spothole's user-targeted HTML pages
-
-*HTML/JS/CSS front-end code*
-
-* `/static` - Root for static files served by the web server. These are all served from a path starting `/static/`.
-* `/static/apidocs` - Contains the OpenAPI spec (`openapi.yml`)
-* `/static/audio` - Audio files used by the web front-end
-* `/static/css` - CSS files used by the web front-end
-* `/static/img` - image files used by the web front-end
-* `/static/js` - JavaScript used by the web front-end
-* `/static/vendor` - Third-party libraries (CSS, JS, fonts and images)
-
-*Miscellaneous*
-
-* `/` - pip `requirements.txt`, config, README, etc.
-* `/docs` - Documentation
-* `/images` - Image sources
-* `/datafiles` - Local data files, used by some providers when the data will never change and/or is not easily available
-  online in a format Spothole can handle
-* `/cache` - Directory where Spothole stores all the data it uses that should be persisted to disk. Created on first
-  run.
-
-### Extending the server
-
-Spothole is designed to be easily extensible. If you want to write your own spot provider, for example, simply add a
-module to the `providers.spot` package containing your class. (Currently, in order to be loaded correctly, the module
-(file) name should be the same as the class name, but lower case.)
-
-Your class should extend "SpotProvider"; if it operates by polling an HTTP Server on a timer, it can instead extend "
-HTTPSpotProvider" where some of the work is done for you.
-
-The class will need to implement a constructor that takes in the `provider_config` and provides it to the superclass
-constructor, while also taking any other config parameters it needs.
-
-If you're extending the base `SpotProvider` class, you will need to implement `start()` and `stop()` methods that start
-and stop a separate thread which handles the provider's processing needs. The thread should call `submit()` or
-`submit_batch()` when it has one or more spots to report.
-
-If you're extending the `HTTPSpotProvider` class, you will need to provide a URI to query and an interval to the
-superclass constructor. You'll then need to implement the `http_response_to_spots()` method which is called when new
-data is retrieved. Your implementation should then call `submit()` or `submit_batch()` when it has one or more spots to
-report.
-
-When constructing spots, use the comments in the Spot class and the existing implementations as an example. All
-parameters are optional, but you will at least want to provide a `time` (which must be timezone-aware) and a `dx_call`.
-
-Finally, simply add the appropriate config to the `spot_providers` section of `config.yml`, and your provider should be
-instantiated on startup.
-
-The same approach as above is also used for alerts, and other types of providers. Give me a shout if you need any
-advice.

docs/multicluster.md

@@ -1,96 +0,0 @@
-## Multiple cluster nodes with different settings
-
-Dan, S50U has written in with his Spothole cluster settings. He is using a cluster node which provides RBN spots, and
-uses different SSIDs on his callsign to get different settings when logged into the same cluster node. For example:
-
-```
-  -
-    class: "DXCluster"
-    name: "S50CLX"
-    enabled: true
-    host: "s50clx.si"
-    port: 41112
-    login_prompt: "login: "
-    login_callsign: "callsign-10"
-```
-
-Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-10" and execute the following commands:
-
-`CLEAR/SPOTS ALL` (delete all previous filters)<br/>
-`UNSET/ANN` (stop announce messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/WCY` (stop wcy messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/WWV` (stop wwv messages)<br/>
-`SET/DX` (enable human DX spots)
-
-```
-  -
-    class: "DXCluster"
-    name: "RBN CW"
-    enabled: true
-    host: "s50clx.si"
-    port: 41112
-    login_prompt: "login: "
-    login_callsign: "callsign-11"
-    allow_rbn_spots: true
-    enabled_by_default_in_web_ui: false
-```
-
-Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-11" and execute the following commands:
-
-`CLEAR/SPOTS ALL` (delete all previous filters)<br/>
-`UNSET/ANN` (stop announce messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/WCY` (stop wcy messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/WWV` (stop wwv messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/DX` (stop human DX spots)<br/>
-`SET/SKIMMER CW` (enable CW RBN spots)
-
-```
-  -
-    class: "DXCluster"
-    name: "RBN RTTY"
-    enabled: true
-    host: "s50clx.si"
-    port: 41112
-    login_prompt: "login: "
-    login_callsign: "callsign-12"
-    allow_rbn_spots: true
-    enabled_by_default_in_web_ui: false
-```
-
-Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-12" and execute the following commands:
-
-`CLEAR/SPOTS ALL` (delete all previous filters)<br/>
-`UNSET/ANN` (stop announce messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/WCY` (stop wcy messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/WWV` (stop wwv messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/DX` (stop human DX spots)<br/>
-`SET/SKIMMER RTTY` (enable RTTY RBN spots)
-
-```
-  -
-    class: "DXCluster"
-    name: "RBN FT4/8"
-    enabled: true
-    host: "s50clx.si"
-    port: 41112
-    login_prompt: "login: "
-    login_callsign: "callsign-13"
-    allow_rbn_spots: true
-    enabled_by_default_in_web_ui: false
-```
-
-Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-13" and execute the following commands:
-
-`CLEAR/SPOTS ALL` (delete all previous filters)<br/>
-`UNSET/ANN` (stop announce messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/WCY` (stop wcy messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/WWV` (stop wwv messages)<br/>
-`UNSET/DX` (stop human DX spots)<br/>
-`SET/SKIMMER FT` (enable FT RBN spots)
-
-For each callsign-SSID, we also specify our basic information with commands:
-
-`SET/NAME Spothole10`, Spothole11... etc.<br/>
-`SET/QTH Cerkno`<br/>
-`SET/QRA JN66XD`<br/>
-`SET/HOME S50CLX`

docs/nginx.md

@@ -1,118 +0,0 @@
-## nginx Reverse Proxy configuration
-
-Web servers generally serve their pages from port 80. However, it's best not to serve Spothole's web interface directly
-on port 80, as that requires root privileges on a Linux system. It also and prevents us using HTTPS to serve a secure
-site, since Spothole itself doesn't directly support acting as an HTTPS server. The normal solution to this is to use a
-"reverse proxy" setup, where a general web server handles HTTP and HTTP requests (to port 80 & 443 respectively), then
-passes on the request to the back-end application (in this case Spothole). nginx is a common choice for this general web
-server.
-
-To set up nginx as a reverse proxy that sits in front of Spothole, first ensure it's installed e.g.
-`sudo apt install nginx`, and enabled e.g. `sudo systemd enable nginx`.
-
-Create a file at `/etc/nginx/sites-available/` called `spothole`. Give it the following contents, replacing
-`spothole.app` with the domain name on which you want to run Spothole. If you changed the port on which Spothole runs,
-update that on the "proxy_pass" line, and if you installed Spothole somewhere other than `/home/spothole/spothole`,
-adjust the alias location for serving static files.
-
-(The latter section, configuring the nginx server to serve static files directly, improves efficiency because it saves
-Spothole itself from serving JS, CSS etc. files. If you can't do this for some reason, e.g. your nginx and spothole are
-on different computers, you can omit the `location /static/ {}` block.)
-
-```nginx
-server {
-    server_name spothole.app;
-
-    # Global proxy settings
-    proxy_http_version 1.1;
-    proxy_set_header Connection "";
-    proxy_connect_timeout 10s;
-    proxy_buffering on;
-    
-    # Pass on IP address and host information to Spothole, in case logging this information is required
-    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
-    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
-    proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
-    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
-
-    # Wellknown area for Lets Encrypt
-    location /.well-known/ {
-        alias /var/www/html/.well-known/;
-    }
-
-    # Load static assets directly from the Spothole static directory
-    location /static/ {
-        alias /home/spothole/spothole/static/;
-        expires 1h;
-        add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600, must-revalidate";
-    }
-    
-    # SSE endpoints
-    location ~ ^/api/v\d*/(spots|alerts)/stream/? {
-        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
-        
-        # Remove buffering, remove caching, add suitable timeouts for SSE API calls
-        proxy_buffering off;
-        proxy_cache off;
-        proxy_read_timeout 24h;
-        proxy_send_timeout 24h;
-        proxy_set_header X-Accel-Buffering no;
-        add_header Cache-Control no-store always;
-        
-        # Allow cross-origin requests to API
-        proxy_hide_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin;
-        add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin * always; 
-    }
-
-    # Other API endpoints
-    location /api/ {
-        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
-        
-        # Remove buffering, remove caching, add suitable timeouts for API calls
-        proxy_buffering off;
-        proxy_cache off;
-        proxy_read_timeout 30s;
-        add_header Cache-Control no-store always;
-        
-        # Allow cross-origin requests to API
-        proxy_hide_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin;
-        add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin * always;
-    }
-
-    # Templated pages
-    location / {
-        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
-        proxy_read_timeout 30s;
-        add_header Cache-Control "no-cache, must-revalidate" always;
-    }
-}
-```
-
-One further change you might want to make to the file above is the `add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin` statements.
-These are what's used on my own Spothole server to make sure that other third-party web-based software can get the data
-from my instance, and applies to any endpoint underneath `/api`. If you want *your* Spothole instance to be set up the
-same way, so that others can write software in JavaScript that can access it, leave this intact. But if you want your
-Spothole instance to only be usable by scripts running on the web server you write, you can remove these lines. (Note
-that this doesn't stop other people writing *non-web-based* software that accesses your Spothole API—the
-enforcement of cross-origin headers only happens within the user's browser. If you need to lock your instance down so
-that no-one else can access it with *any* software, that's an aspect of nginx or firewall config that you will need to
-find help with elsewhere.)
-
-Now, make a symbolic link to enable the site:
-
-```bash
-cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
-sudo ln -sf ../sites-available/spothole
-```
-
-Test that your nginx config isn't broken using `nginx -t`. If it works, restart nginx with
-`sudo systemctl restart nginx`.
-
-If you haven't already done so, set up a DNS entry to make sure requests for your domain name end up at the server
-that's running Spothole.
-
-You should now be able to access the web interface by going to the domain from your browser.
-
-Once that's working, [install certbot](https://certbot.eff.org/instructions?ws=nginx&os=snap) onto your server. Run it
-as root, and when prompted pick your domain name from the list. After a few seconds, it should successfully provision a
-certificate and modify your nginx config files automatically. You should then be able to access the site via HTTPS.

docs/running.md

@@ -1,54 +0,0 @@
-## Running your own copy
-
-If you want to run a copy of Spothole with different configuration settings than the main instance, you can download it
-and run it on your own local machine or server.
-
-You will require Python version 3.10 or later. If you encounter an error about `gdal-config` during the following
-process, you will also need `libgdal-dev` installed.
-
-To download and set up Spothole on a Debian server, run the following commands. Other operating systems will likely be
-similar.
-
-```bash
-git clone ssh://git@git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole.git
-cd spothole
-python3 -m venv ./.venv
-source .venv/bin/activate
-pip install -r requirements.txt
-deactivate
-cp config-example.yml config.yml
-```
-
-Then edit `config.yml` in your text editor of choice to set up the software as you like it. Mostly, this will involve
-enabling or disabling the various providers of spot and alert data.
-
-By default, all outdoor programme providers are enabled, as is one cluster node and the NG3K DXpedition data. The RBN
-spot providers are turned off by default due to the volume of traffic from CW/RTTY/FT8 skimmers, and the APRS and Packet
-spot providers are off by default on the assumption that Spothole users want a spot with a human at the other end of it,
-but all can be easily re-enabled.
-
-Other parameters you will want to update include the base URL to your instance, and whether you want to serve a full
-web-based DX cluster interface or just the API endpoints for client software to use.
-
-`config.yml` has an entry for a Clublog API key. If provided, this will allow Spothole to retrieve some more information
-about DX spots. The software will work just fine without it, but you may find a few country flags etc. are less accurate
-or missing. Clublog API keys are free, but you'll need to get your own by submitting a helpdesk ticket and explaining
-what you'll use it for. The admin team are happy with the rate of requests made by my Spothole server, so unless you
-change the source code of yours to radically increase the rate of querying Clublog, I'm sure they will be fine with your
-server too.
-
-Once you're happy with the content of `config.yml`, you can proceed to running the software.
-
-To run the software this time and any future times you want to run it directly from the command line:
-
-```bash
-source .venv/bin/activate
-python3 spothole.py
-```
-
-The software can take a few seconds to start up, particularly if it's been run previously and has a large amount of
-cache data to sort through. This is normal, don't panic! Once you see `You can access your copy of Spothole at
-http://localhost:8080` in the log, your server is good to go.
-
-If you see some errors on startup, check your configuration, e.g. in case you have specified a port for the web server
-that is already in use by something else.

docs/systemd.md

@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-## systemd configuration
-
-If you want Spothole to run automatically on startup on a Linux distribution that uses `systemd`, follow the
-instructions here. For distros that don't use `systemd`, or Windows/OSX/etc., you can find generic instructions for your
-OS online.
-
-Create a file at `/etc/systemd/system/spothole.service`. Give it the following content, adjusting for the user you want
-to run it as and the directory in which you have installed it:
-
-```
-[Unit]
-Description=Spothole
-After=syslog.target network.target
-
-[Service]
-Type=simple
-User=spothole
-WorkingDirectory=/home/spothole/spothole
-ExecStart=/home/spothole/spothole/.venv/bin/python /home/spothole/spothole/spothole.py --serve-in-foreground
-Restart=on-abort
-
-[Install]
-WantedBy=multi-user.target
-```
-
-Run the following:
-
-```bash
-sudo systemctl daemon-reload
-sudo systemctl enable spothole
-sudo systemctl start spothole
-```
-
-Check the service has started up correctly with `sudo journalctl -u spothole -f`.

providers/alert/hamsat.py

@@ -22,17 +22,20 @@ class Hamsat(HTTPAlertProvider):
         # Iterate through source data
         for source_alert in http_response.json()["data"]:
             # Convert to our alert format
-            freqs_modes = source_alert.get("mode", "")
+            freqs_modes = source_alert.get("mode") or ""
-            if "mhz" in source_alert:
+            mhz = source_alert.get("mhz")
-                if "mhz_direction" in source_alert:
+            if mhz is not None:
-                    freqs_modes = f"{source_alert['mhz']!s} {source_alert['mhz_direction']}, {freqs_modes}"
+                mhz_direction = source_alert.get("mhz_direction")
+                if mhz_direction is not None:
+                    freqs_modes = f"{mhz!s} {mhz_direction}, {freqs_modes}"
                 else:
-                    freqs_modes = f"{source_alert['mhz']!s}, {freqs_modes}"
+                    freqs_modes = f"{mhz!s}, {freqs_modes}"
 
             alert = Alert(
                 source=self.name,
                 source_id=source_alert["id"],
                 dx_calls=[source_alert["callsign"].upper()],
+                dx_grid=source_alert["grids"][0],
                 freqs_modes=freqs_modes,
                 comment=source_alert["comment"],
                 sig=ActivityName.SATELLITE,
@@ -40,7 +43,7 @@ class Hamsat(HTTPAlertProvider):
                 sig_refs=[
                     ActivityRef(
                         sig=ActivityName.SATELLITE,
-                        id=f"{source_alert['satellite']['name']} from {source_alert['grids'][0]}",
+                        id=source_alert["satellite"]["name"],
                     )
                 ],
                 start_time=datetime.strptime(source_alert["aos_at"], "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")

providers/callsigndata/hamqth.py

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import logging
 import urllib.parse
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
+from xml.parsers.expat import ExpatError
 
 import pytz
 import xmltodict
@@ -60,6 +61,9 @@ class HamQTH(APIQueryCallsignDataProvider):
                         # Log this failure at debug level only, not our problem if user entered the wrong password.
                         logger.debug("HamQTH login details incorrect, failed to look up with HamQTH.")
                         return None
+                except ExpatError:
+                    logger.warning("HamQTH provided blank or malformed content when trying to authenticate")
+                    return None
                 except Exception:
                     logger.exception("Exception when getting HamQTH session key")
                     return None

providers/callsigndata/qrz.py

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import logging
 import urllib.parse
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
+from xml.parsers.expat import ExpatError
 
 import pytz
 import xmltodict
@@ -56,6 +57,9 @@ class QRZ(APIQueryCallsignDataProvider):
                         # Log this failure at debug level only, not our problem if user entered the wrong password.
                         logger.debug("QRZ.com login details incorrect, failed to look up with QRZ.")
                         return None
+                except ExpatError:
+                    logger.warning("QRZ.com provided blank or malformed content when trying to authenticate")
+                    return None
                 except Exception:
                     logger.exception("Exception when getting QRZ.com session key")
                     return None

providers/spot/dxcluster.py

@@ -1,20 +1,17 @@
 import logging
 import re
-import socket
 from datetime import datetime
-from threading import Event, Lock, Thread
 
 import pytz
-import telnetlib3
 
 from core.config import SERVER_OWNER_CALLSIGN
 from data.spot import Spot
-from providers.spot.spot_provider import SpotProvider
+from providers.spot.telnet_spot_provider import TelnetSpotProvider
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-class DXCluster(SpotProvider):
+class DXCluster(TelnetSpotProvider):
     """Spot provider for a DX Cluster. Hostname, port, login_prompt, login_callsign and allow_rbn_spots are provided in config.
     See config-example.yml for examples."""
 
@@ -31,80 +28,29 @@ class DXCluster(SpotProvider):
         """Constructor requires hostname and port"""
 
         name = provider_config.get("name", "Cluster")
-        super().__init__(name, provider_config)
+        allow_rbn_spots = provider_config.get("allow_rbn_spots", False)
-        self._hostname = provider_config["host"]
+        self._spot_line_pattern = self._LINE_PATTERN_ALLOW_RBN if allow_rbn_spots else self._LINE_PATTERN_EXCLUDE_RBN
-        self._port = provider_config["port"]
+        super().__init__(
-        self._login_prompt = provider_config.get("login_prompt", "login:")
+            name,
-        self._login_callsign = provider_config.get("login_callsign", SERVER_OWNER_CALLSIGN)
+            provider_config,
-        self._allow_rbn_spots = provider_config.get("allow_rbn_spots", False)
+            host=provider_config["host"],
-        self._spot_line_pattern = (
+            port=provider_config["port"],
-            self._LINE_PATTERN_ALLOW_RBN if self._allow_rbn_spots else self._LINE_PATTERN_EXCLUDE_RBN
+            login_prompt=provider_config.get("login_prompt", "login:"),
+            login_response=provider_config.get("login_callsign", SERVER_OWNER_CALLSIGN),
         )
-        self._telnet = None
-        self._telnet_lock = Lock()
-        self._thread = None
-        self._stop_event = Event()
 
-    def start(self):
+    def _parse_line(self, line):
-        self._thread = Thread(target=self._handle, name=f"DXClusterSpotProvider-{self.name}", daemon=True)
+        match = self._spot_line_pattern.match(line)
-        self._thread.start()
+        if not match:
+            return None
 
-    def stop(self):
-        self._stop_event.set()
-        with self._telnet_lock:
-            if self._telnet:
-                try:
-                    self._telnet.sock.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
-                except (AttributeError, OSError):
-                    pass
-                self._telnet.close()
-        if self._thread:
-            self._thread.join(timeout=5)
-            if self._thread.is_alive():
-                logger.warning(f"DX Cluster {self._hostname} worker thread did not exit on time and will be killed.")
-
-    def _handle(self):
-        while not self._stop_event.is_set():
-            connected = False
-            while not connected and not self._stop_event.is_set():
-                try:
-                    self.status = "Connecting"
-                    logger.info(f"DX Cluster {self._hostname} connecting...")
-                    new_telnet = telnetlib3.Telnet(self._hostname, self._port)
-                    with self._telnet_lock:
-                        self._telnet = new_telnet
-                        if self._stop_event.is_set():
-                            # stop() was called while we were connecting, close the connection rather than trying to
-                            # read when we know it won't work
-                            new_telnet.close()
-                            break
-                    self._telnet.read_until(self._login_prompt.encode("latin-1"))
-                    self._telnet.write(f"{self._login_callsign}\n".encode("latin-1"))
-                    connected = True
-                    logger.info(f"DX Cluster {self._hostname} connected.")
-                except ConnectionRefusedError:
-                    self.status = "Error"
-                    logger.warning(f"Connection refused to DX cluster {self._hostname}")
-                    self._stop_event.wait(timeout=300)
-                except Exception:
-                    self.status = "Error"
-                    logger.exception(f"Exception while connecting to DX Cluster Provider ({self._hostname}).")
-                    self._stop_event.wait(timeout=5)
-
-            self.status = "Waiting for Data"
-            while connected and not self._stop_event.is_set():
-                try:
-                    # Check new telnet info against regular expression
-                    telnet_output = self._telnet.read_until("\n".encode("latin-1"))
-                    match = self._spot_line_pattern.match(telnet_output.decode("latin-1"))
-                    if match:
         spot_time = datetime.strptime(match.group(5), "%H%MZ").replace(tzinfo=pytz.UTC)
         spot_datetime = datetime.combine(
             datetime.now(pytz.UTC).date(),
             spot_time.time(),
             tzinfo=pytz.UTC,
         )
-                        spot = Spot(
+        return Spot(
             source=self.name,
             dx_call=match.group(3),
             de_call=match.group(1),
@@ -112,31 +58,3 @@ class DXCluster(SpotProvider):
             comment=match.group(4).strip(),
             time=spot_datetime.timestamp(),
         )
-
-                        # Add to our list
-                        self._submit(spot)
-
-                        self.status = "OK"
-                        self.last_update_time = datetime.now(pytz.UTC)
-                        logger.debug(f"Data received from DX Cluster {self._hostname}.")
-
-                except EOFError:
-                    connected = False
-                    if not self._stop_event.is_set():
-                        self.status = "Restarting"
-                        logger.warning(f"Disconnected from DX Cluster {self._hostname}. Reconnecting...")
-                        self._stop_event.wait(timeout=5)
-                    else:
-                        logger.info(f"DX Cluster {self._hostname} shutting down...")
-                        self.status = "Shutting down"
-                except Exception:
-                    connected = False
-                    if not self._stop_event.is_set():
-                        self.status = "Error"
-                        logger.exception(f"Exception in DX Cluster Provider ({self._hostname})")
-                        self._stop_event.wait(timeout=5)
-                    else:
-                        logger.info(f"DX Cluster {self._hostname} shutting down...")
-                        self.status = "Shutting down"
-
-            self.status = "Disconnected"

providers/spot/rbn.py

@@ -1,22 +1,19 @@
 import logging
 import re
-import socket
 from datetime import datetime
-from threading import Event, Lock, Thread
 
 import pytz
-import telnetlib3
 
 from core.config import SERVER_OWNER_CALLSIGN
 from data.spot import Spot
-from providers.spot.spot_provider import SpotProvider
+from providers.spot.telnet_spot_provider import TelnetSpotProvider
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-class RBN(SpotProvider):
+class RBN(TelnetSpotProvider):
     """Spot provider for the Reverse Beacon Network. Connects to a single port, if you want both CW/RTTY (port 7000) and FT8
-    (port 7001) you need to instantiate two copies of this. The port is provided as an argument to the constructor."""
+    (port 7001) you need to instantiate two copies of this. The port is provided in config."""
 
     _LINE_PATTERN = re.compile(
         r"^DX de ([a-z0-9/]+)-.*:\s+([0-9.]+)\s+([a-z0-9/]+)\s+(.*)\s+(\d{4}Z)",
@@ -27,69 +24,27 @@ class RBN(SpotProvider):
         """Constructor requires port number."""
 
         name = provider_config.get("name", "RBN")
-        super().__init__(name, provider_config)
+        super().__init__(
-        self._port = provider_config["port"]
+            name,
-        self._telnet = None
+            provider_config,
-        self._telnet_lock = Lock()
+            host="telnet.reversebeacon.net",
-        self._thread = None
+            port=provider_config["port"],
-        self._stop_event = Event()
+            login_prompt="Please enter your call: ",
+            login_response=SERVER_OWNER_CALLSIGN,
+        )
 
-    def start(self):
+    def _parse_line(self, line):
-        self._thread = Thread(target=self._handle, name=f"RBNSpotProvider-{self.name}", daemon=True)
+        match = self._LINE_PATTERN.match(line)
-        self._thread.start()
+        if not match:
+            return None
 
-    def stop(self):
-        self._stop_event.set()
-        with self._telnet_lock:
-            if self._telnet:
-                try:
-                    self._telnet.sock.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
-                except (AttributeError, OSError):
-                    pass
-                self._telnet.close()
-        if self._thread:
-            self._thread.join(timeout=5)
-            if self._thread.is_alive():
-                logger.warning(f"RBN (port {self._port!s}) worker thread did not exit on time and will be killed.")
-
-    def _handle(self):
-        while not self._stop_event.is_set():
-            connected = False
-            while not connected and not self._stop_event.is_set():
-                try:
-                    self.status = "Connecting"
-                    logger.info(f"RBN port {self._port!s} connecting...")
-                    new_telnet = telnetlib3.Telnet("telnet.reversebeacon.net", self._port)
-                    with self._telnet_lock:
-                        self._telnet = new_telnet
-                        if self._stop_event.is_set():
-                            # stop() was called while we were connecting, close the connection rather than trying to
-                            # read when we know it won't work
-                            new_telnet.close()
-                            break
-                    self._telnet.read_until("Please enter your call: ".encode("latin-1"))
-                    self._telnet.write(f"{SERVER_OWNER_CALLSIGN}\n".encode("latin-1"))
-                    connected = True
-                    logger.info(f"RBN port {self._port!s} connected.")
-                except Exception:
-                    self.status = "Error"
-                    logger.exception(f"Exception while connecting to RBN (port {self._port!s}).")
-                    self._stop_event.wait(timeout=5)
-
-            self.status = "Waiting for Data"
-            while connected and not self._stop_event.is_set():
-                try:
-                    # Check new telnet info against regular expression
-                    telnet_output = self._telnet.read_until("\n".encode("latin-1"))
-                    match = self._LINE_PATTERN.match(telnet_output.decode("latin-1"))
-                    if match:
         spot_time = datetime.strptime(match.group(5), "%H%MZ").replace(tzinfo=pytz.UTC)
         spot_datetime = datetime.combine(
             datetime.now(pytz.UTC).date(),
             spot_time.time(),
             tzinfo=pytz.UTC,
         )
-                        spot = Spot(
+        return Spot(
             source=self.name,
             dx_call=match.group(3),
             de_call=match.group(1),
@@ -97,31 +52,3 @@ class RBN(SpotProvider):
             comment=match.group(4).strip(),
             time=spot_datetime.timestamp(),
         )
-
-                        # Add to our list
-                        self._submit(spot)
-
-                        self.status = "OK"
-                        self.last_update_time = datetime.now(pytz.UTC)
-                        logger.debug(f"Data received from RBN on port {self._port!s}.")
-
-                except EOFError:
-                    connected = False
-                    if not self._stop_event.is_set():
-                        self.status = "Restarting"
-                        logger.warning(f"Disconnected from RBN provider (port {self._port!s}). Reconnecting...")
-                        self._stop_event.wait(timeout=5)
-                    else:
-                        logger.info(f"RBN provider (port {self._port!s}) shutting down...")
-                        self.status = "Shutting down"
-                except Exception:
-                    connected = False
-                    if not self._stop_event.is_set():
-                        self.status = "Error"
-                        logger.exception(f"Exception in RBN provider (port {self._port!s})")
-                        self._stop_event.wait(timeout=5)
-                    else:
-                        logger.info(f"RBN provider (port {self._port!s}) shutting down...")
-                        self.status = "Shutting down"
-
-            self.status = "Disconnected"

providers/spot/telnet_spot_provider.py

@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+import logging
+import socket
+from datetime import datetime
+from threading import Event, Lock, Thread
+
+import pytz
+import telnetlib3
+
+from core.utils import decode_telnet_bytes
+from providers.spot.spot_provider import SpotProvider
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class TelnetSpotProvider(SpotProvider):
+    """Base class for spot providers that connect to a telnet server to receive spots."""
+
+    def __init__(self, name, provider_config, host, port, login_prompt, login_response):
+        """Constructor. host/port are the telnet server to connect to. login_prompt is the text to wait for before
+        logging in, and login_response is the callsign to send in response."""
+
+        super().__init__(name, provider_config)
+        self._host = host
+        self._port = port
+        self._login_prompt = login_prompt
+        self._login_response = login_response
+        self._telnet = None
+        self._telnet_lock = Lock()
+        self._thread = None
+        self._stop_event = Event()
+
+    def _parse_line(self, line):
+        """Parse a line of telnet output and return a Spot, or None if the line did not contain a spot. Subclasses
+        must implement this method."""
+
+        raise NotImplementedError("Subclasses must implement this method")
+
+    def start(self):
+        self._thread = Thread(target=self._handle, name=f"{self.name}SpotProvider", daemon=True)
+        self._thread.start()
+
+    def stop(self):
+        self._stop_event.set()
+        with self._telnet_lock:
+            if self._telnet:
+                try:
+                    self._telnet.sock.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
+                except (AttributeError, OSError):
+                    pass
+                self._telnet.close()
+        if self._thread:
+            self._thread.join(timeout=5)
+            if self._thread.is_alive():
+                logger.warning(f"{self.name} worker thread did not exit on time and will be killed.")
+
+    def _handle(self):
+        while not self._stop_event.is_set():
+            connected = False
+            while not connected and not self._stop_event.is_set():
+                try:
+                    self.status = "Connecting"
+                    logger.info(f"{self.name} connecting to {self._host}:{self._port!s}...")
+                    new_telnet = telnetlib3.Telnet(self._host, self._port)
+                    with self._telnet_lock:
+                        self._telnet = new_telnet
+                        if self._stop_event.is_set():
+                            # stop() was called while we were connecting, close the connection rather than trying to
+                            # read when we know it won't work
+                            new_telnet.close()
+                            break
+                    self._telnet.read_until(self._login_prompt.encode("latin-1"))
+                    self._telnet.write(f"{self._login_response}\n".encode("latin-1"))
+                    connected = True
+                    logger.info(f"{self.name} connected.")
+                except ConnectionRefusedError:
+                    self.status = "Error"
+                    logger.warning(f"Connection refused to {self.name} ({self._host}:{self._port!s}).")
+                    self._stop_event.wait(timeout=300)
+                except Exception:
+                    self.status = "Error"
+                    logger.exception(f"Exception while connecting to {self.name} ({self._host}:{self._port!s}).")
+                    self._stop_event.wait(timeout=5)
+
+            self.status = "Waiting for Data"
+            while connected and not self._stop_event.is_set():
+                try:
+                    # Check new telnet info against regular expression
+                    telnet_output = self._telnet.read_until("\n".encode("latin-1"))
+                    spot = self._parse_line(decode_telnet_bytes(telnet_output))
+                    if spot:
+                        # Add to our list
+                        self._submit(spot)
+
+                        self.status = "OK"
+                        self.last_update_time = datetime.now(pytz.UTC)
+                        logger.debug(f"Data received from {self.name}.")
+
+                except EOFError:
+                    connected = False
+                    if not self._stop_event.is_set():
+                        self.status = "Restarting"
+                        logger.warning(f"Disconnected from {self.name}. Reconnecting...")
+                        self._stop_event.wait(timeout=5)
+                    else:
+                        logger.info(f"{self.name} shutting down...")
+                        self.status = "Shutting down"
+                except Exception:
+                    connected = False
+                    if not self._stop_event.is_set():
+                        self.status = "Error"
+                        logger.exception(f"Exception in {self.name}")
+                        self._stop_event.wait(timeout=5)
+                    else:
+                        logger.info(f"{self.name} shutting down...")
+                        self.status = "Shutting down"
+
+            self.status = "Disconnected"

pyproject.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "spothole"
-version = "2.2-pre"
+version = "2.2"
 authors = [
     { name = "Ian Renton", email = "ian@ianrenton.com" },
 ]

static/apidocs/openapi.yml

@@ -3,15 +3,15 @@ openapi: 3.1.0
 info:
   title: Spothole API
   description: |-
-    Spothole is a utility to aggregate "spots" from amateur radio DX clusters and xOTA spotting sites, and provide an open JSON API as well as a website to browse the data.
+    Spothole is a utility to aggregate "spots" from amateur radio DX clusters and xOTA spotting sites, and provide an open JSON API as well as a website to browse the data. This page is an OpenAPI specification which describes Spothole's API. Clients can use this API to retrieve all the spots, alerts, and other information known to Spothole.
 
-    While there are other web-based interfaces to DX clusters, and sites that aggregate spots from various outdoor activity programmes for amateur radio, Spothole differentiates itself by supporting a large number of data sources, and by being "API first" rather than just providing a web front-end. This allows other software to be built on top of it. Spothole itself is also open source, Public Domain licenced code that anyone can take and modify.
+    You can find out more information about Spothole at https://spothole.app/help, and specifically about creating a client to this API at https://spothole.app/help/usage/clients.
     
-    The API calls described below allow third-party software to access data from Spothole, and receive data on spots and alerts in a consistent format regardless of the data sources used by Spothole itself. Utility calls are also provided for general data lookups.
+    The API provided by https://spothole.app is provided free of charge, and no authentication is required. By using it, you accept the following:
-
+    * You wrote the client code yourself, OR, if you got an AI to write it for you, you promise to read and understand what it wrote before contacting me about any problems.
-    Please note that the data coming out of Spothole is only as good as the data going in. People mis-hear and make typos when spotting callsigns all the time, and there are plenty of areas where Spothole's location data may be inaccurate. If you are doing something where accuracy is important, such as contesting, you should not rely on Spothole's data to fill in any gaps in your log.
+    * You set a sensible refresh rate and will not try to take down the server by bombarding it with tons of requests.
-
+    * There is no uptime guarantee. This is a hobby project and sometimes I will accidentally break stuff.
-    Spothole's source code is located at https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole and the README there provides setup instructions if you would like to run your own copy. A demonstration server of Spothole is located at https://spothole.app. The README also contains some examples of how you could query the API of the demonstration server to integrate the data into your own apps.
+    * Trans rights are human rights.
     
     ## Changelog
 
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ info:
     * Removed `alert_type` from alert data. Contest, DXpedition and Satellite alerts now give those values in `sig` instead, alongside the existing outdoor activity programmes. Teeeeechnically a breaking change but AlertType is so new I doubt anyone is using it yet, so slipped this one in anyway. Sorry :)
     * Added QRP, RaDAR Rally, /AM and /MM activities
     * Added `has_refs` and `alerts_possible` to Activity data
+    * Added `dx_grid`, `dx_latitude` and `dx_longitude` to alert data
 
     ### 2.1
     
@@ -1452,6 +1453,21 @@ components:
           type: integer
           description: ITU zone of the DX operator
           example: 14
+        dx_grid:
+          type: string
+          description: >
+            Maidenhead grid locator for the activator's location, if known.
+          example: IO91aa
+        dx_latitude:
+          type: number
+          description: >
+            Latitude of the activator's location, if known, in degrees.
+          example: 51.2345
+        dx_longitude:
+          type: number
+          description: >
+            Longitude of the activator's location, if known, in degrees.
+          example: -1.2345
         freqs_modes:
           type: string
           description: An indication of the frequencies and modes that the activation will use, if provided.

static/js/alerts.js

@@ -266,6 +266,11 @@ function addAlertRowsToTable(tbody, alerts) {
                 } else {
                     items[i] = `${escapeHtml(a["sig_refs"][i]["id"])}`
                 }
+                // If this is a satellite alert the ref will just be the satellite, but DX grid is also important, so
+                // show that if we can.
+                if (a["sig_refs"][i]["sig"] === "Satellite" && a["dx_grid"] != null) {
+                    items[i] += " from " + a["dx_grid"];
+                }
             }
             activityRefs = items.join(", ");
         }
@@ -278,7 +283,7 @@ function addAlertRowsToTable(tbody, alerts) {
             $tr.append(`<td class='nowrap'>${end_time_formatted}</td>`);
         }
         if (showDX) {
-            $tr.append(`<td class='nowrap'><span class='flag-wrapper hideonmobile' title='${dx_country}'>${dx_flag}</span>${dx_calls_html}${dx_country_html}</td>`);
+            $tr.append(`<td><span class='flag-wrapper hideonmobile' title='${dx_country}'>${dx_flag}</span>${dx_calls_html}${dx_country_html}</td>`);
         }
         if (showFreqsModes) {
             $tr.append(`<td class='hideonmobile'>${freqsModesText}</td>`);

telnetserver/telnetserver.py

@@ -123,13 +123,19 @@ class TelnetServer:
 
         except asyncio.CancelledError:
             pass
+        except (TimeoutError, ConnectionResetError):
+            logger.debug("Telnet client connection timed out or was reset by client")
         except Exception:
             logger.exception("Exception handling telnet client")
         finally:
             logger.debug("Telnet client disconnected")
             self._clients.remove(writer)
+            try:
                 writer.close()
                 await writer.wait_closed()
+            except (TimeoutError, ConnectionResetError, OSError):
+                # Socket already closed or timed out, don't care as we were getting rid of it anyway
+                pass
 
     def stop(self):
         """Stops the telnet server"""

templates/about.html

@@ -1,236 +0,0 @@
-{% extends "base.html" %}
-{% block content %}
-
-<div id="info-container" class="mt-4">
-    <h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">About Spothole</h2>
-    <p>Spothole is a utility to aggregate "spots" from amateur radio DX clusters and xOTA spotting sites, and provide an
-        open JSON API as well as a website to browse the data.</p>
-    <p>While there are several other web-based interfaces to DX clusters, and sites that aggregate spots from various
-        outdoor activity programmes for amateur radio, Spothole differentiates itself by supporting a larger number of
-        data sources, and by being "API first" rather than just providing a web front-end. This allows other software to
-        be built on top of it.</p>
-    <p>The API is deliberately well-defined with an <a href="/apidocs/openapi.yml">OpenAPI specification</a> and <a
-            href="/apidocs">API documentation</a>. The API delivers spots in a consistent format regardless of the data
-        source, freeing developers from needing to know how each individual data source presents its data.</p>
-    <p>Spothole itself is also open source, Public Domain licenced code that anyone can take and modify. <a
-            href="https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole/">The source code is here</a>.</p>
-    <p>The software was written by <a href="https://ianrenton.com">Ian Renton, MØTRT</a> with code contributions by
-        Steven, M1SDH. The full list of thanks due to others can be found at the bottom of this page.</p>
-    <p>This server is running Spothole version {{software_version}}.</p>
-    <h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">Using Spothole</h2>
-    <p>There are a number of different ways to use Spothole, depending on what you want to do with it and your level of
-        technical skill:</p>
-    <ol>
-        <li>You can <b>use it on the web</b>, like you are (probably) doing right now. This is how most people use it,
-            to look up spots and alerts, and make interesting QSOs.
-        </li>
-        <li>If you are using an Android or iOS device, you can <b>"install" it on your device</b>. Spothole is a
-            Progressive Web App, meaning it's not delivered through app stores, but if you open the page on Chrome
-            (Android) or Safari (iOS) there will be an option in the menu to install it. It will then appear in your
-            main app menu.
-        </li>
-        <li>You can <b>embed the web interface in another website</b> to show its spots in a custom dashboard or the
-            like. The usage is explained in more detail in the <a
-                    href="https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole/src/branch/main/README.md">README file</a>.
-        </li>
-        {% if telnet_server_enabled %}
-        <li>You can use it as a traditional telnet-based source of spots, similar to DXSpider and other software, <b>in
-            your desktop logging application</b>. To do this, set up your logger with the server address
-            <code>{{ telnet_server_address }}</code> and port <code>{{ telnet_server_port }}</code>. You can also access
-            it from a terminal with <code>telnet {{ telnet_server_address }} {{ telnet_server_port }}</code>.
-        </li>
-        {% end %}
-        <li>You can <b>write your own client using the Spothole API</b>, using the main Spothole instance to provide
-            data, and do whatever you like with it. The README contains guidance on how to do this, and the full API
-            docs are linked above. You can also find reference implementations in the form of Spothole's own web-based
-            front end, plus my other two tools built on Spothole: <a href="https://fieldspotter.radio">Field Spotter</a>
-            and the <a href="https://qsomap.m0trt.radio">QSO Map Tool</a>.
-        </li>
-        <li>If you want to <b>run your own version of Spothole</b> so you can customise the configuration, such as
-            enabling sources that I disable on the main instance, you can do that too. The README contains not only
-            advice on how to set up Spothole but how to get it auto-starting with systemd, using an nginx reverse proxy,
-            and setting up HTTPS support with certbot.
-        </li>
-        <li>Finally, you can of course download the source code and <b>develop Spothole to meet your needs</b>. Whether
-            you contribute your changes back to the main repository is up to you. As usual, the README file contains
-            some advice on the structure of the repository, and how to get started writing your own spot provider.
-        </li>
-    </ol>
-    <h2 id="faq" class="mt-4">FAQ</h2>
-    <h4 class="mt-4">"Spots"? "DX Clusters"? What does any of this mean?</h4>
-    <p>This is a tool for amateur ("ham") radio users. Many amateur radio operators like to make contacts with others
-        who are doing something more interesting than sitting in their home "shack", such as people in rarely-seen
-        countries, remote islands, or on mountaintops. Such operators are often "spotted", i.e. when someone speaks to
-        them, they will put the details such as their operating frequency into an online system, to let others know
-        where to find them. A DX Cluster is one type of those systems. Most outdoor radio awards programmes, such as
-        "Parks on the Air" (POTA) have their own websites for posting spots.</p>
-    <p>Spothole is an "aggregator" for those spots, so it checks lots of different services for data, and brings it all
-        together in one place. So no matter what kinds of interesting spots you are looking for, you can find them
-        here.</p>
-    <p>As well as spots, it also provides a similar feed of "alerts". This is where amateur radio users who are going to
-        interesting places soon will announce their intentions.</p>
-    <h4 class="mt-4">What are "DX", "DE" and modes?</h4>
-    <p>In amateur radio terminology, the "DX" contact is the "interesting" one that is using the frequency shown and
-        looking for callers. They might be on a remote island or just in a local park, but either way it's interesting
-        enough that someone has "spotted" them. The callsign listed under "DE" is the person who entered the spot of the
-        "DX" operator. "Modes" are the type of communication they are using. For example you might see "CW" which is
-        Morse Code, or voice "modes" like SSB or FM, or more exotic "data" modes which are used for computer-to-computer
-        communication.</p>
-    <h4 class="mt-4">What data sources are supported?</h4>
-    <p>Spothole can retrieve spots from: <a href="https://www.dxcluster.info/telnet/">Telnet-based DX clusters</a>, the
-        <a href="https://www.reversebeacon.net/">Reverse Beacon Network (RBN)</a>, the <a
-                href="https://www.aprs-is.net/">APRS Internet Service (APRS-IS)</a>, <a href="https://pota.app">POTA</a>,
-        <a href="https://www.sota.org.uk/">SOTA</a>, <a href="https://wwff.co/">WWFF</a>, <a
-                href="https://www.cqgma.org/">GMA</a>, <a href="https://wwbota.net/">WWBOTA</a>, <a
-                href="http://www.hema.org.uk/">HEMA</a>, <a href="https://www.parksnpeaks.org/">Parks 'n' Peaks</a>, <a
-                href="https://ontheair.nz">ZLOTA</a>, <a href="https://www.wota.org.uk/">WOTA</a>, <a
-                href="https://llota.app">LLOTA</a>, <a href="https://wwtota.com">WWTOTA</a>, <a
-                href="https://tilesontheair.com/">Tiles on the Air</a>, the <a href="https://ukpacketradio.network/">UK
-            Packet Repeater Network</a>, and any site based on the <a href="https://github.com/nischu/xOTA">xOTA
-            software by nischu</a>.</p>
-    <p>Spothole can retrieve alerts from: <a href="https://www.ng3k.com/">NG3K</a>, <a href="https://pota.app">POTA</a>,
-        <a href="https://www.sota.org.uk/">SOTA</a>, <a href="https://wwff.co/">WWFF</a>, <a
-                href="https://www.parksnpeaks.org/">Parks 'n' Peaks</a>, <a href="https://www.wota.org.uk/">WOTA</a> and
-        <a href="https://www.beachesontheair.com/">BOTA</a>. It also fetches contest dates from
-        <a href="https://contestcalendar.com/">WA7BNM Contest Calendar</a> and RSGB contest calendars.</p>
-    <p>Spothole can retrieve solar and propagation condition data from <a href="https://www.hamqsl.com">HamQSL</a>, the
-        <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/">NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center</a>, the <a
-                href="https://giro.uml.edu/">Lowell GIRO Data Center</a> and <a href="https://prop.kc2g.com/">prop.kc2g.com</a>
-        by KC2G.</p>
-    <p>Spothole can also perform lookups for callsign data on behalf of the user from <a
-            href="https://qrz.com">QRZ.com</a> and <a href="https://hamqth.com">HamQTH</a>.</p>
-    <p>Note that the server owner has not necessarily enabled all these data sources. In particular it is common to
-        disable RBN, to avoid the server being swamped with FT8 traffic, and to disable APRS-IS and UK Packet Net so
-        that the server only displays stations where there is likely to be an operator physically present for a QSO.</p>
-    <p>Between the various data sources, the following activities / special interest groups are supported: Contests,
-        DXpeditions, Aeronautical Mobile, Maritime Mobile, EME/Moonbounce, Amateur Satellite, QRP, Parks on the Air
-        (POTA), Summits on the Air (SOTA), Worldwide Flora & Fauna (WWFF), Global Mountain Activity (GMA), Worldwide
-        Bunkers on the Air (WWBOTA), HuMPs Excluding Marilyns Award (HEMA), Islands on the Air (IOTA), Mills on the Air
-        (MOTA), the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society (ARLHS), International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW), Silos
-        on the Air (SIOTA), World Castles Award (WCA), New Zealand on the Air (ZLOTA), Keith Roget Memorial National
-        Parks Award (KRMNPA), South Australia National Parks and Conservation Parks Award (SANPCPA), Wainwrights on the
-        Air (WOTA), Beaches on the Air (BOTA), Lagos y Lagunas On the Air (LLOTA), Towers on the Air, Tiles on
-        the Air, Worked All Britain (WAB), Worked All Ireland (WAI), Diploma Municipios de España (DME), Diploma
-        Faros de España (FEA), Diploma Muesos de España (DMUE), Diploma Castillos de España (DCE), Diploma Monumentos y
-        Vestigios de España (DMVE), Diploma Estaciones de Ferrocarril de España (DEFE), Diploma Teatri Musei e Belle
-        Arti (DTMBA), British Inland Waterways on the Air (BIWOTA), Castles on the Air (COTA), Polish Gmina Award (PGA),
-        Diplôme des Moulins de France (DMF), RaDAR Rally, and Toilets on the Air.</p>
-    <p>As of the time of writing in August 2026, I think Spothole captures most radio programmes that have a
-        defined, downloadable reference list, and almost certainly those that have a spotting/alerting API. If you know
-        of one I've missed, please let me know!</p>
-    <h4 class="mt-4">Why can I filter spots by both Activity and Source? Isn't that basically the same thing?</h4>
-    <p>Mostly, but not quite. While POTA spots generally come from the POTA source and so on, there are a few
-        exceptions:</p>
-    <ol>
-        <li>Sources like GMA and Parks 'n' Peaks provide spots for multiple different programmes (activities).</li>
-        <li>Cluster spots may name activities in their comment, in which case the source remains the Cluster, but an
-            activity is assigned.
-        </li>
-        <li>Some activities, such as Worked all Britain (WAB), don't have their own spotting site and can <em>only</em>
-            be identified through comments on spots retrieved from other sources.
-        </li>
-    </ol>
-    <p>Spothole's web interface exists not just for the end user, but also as a reference implementation for the API, so
-        I have chosen to demonstrate both methods of filtering.</p>
-    <h4 class="mt-4">How is this better than DXheat, DXsummit, POTA's own website, etc?</h4>
-    <p>It's probably not? But it's nice to have choice.</p>
-    <p>I think it's got three key advantages over those sites:</p>
-    <ol>
-        <li>It provides a public, <a href="/apidocs">well-documented API</a> with an <a href="/apidocs/openapi.yml">OpenAPI
-            specification</a>. Other sites don't have official APIs or don't bother documenting them publicly, because
-            they want people to use their web page. I like Spothole's web page, but you don't have to use it&mdash;if
-            you're a programmer, you can build your own software on Spothole's API. Spothole does the hard work of
-            taking all the various data sources and providing a consistent, well-documented data set. You can then do
-            the fun bit of writing your own application.
-        </li>
-        <li>It grabs data from a lot more sources. I've seen other sites that pull in DX Cluster and POTA spots
-            together, but nothing on the scale of what Spothole supports.
-        </li>
-        <li>Spothole is open source, so anyone can contribute the code to support a new data source or add new features,
-            and share them with the community.
-        </li>
-    </ol>
-    <h4 class="mt-4">Why does this website ask me if I want to install it?</h4>
-    <p>Spothole is a Progressive Web App, which means you can install it on an Android or iOS device by opening the site
-        in Chrome or Safari respectively, and clicking "Install" on the pop-up panel. It'll only prompt you once, so if
-        you dismiss the prompt and change your mind, you'll find an Install / Add to Home Screen option on your
-        browser's menu.</p>
-    <p>Installing Spothole on your phone is completely optional, the website works exactly the same way as the "app"
-        does.</p>
-    <h4 class="mt-4">Why hasn't my spot/alert shown up yet?</h4>
-    <p>To avoid putting too much load on the various servers that Spothole connects to, the Spothole server only polls
-        them once every two minutes for spots, and once every 30 minutes for alerts. (Some sources, such as DX clusters,
-        RBN, APRS-IS and WWBOTA use a non-polling mechanism, and their updates will therefore arrive more quickly.) Then
-        if you are using the web interface, that has its own rate at which it fetches the data from Spothole. This is
-        instant for the main spots list, with new spots appearing immediately at the top of the list, while the map and
-        bands displays update once a minute, and the alerts display updates once every 5 minutes. So you could be
-        waiting around three minutes to see a newly added spot, or 40 minutes to see a newly added alert.</p>
-    <h4 class="mt-4">What licence does Spothole use?</h4>
-    <p>Spothole's source code is licenced under the Public Domain. You can write a Spothole client, run your own server,
-        modify it however you like, you can claim you wrote it and charge people £1000 for a copy, I don't really mind.
-        (Please don't do the last one. But if you're using my code for something cool, it would be nice to hear from
-        you!)</p>
-    <h4 class="mt-4">What commands are supported in the telnet server?</h4>
-    <p>Currently, <code>exit</code>, and nothing else. Support for some DXSpider-like commands may be added to Spothole
-        in due course, but at the moment if you want to add Spothole as a telnet cluster data source to your desktop
-        logging application, that application must handle filtering itself.</p>
-    <h2 id="accuracy" class="mt-4">Data Accuracy</h2>
-    <p>Please note that the data coming out of Spothole is only as good as the data going in. People mis-hear and make
-        typos when spotting callsigns all the time. There are also plenty of cases where Spothole's data, particularly
-        location data, may be inaccurate. For example, there are POTA parks that span multiple US states, countries that
-        span multiple CQ zones, portable operators with no requirement to sign /P, etc. If you are doing something where
-        accuracy is important, such as contesting, you should not rely on Spothole's data to fill in any gaps in your
-        log.</p>
-    <p>In the Spothole user interface, under "Your Data", you can enter your credentials for QRZ.com and/or HamQTH if
-        you have them. This allows Spothole to augment its data with lookups from these services. See the following
-        section, Privacy, for details of how these are handled. If you are looking at the map and see lots of spots in
-        the geographic centre of countries, allowing these lookups will help. For QRZ.com a paid account is required to
-        look up operator locations.</p>
-    <h2 id="privacy" class="mt-4">Privacy</h2>
-    <p>Spothole collects no data about you on a permanent basis. All spots and alerts are "timed out" and deleted from
-        the system after a set interval, which by default is one hour for spots and one week for alerts.</p>
-    <p>Settings you select from Spothole's menus are sent to the server, in order to provide the data with the requested
-        filters. They are also stored in your browser's local storage, so that your preferences are remembered between
-        sessions.</p>
-    <p>The data you provide can optionally include your login credentials for QRZ.com and HamQTH. You can provide these
-        in the "Your Data" menu of most pages. If you do, Spothole will augment the data it produces with lookups from
-        these
-        services, which can for example provide more accurate markers on the map tab, and operator names when you mouse
-        over a DX callsign. Spothole will still work fine if you don't provide these. The values you enter are sent to
-        Spothole via HTTPS so are protected in transit, though of course you do have to trust Spothole with this
-        sensitive data in order to use this feature.</p>
-    <p>Any data you send as part of a query, such as your QRZ or HamQTH credentials, is used only for the lifetime of
-        that
-        query and is not saved anywhere apart from your own device.</p>
-    <p>Spothole uses no trackers, no ads, and no cookies.</p>
-    {% if len(web_ui_options["support_button_html"]) > 0 %}
-    <p><strong>Caveat: </strong> The owner of this server has chosen to inject their own content into the "spots" page.
-        This is designed for a "donate" or "support this server" button. The functionality of this injected content is
-        the responsibility of the server owner, rather than the Spothole software.</p>
-    {% end %}
-    <p>Spothole is open source, so you can audit <a href="https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole">the code</a> if you
-        like.</p>
-    <h2 class="mt-4">Thanks</h2>
-    <p>This project would not have been possible without those volunteers who have taken it upon themselves to run DX
-        clusters, xOTA programmes, DXpedition lists, callsign lookup databases, solar conditions and propagation
-        modelling software, and other online tools on which Spothole's data is based. The vast majority of these are not
-        profit-seeking and are made purely for the love of the hobby and to help others in the community. Spothole is
-        standing on the shoulders of giants, who deserve a huge amount of thanks for all the work they put in.</p>
-    <p>The following people have specifically helped develop Spothole either by contributing code, requesting features,
-    or helping squash bugs: Steven M1SDH, Dan S50U, Matt W1CDN, Norby LX1NO, Andrew VK3ARR, Mario DL4MFM, Mark M5TEA,
-        Michael G7VJR, Rob G7LAS, Ed DD5LP, Raph F4LUB, Luc ON7KEC, Richard GD4OFB, Daniel PY2TDB, Alan VK1AO,
-        Andrew WK1AD, Ullrich DF5WC, Wayne N3CDF, Jonathan G4IVV, Erik N2EPE, Sorin YO9TSN, Matt HB9HWI, Priit ES1TEB,
-        Leigh KG7WED, Jouni OH3CUF, Onno VK6FLAB, and Bruce WA7BNM. (If I've forgotten you, let me know!)</p>
-    <p>Spothole is also dependent on a number of Python libraries, such as pyhamtools, and many JavaScript
-        libraries, as well as the Font Awesome icon set and flag icons from the Noto Color Emoji set, and MIT-licenced
-        GeoJSON files for CQ and ITU zones from HA8TKS.</p>
-    <p>The project's name was suggested by Harm DK4HAA.</p>
-    <p>This software is dedicated to the memory of Tom G1PJB, SK, a friend and colleague who sadly passed away around
-        the time I started writing it in Autumn 2025. I was looking forward to showing it to you when it was done.</p>
-</div>
-
-<script>$(document).ready(function () {
-    $("#nav-link-about").addClass("active");
-}); <!-- highlight active page in nav --></script>
-
-{% end %}

templates/add-spot.html

@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@
 
 </div>
 
-<script src="/static/js/add-spot.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/add-spot.js?v=1790228319"></script>
 <script>$(document).ready(function () {
     $("#nav-link-add-spot").addClass("active");
 }); <!-- highlight active page in nav --></script>

templates/alerts.html

@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
 
 </div>
 
-<script src="/static/js/alerts.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/alerts.js?v=1790228319"></script>
 <script>$(document).ready(function () {
     $("#nav-link-alerts").addClass("active");
 }); <!-- highlight active page in nav --></script>

templates/bands.html

@@ -76,8 +76,8 @@
 
 </div>
 
-<script src="/static/js/spotsbandsandmap.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/spotsbandsandmap.js?v=1790228319"></script>
-<script src="/static/js/bands.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/bands.js?v=1790228319"></script>
 <script>$(document).ready(function () {
     $("#nav-link-bands").addClass("active");
 }); <!-- highlight active page in nav --></script>

templates/base.html

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {% extends "skeleton.html" %}
 {% block head_extra %}
-<link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/css/style.css?v=1789927308" type="text/css">
+<link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/css/style.css?v=1790228319" type="text/css">
 <link href="/static/vendor/css/bootstrap-5.3.8.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
 <link href="/static/vendor/css/fontawesome-6.7.2.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
 <link href="/static/vendor/css/solid-6.7.2.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@
     window.fetchEventSource = fetchEventSource;
 </script>
 
-<script src="/static/js/utils.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/utils.js?v=1790228319"></script>
-<script src="/static/js/ui-ham.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/ui-ham.js?v=1790228319"></script>
-<script src="/static/js/geo.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/geo.js?v=1790228319"></script>
-<script src="/static/js/common.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/common.js?v=1790228319"></script>
 {% end %}
 {% block body %}
 <div class="container">
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@
                             class="fa-solid fa-sun"></i> Conditions</a></li>
                     <li class="nav-item ms-4"><a href="/status" class="nav-link" id="nav-link-status"><i
                             class="fa-solid fa-chart-simple"></i> Status</a></li>
-                    <li class="nav-item ms-4"><a href="/about" class="nav-link" id="nav-link-about"><i
+                    <li class="nav-item ms-4"><a href="/help" class="nav-link" id="nav-link-help"><i
-                            class="fa-solid fa-circle-info"></i> About</a></li>
+                            class="fa-solid fa-circle-question"></i> Help</a></li>
                     <li class="nav-item ms-4"><a href="/apidocs" class="nav-link" id="nav-link-api"><i
                             class="fa-solid fa-gear"></i> API</a></li>
                 </ul>
@@ -75,10 +75,10 @@
                 v{{software_version}}</p>
             <ul class="nav col-md-4 justify-content-end">
                 <li class="nav-item">
-                    <a href="/about#faq" class="nav-link px-3 text-body-secondary">FAQ</a>
+                    <a href="/help/faq" class="nav-link px-3 text-body-secondary">FAQ</a>
                 </li>
                 <li class="nav-item">
-                    <a href="/about#privacy" class="nav-link px-3 text-body-secondary">Privacy</a>
+                    <a href="/help/privacy" class="nav-link px-3 text-body-secondary">Privacy</a>
                 </li>
                 <li class="nav-item">
                     <a href="https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole" class="nav-link px-3 text-body-secondary">Source

templates/cards/hamqth.html

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
                 </button>
             </div>
             <div class="mt-1">
-                <small>See <a href="/about#privacy">Privacy</a> for more information.</small>
+                <small>See <a href="/help/privacy">Privacy</a> for more information.</small>
             </div>
         </div>
     </div>

templates/cards/qrz.html

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
                 </button>
             </div>
             <div class="mt-1">
-                <small>See <a href="/about#privacy">Privacy</a> for more information.</small>
+                <small>See <a href="/help/privacy">Privacy</a> for more information.</small>
             </div>
         </div>
     </div>

templates/conditions.html

@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@
 </div>
 
 <script src="/static/vendor/js/chart-4.4.9.umd.min.js"></script>
-<script src="/static/js/conditions.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/conditions.js?v=1790228319"></script>
 <script>$(document).ready(function () {
     $("#nav-link-conditions").addClass("active");
 }); <!-- highlight active page in nav --></script>

templates/help.html

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+{% extends "base.html" %}
+{% block content %}
+
+<div id="info-container" class="mt-4">
+    <h2>Help and Information</h2>
+    <p>Welcome to Spothole's help pages.</p>
+    <p>Spothole is a utility to aggregate spots from amateur radio DX clusters and xOTA spotting sites, and provide an
+        open JSON API as well as a website to browse the data. (If that sounds like nonsense to you, I recommend
+        starting with the <a href="/help/faq">FAQ</a>!)</p>
+    <p>In the sections below, you can find more information about what Spothole is, and how to use it.</p>
+    <ul>
+        <li><a href="/help/about">About Spothole</a></li>
+        <li><a href="/help/usage">How to use Spothole</a>
+            <ul>
+                {% if telnet_server_enabled %}
+                <li><a href="/help/usage/telnet">Connecting via Telnet</a></li>
+                {% end %}
+                <li><a href="/help/usage/clients">Writing your own Client</a></li>
+                <li><a href="/help/usage/embedding">Embedding Spothole in Another Website</a></li>
+                <li><a href="/help/usage/running">Running your own Server</a></li>
+                <ul>
+                    <li><a href="/help/usage/systemd">systemd Configuration</a></li>
+                    <li><a href="/help/usage/nginx">nginx Reverse Proxy Configuration</a></li>
+                    <li><a href="/help/usage/docker">Running using Docker</a></li>
+                    <li><a href="/help/usage/multicluster">Multiple Cluster Nodes with Different Settings</a></li>
+                </ul>
+                <li><a href="/help/usage/modifying">Modifying the Source Code</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        <li><a href="/help/sources">Supported Data Sources</a></li>
+        <li><a href="/help/faq">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)</a></li>
+        <li><a href="/apidocs">API Documentation</a></li>
+        <li><a href="/help/accuracy">Data Accuracy</a></li>
+        <li><a href="/help/privacy">Privacy</a></li>
+        <li><a href="/help/thanks">Thanks</a></li>
+    </ul>
+</div>
+
+<script>$(document).ready(function () {
+    $("#nav-link-help").addClass("active");
+}); <!-- highlight active page in nav --></script>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/about.html

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+{% extends "help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+    <h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">About Spothole</h2>
+    <p>Spothole is a utility to aggregate "spots" from amateur radio DX clusters and xOTA spotting sites, and provide an
+        open JSON API as well as a website to browse the data.</p>
+    <p>While there are several other web-based interfaces to DX clusters, and sites that aggregate spots from various
+        outdoor activity programmes for amateur radio, Spothole differentiates itself by supporting a larger number of
+        data sources, and by being "API first" rather than just providing a web front-end. This allows other software to
+        be built on top of it.</p>
+    <p>The API is deliberately well-defined with an <a href="/apidocs/openapi.yml">OpenAPI specification</a> and <a
+            href="/apidocs">API documentation</a>. The API delivers spots in a consistent format regardless of the data
+        source, freeing developers from needing to know how each individual data source presents its data.</p>
+    <p>Spothole itself is also open source, Public Domain licenced code that anyone can take and modify. <a
+            href="https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole/">The source code is here</a>.</p>
+    <p>This server is running Spothole version {{software_version}}.</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/accuracy.html

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{% extends "help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+    <h2 class="mt-4">Data Accuracy</h2>
+    <p>Please note that the data coming out of Spothole is only as good as the data going in. People mis-hear and make
+        typos when spotting callsigns all the time. There are also plenty of cases where Spothole's data, particularly
+        location data, may be inaccurate. For example, there are POTA parks that span multiple US states, countries that
+        span multiple CQ zones, portable operators with no requirement to sign /P, etc. If you are doing something where
+        accuracy is important, such as contesting, you should not rely on Spothole's data to fill in any gaps in your
+        log.</p>
+    <p>In the Spothole user interface, under "Your Data", you can enter your credentials for QRZ.com and/or HamQTH if
+        you have them. This allows Spothole to augment its data with lookups from these services. See the <a
+                href="/help/privacy">Privacy</a> section for details of how these are handled. If you are looking at the
+        map and see lots of spots in the geographic centre of countries, allowing these lookups will help. For QRZ.com a
+        paid account is required to look up operator locations.</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/faq.html

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+{% extends "help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+    <h2 class="mt-4">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)</h2>
+    <h4 class="mt-4">"Spots"? "DX Clusters"? What does any of this mean?</h4>
+    <p>This is a tool for amateur ("ham") radio users. Many amateur radio operators like to make contacts with others
+        who are doing something more interesting than sitting in their home "shack", such as people in rarely-seen
+        countries, remote islands, or on mountaintops. Such operators are often "spotted", i.e. when someone speaks to
+        them, they will put the details such as their operating frequency into an online system, to let others know
+        where to find them. A DX Cluster is one type of those systems. Most outdoor radio awards programmes, such as
+        "Parks on the Air" (POTA) have their own websites for posting spots.</p>
+    <p>Spothole is an "aggregator" for those spots, so it checks lots of different services for data, and brings it all
+        together in one place. So no matter what kinds of interesting spots you are looking for, you can find them
+        here.</p>
+    <p>As well as spots, it also provides a similar feed of "alerts". This is where amateur radio users who are going to
+        interesting places soon will announce their intentions.</p>
+    <h4 class="mt-4">What are "DX", "DE" and modes?</h4>
+    <p>In amateur radio terminology, the "DX" contact is the "interesting" one that is using the frequency shown and
+        looking for callers. They might be on a remote island or just in a local park, but either way it's interesting
+        enough that someone has "spotted" them. The callsign listed under "DE" is the person who entered the spot of the
+        "DX" operator. "Modes" are the type of communication they are using. For example you might see "CW" which is
+        Morse Code, or voice "modes" like SSB or FM, or more exotic "data" modes which are used for computer-to-computer
+        communication.</p>
+    <h4 class="mt-4">Why can I filter spots by both Activity and Source? Isn't that basically the same thing?</h4>
+    <p>Mostly, but not quite. While POTA spots generally come from the POTA source and so on, there are a few
+        exceptions:</p>
+    <ol>
+        <li>Sources like GMA and Parks 'n' Peaks provide spots for multiple different programmes (activities).</li>
+        <li>Cluster spots may name activities in their comment, in which case the source remains the Cluster, but an
+            activity is assigned.
+        </li>
+        <li>Some activities, such as Worked all Britain (WAB), don't have their own spotting site and can <em>only</em>
+            be identified through comments on spots retrieved from other sources.
+        </li>
+    </ol>
+    <p>Spothole's web interface exists not just for the end user, but also as a reference implementation for the API, so
+        I have chosen to demonstrate both methods of filtering.</p>
+    <h4 class="mt-4">How is this better than DXheat, DXsummit, POTA's own website, etc?</h4>
+    <p>It's probably not? But it's nice to have choice.</p>
+    <p>I think it's got three key advantages over those sites:</p>
+    <ol>
+        <li>It provides a public, <a href="/apidocs">well-documented API</a> with an <a href="/apidocs/openapi.yml">OpenAPI
+            specification</a>. Other sites don't have official APIs or don't bother documenting them publicly, because
+            they want people to use their web page. I like Spothole's web page, but you don't have to use it&mdash;if
+            you're a programmer, you can build your own software on Spothole's API. Spothole does the hard work of
+            taking all the various data sources and providing a consistent, well-documented data set. You can then do
+            the fun bit of writing your own application.
+        </li>
+        <li>It grabs data from a lot more sources. I've seen other sites that pull in DX Cluster and POTA spots
+            together, but nothing on the scale of what Spothole supports.
+        </li>
+        <li>Spothole is open source, so anyone can contribute the code to support a new data source or add new features,
+            and share them with the community.
+        </li>
+    </ol>
+    <h4 class="mt-4">Why does this website ask me if I want to install it?</h4>
+    <p>Spothole is a Progressive Web App, which means you can install it on an Android or iOS device by opening the site
+        in Chrome or Safari respectively, and clicking "Install" on the pop-up panel. It'll only prompt you once, so if
+        you dismiss the prompt and change your mind, you'll find an Install / Add to Home Screen option on your
+        browser's menu.</p>
+    <p>Installing Spothole on your phone is completely optional, the website works exactly the same way as the "app"
+        does.</p>
+    <h4 class="mt-4">Why hasn't my spot/alert shown up yet?</h4>
+    <p>To avoid putting too much load on the various servers that Spothole connects to, the Spothole server only polls
+        them once every two minutes for spots, and once every 30 minutes for alerts. (Some sources, such as DX clusters,
+        RBN, APRS-IS and WWBOTA use a non-polling mechanism, and their updates will therefore arrive more quickly.) Then
+        if you are using the web interface, that has its own rate at which it fetches the data from Spothole. This is
+        instant for the main spots list, with new spots appearing immediately at the top of the list, while the map and
+        bands displays update once a minute, and the alerts display updates once every 5 minutes. So you could be
+        waiting around three minutes to see a newly added spot, or 40 minutes to see a newly added alert.</p>
+    <h4 class="mt-4">What licence does Spothole use?</h4>
+    <p>Spothole's source code is licenced under the Public Domain. You can write a Spothole client, run your own server,
+        modify it however you like, you can claim you wrote it and charge people £1000 for a copy, I don't really mind.
+        (Please don't do the last one. But if you're using my code for something cool, it would be nice to hear from
+        you!)</p>
+    <h4 class="mt-4">What commands are supported in the telnet server?</h4>
+    <p>Currently, <code>exit</code>, and nothing else. Support for some DXSpider-like commands may be added to Spothole
+        in due course, but at the moment if you want to add Spothole as a telnet cluster data source to your desktop
+        logging application, that application must handle filtering itself.</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/help_page.html

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{% extends "../base.html" %}
+{% block content %}
+
+<div id="info-container" class="mt-4">
+    <p class="small mb-0"><a href="/help">&laquo; Spothole Help</a></p>
+    {% block help_content %}{% end %}
+    <p class="small mt-4"><a href="/help">&laquo; Back</a></p>
+</div>
+
+<script>$(document).ready(function () {
+    $("#nav-link-help").addClass("active");
+}); <!-- highlight active page in nav --></script>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/privacy.html

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+{% extends "help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+    <h2 class="mt-4">Privacy</h2>
+    <p>Spothole collects no data about you on a permanent basis. All spots and alerts are "timed out" and deleted from
+        the system after a set interval, which by default is one hour for spots and one week for alerts.</p>
+    <p>Settings you select from Spothole's menus are sent to the server, in order to provide the data with the requested
+        filters. They are also stored in your browser's local storage, so that your preferences are remembered between
+        sessions.</p>
+    <p>The data you provide can optionally include your login credentials for QRZ.com and HamQTH. You can provide these
+        in the "Your Data" menu of most pages. If you do, Spothole will augment the data it produces with lookups from
+        these
+        services, which can for example provide more accurate markers on the map tab, and operator names when you mouse
+        over a DX callsign. Spothole will still work fine if you don't provide these. The values you enter are sent to
+        Spothole via HTTPS so are protected in transit, though of course you do have to trust Spothole with this
+        sensitive data in order to use this feature.</p>
+    <p>Any data you send as part of a query, such as your QRZ or HamQTH credentials, is used only for the lifetime of
+        that
+        query and is not saved anywhere apart from your own device.</p>
+    <p>Spothole uses no trackers, no ads, and no cookies.</p>
+    {% if len(web_ui_options["support_button_html"]) > 0 %}
+    <p><strong>Caveat: </strong> The owner of this server has chosen to inject their own content into the "spots" page.
+        This is designed for a "donate" or "support this server" button. The functionality of this injected content is
+        the responsibility of the server owner, rather than the Spothole software.</p>
+    {% end %}
+    <p>Spothole is open source, so you can audit <a href="https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole">the code</a> if you
+        like.</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/sources.html

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{% extends "help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+    <h2 class="mt-4">Supported Data Sources</h2>
+    <p>Spothole can retrieve spots from: <a href="https://www.dxcluster.info/telnet/">Telnet-based DX clusters</a>, the
+        <a href="https://www.reversebeacon.net/">Reverse Beacon Network (RBN)</a>, the <a
+                href="https://www.aprs-is.net/">APRS Internet Service (APRS-IS)</a>, <a href="https://pota.app">POTA</a>,
+        <a href="https://www.sota.org.uk/">SOTA</a>, <a href="https://wwff.co/">WWFF</a>, <a
+                href="https://www.cqgma.org/">GMA</a>, <a href="https://wwbota.net/">WWBOTA</a>, <a
+                href="http://www.hema.org.uk/">HEMA</a>, <a href="https://www.parksnpeaks.org/">Parks 'n' Peaks</a>, <a
+                href="https://ontheair.nz">ZLOTA</a>, <a href="https://www.wota.org.uk/">WOTA</a>, <a
+                href="https://llota.app">LLOTA</a>, <a href="https://wwtota.com">WWTOTA</a>, <a
+                href="https://tilesontheair.com/">Tiles on the Air</a>, the <a href="https://ukpacketradio.network/">UK
+            Packet Repeater Network</a>, and any site based on the <a href="https://github.com/nischu/xOTA">xOTA
+            software by nischu</a>.</p>
+    <p>Spothole can retrieve alerts from: <a href="https://www.ng3k.com/">NG3K</a>, <a href="https://pota.app">POTA</a>,
+        <a href="https://www.sota.org.uk/">SOTA</a>, <a href="https://wwff.co/">WWFF</a>, <a
+                href="https://www.parksnpeaks.org/">Parks 'n' Peaks</a>, <a href="https://www.wota.org.uk/">WOTA</a> and
+        <a href="https://www.beachesontheair.com/">BOTA</a>. It also fetches contest dates from
+        <a href="https://contestcalendar.com/">WA7BNM Contest Calendar</a> and RSGB contest calendars.</p>
+    <p>Spothole can retrieve solar and propagation condition data from <a href="https://www.hamqsl.com">HamQSL</a>, the
+        <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/">NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center</a>, the <a
+                href="https://giro.uml.edu/">Lowell GIRO Data Center</a> and <a href="https://prop.kc2g.com/">prop.kc2g.com</a>
+        by KC2G.</p>
+    <p>Spothole can also perform lookups for callsign data on behalf of the user from <a
+            href="https://qrz.com">QRZ.com</a> and <a href="https://hamqth.com">HamQTH</a>.</p>
+    <p>Note that the server owner has not necessarily enabled all these data sources. In particular it is common to
+        disable RBN, to avoid the server being swamped with FT8 traffic, and to disable APRS-IS and UK Packet Net so
+        that the server only displays stations where there is likely to be an operator physically present for a QSO.</p>
+    <p>Between the various data sources, the following activities / special interest groups are supported: Contests,
+        DXpeditions, Aeronautical Mobile, Maritime Mobile, EME/Moonbounce, Amateur Satellite, QRP, Parks on the Air
+        (POTA), Summits on the Air (SOTA), Worldwide Flora & Fauna (WWFF), Global Mountain Activity (GMA), Worldwide
+        Bunkers on the Air (WWBOTA), HuMPs Excluding Marilyns Award (HEMA), Islands on the Air (IOTA), Mills on the Air
+        (MOTA), the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society (ARLHS), International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW), Silos
+        on the Air (SIOTA), World Castles Award (WCA), New Zealand on the Air (ZLOTA), Keith Roget Memorial National
+        Parks Award (KRMNPA), South Australia National Parks and Conservation Parks Award (SANPCPA), Wainwrights on the
+        Air (WOTA), Beaches on the Air (BOTA), Lagos y Lagunas On the Air (LLOTA), Towers on the Air, Tiles on
+        the Air, Worked All Britain (WAB), Worked All Ireland (WAI), Diploma Municipios de España (DME), Diploma
+        Faros de España (FEA), Diploma Muesos de España (DMUE), Diploma Castillos de España (DCE), Diploma Monumentos y
+        Vestigios de España (DMVE), Diploma Estaciones de Ferrocarril de España (DEFE), Diploma Teatri Musei e Belle
+        Arti (DTMBA), British Inland Waterways on the Air (BIWOTA), Castles on the Air (COTA), Polish Gmina Award (PGA),
+        Diplôme des Moulins de France (DMF), RaDAR Rally, and Toilets on the Air.</p>
+    <p>As of the time of writing in August 2026, I think Spothole captures most radio programmes that have a
+        defined, downloadable reference list, and almost certainly those that have a spotting/alerting API. If you know
+        of one I've missed, please let me know!</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/thanks.html

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+{% extends "help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+    <h2 class="mt-4">Thanks</h2>
+    <p>The software was written by <a href="https://ianrenton.com">Ian Renton, MØTRT</a> with code contributions by
+        Steven, M1SDH.</p>
+    <p>This project would not have been possible without those volunteers who have taken it upon themselves to run DX
+        clusters, xOTA programmes, DXpedition lists, callsign lookup databases, solar conditions and propagation
+        modelling software, and other online tools on which Spothole's data is based. The vast majority of these are not
+        profit-seeking and are made purely for the love of the hobby and to help others in the community. Spothole is
+        standing on the shoulders of giants, who deserve a huge amount of thanks for all the work they put in.</p>
+    <p>The following people have specifically helped develop Spothole either by contributing code, requesting features,
+    or helping squash bugs: Steven M1SDH, Dan S50U, Matt W1CDN, Norby LX1NO, Andrew VK3ARR, Mario DL4MFM, Mark M5TEA,
+        Michael G7VJR, Rob G7LAS, Ed DD5LP, Raph F4LUB, Luc ON7KEC, Richard GD4OFB, Daniel PY2TDB, Alan VK1AO,
+        Andrew WK1AD, Ullrich DF5WC, Wayne N3CDF, Jonathan G4IVV, Erik N2EPE, Sorin YO9TSN, Matt HB9HWI, Priit ES1TEB,
+        Leigh KG7WED, Jouni OH3CUF, Onno VK6FLAB, and Bruce WA7BNM. (If I've forgotten you, let me know!)</p>
+    <p>Spothole is also dependent on a number of Python libraries, such as pyhamtools, and many JavaScript
+        libraries, as well as the Font Awesome icon set and flag icons from the Noto Color Emoji set, and MIT-licenced
+        GeoJSON files for CQ and ITU zones from HA8TKS.</p>
+    <p>The project's name was suggested by Harm DK4HAA.</p>
+    <p>This software is dedicated to the memory of Tom G1PJB, SK, a friend and colleague who sadly passed away around
+        the time I started writing it in Autumn 2025. I was looking forward to showing it to you when it was done.</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/usage.html

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+{% extends "help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+<h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">How to use Spothole</h2>
+<p>There are a number of different ways to use Spothole, depending on what you want to do with it and your level of
+    technical skill:</p>
+<ol>
+    <li>You can <b>use it on the web</b>, like you are (probably) doing right now. This is how most people use it,
+        to look up spots and alerts, and make interesting QSOs.
+    </li>
+    <li>If you are using an Android or iOS device, you can <b>"install" it on your device</b>. Spothole is a
+        Progressive Web App, meaning it's not delivered through app stores, but if you open the page on Chrome
+        (Android) or Safari (iOS) there will be an option in the menu to install it. It will then appear in your
+        main app menu.
+    </li>
+    <li>You can <b>embed the web interface in another website</b> to show its spots in a custom dashboard or the
+        like. The usage is explained in more detail on the <a href="/help/usage/embedding">Embedding Spothole in
+            Another Website</a> page.
+    </li>
+    {% if telnet_server_enabled %}
+    <li>You can use it as a traditional telnet-based source of spots, similar to DXSpider and other software, <b>in
+        your desktop logging application</b>. To do this, set up your logger with the server address
+        <code>{{ telnet_server_address }}</code> and port <code>{{ telnet_server_port }}</code>. You can also access
+        it from a terminal with <code>telnet {{ telnet_server_address }} {{ telnet_server_port }}</code>.
+    </li>
+    {% end %}
+    <li>You can <b>write your own client using the Spothole API</b>, using the main Spothole instance to provide
+        data, and do whatever you like with it. The <a href="/help/usage/clients">Writing your own Client</a> page
+        contains guidance on how to do this, and the full API docs can be found <a href="/apidocs">here</a>. You can
+        also find reference implementations in the form
+        of Spothole's own web-based front end, plus my other two tools built on Spothole: <a
+                href="https://fieldspotter.radio">Field Spotter</a> and the <a href="https://qsomap.m0trt.radio">QSO
+            Map Tool</a>.
+    </li>
+    <li>If you want to <b>run your own version of Spothole</b> so you can customise the configuration, such as
+        enabling sources that I disable on the main instance, you can do that too. The <a
+                href="/help/usage/running">Running your own Copy</a> page explains how to set up Spothole, and
+        there are further pages on how to get it <a href="/help/usage/systemd">auto-starting with systemd</a>,
+        <a href="/help/usage/nginx">using an nginx reverse proxy and setting up HTTPS support with certbot</a>, or
+        <a href="/help/usage/docker">running it using Docker</a>.
+    </li>
+    <li>Finally, you can of course download the source code and <b>develop Spothole to meet your needs</b>. Whether
+        you contribute your changes back to the main repository is up to you. The <a
+                href="/help/usage/modifying">Modifying the Source Code</a> page contains some advice on the
+        structure of the repository, and how to get started writing your own spot provider.
+    </li>
+</ol>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/usage/clients.html

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+{% extends "../help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+<h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">Writing your own Client</h2>
+
+<div class="alert alert-primary" role="alert">
+    <i class="fa-solid fa-circle-info"></i> <strong>Writing a Spothole client using AI?</strong><br/>The price of
+    creating a service with a nice API in 2025 is that a lot of people are going to vibe-code themselves a personal
+    ham radio dashboard using this data. That's fine, I can't stop you doing that, and I do appreciate the freedom of
+    creativity it gives to people who otherwise wouldn't create software. <em>However</em>, if an AI wrote your code and
+    it doesn't work, please don't jump straight to emailing me. Either take the time to understand the code yourself
+    first, or else ask your AI to fix its own mess. Thanks!
+</div>
+
+<p>One of the key strengths of Spothole is that the API is well-defined and open to anyone to use. This means you can
+    build your own software that uses data from Spothole.</p>
+<p>As well as the main API endpoints to fetch spots and alerts, with various possible query parameters, there are also
+    Server-Sent Events (SSE) API endpoints to receive a live feed, plus various utility lookup endpoints for things like
+    callsign and park data.</p>
+<p>Various approaches exist to writing your own client, but in general:</p>
+<ul>
+    <li>Refer to the API docs. These are built on an OpenAPI definition file (<code>/static/apidocs/openapi.yml</code>),
+        which you can automatically use to generate a client skeleton using various software.
+    </li>
+    <li>Call the main "spots" or "alerts" API endpoints to get the data you want. For example, your app could call
+        <code>https://spothole.app/api/v2/spots</code> once every few minutes. Apply filters if necessary.
+    </li>
+    <li>Call the "options" API to get an idea of which bands, modes etc. the server knows about. You might want to do
+        that first before calling the spots/alerts APIs, to allow you to populate your filters correctly.
+    </li>
+    <li>Refer to the provided HTML/JS interface for a reference on different approaches. For example, the
+        "alerts"/"upcoming" page simply query the main spot API on a timer, whereas the spots, map and bands pages
+        combine this approach with using the Server-Sent Events (SSE) endpoint to update live.
+    </li>
+    <li>Let me know if you get stuck, I'm happy to help.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Please don't hammer the API with an unnecessarily high request rate. For example, Spothole only queries the POTA API
+    once every two minutes, so if your client is interested in POTA data there's no need to poll Spothole any more often
+    than that.</p>
+<p>If you absolutely must be informed within seconds of a spot arriving in Spothole, please use the SSE endpoints
+    instead, e.g. <code>https://spothole.app/api/v2/spots/stream</code>.</p>
+<p>If you want to handle different types of spot or alert differently within your client, please consider making a
+    single request to the Spothole API to retrieve all the data, then filtering on your side. For example, call
+    <code>https://spothole.app/api/v2/spots?sig=POTA,SOTA</code> rather than making two separate calls to
+    <code>https://spothole.app/api/v2/spots?sig=POTA</code> and <code>https://spothole.app/api/v2/spots?sig=SOTA</code>.
+</p>
+<p>Remember, here at Spothole Inc. we offer an industry-standard "five nines" uptime on our server, with our own unique
+    twist: we don't tell you which side of the decimal point the nines start! (Translation: This is a hobby project.
+    <code>spothole.app</code> runs on the same server as my blog and other stuff. It might go down without warning. By
+    all means base your own project on data from the main server if you like, but if you want any control over
+    reliability and downtime, please run your own copy instead.)</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/usage/docker.html

@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
-## Running using Docker
+{% extends "../help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
 
-Spothole comes with a Docker configuration to make it easy to run it in a containerised environment. To set it up using
+<h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">Running using Docker</h2>
-Docker, the easiest way is to use a Docker Compose file. Create a new directory such as `/opt/docker/spothole` and
+<p>Spothole comes with a Docker configuration to make it easy to run it in a containerised environment. To set it up
-create a `compose.yaml` file inside it with the following contents:
+    using Docker, the easiest way is to use a Docker Compose file. Create a new directory such as <code>/opt/docker/spothole</code>
-
+    and create a <code>compose.yaml</code> file inside it with the following contents:</p>
-```yaml
+<pre><code>services:
-services:
   spothole:
     container_name: spothole
     build:
@@ -17,34 +17,29 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - ./config.yml:/app/config.yml
       - ./cache:/app/cache
-```
+</code></pre>
+<p>You can replace <code>#main</code> with any other branch or tag reference, for example <code>#1.5</code> to pin the
+    build to tagged version 1.5.</p>
+<p>Save the file. You will still need to create a copy of <code>config-example.yml</code> and name it
+    <code>config.yml</code>, though with the Docker setup nothing has actually been downloaded yet, so you will have to
+    copy the example from the repository some other way, e.g. <a
+            href="https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole/src/branch/main/config-example.yml">from the repo in a web
+        browser</a>.</p>
+<p>With that in place, run <code>docker compose up</code> and you should be good to go. To detach, press <code>d</code>
+    or run the command with the <code>-d</code> flag.</p>
 
-You can replace `#main` with any other branch or tag reference, for example `#1.5` to pin the build to tagged version
+<h3 class="mt-4">nginx Reverse Proxy with Docker</h3>
-1.5.
+<p>In a containerised setup, it's typical to run an nginx reverse proxy in one container, alongside certbot for renewal
-
+    of HTTPS certificates, and then applications like Spothole in a separate container. In this case, there are a couple
-Save the file. You will still need to create a copy of `config-example.yml` and name it `config.yml`, though with the
+    of variations of the docker compose file above, and the nginx reverse proxy configuration covered <a
-Docker setup nothing has actually been downloaded yet, so you will have to copy the example from the repository some
+            href="/help/usage/nginx">here</a>, that you will want to make.</p>
-other way,
+<ol>
-e.g. [from the repo in a web browser](https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole/src/branch/main/config-example.yml).
+    <li>A port mapping is no longer required in the docker compose file; nginx will access into the docker container
-
+        directly on e.g. <code>http://spothole:8080</code></li>
-With that in place, run `docker compose up` and you should be good to go. To detach, press `d` or run the command with
+    <li>Spothole and nginx will need to be on the same docker network.</li>
-the `-d` flag.
+</ol>
-
+<p>So your <code>compose.yaml</code> might look like this:</p>
-### nginx Reverse Proxy with Docker
+<pre><code>services:
-
-In a containerised setup, it's typical to run an nginx reverse proxy in one container, alongside certbot for renewal of
-HTTPS certificates, and then applications like Spothole in a separate container. In this case, there are a couple of
-variations of the docker compose file above, and the nginx reverse proxy configuration covered [here](./nginx.md), that
-you will want to make.
-
-1. A port mapping is no longer required in the docker compose file; nginx will access into the docker container directly
-   on e.g. `http://spothole:8080`
-2. Spothole and nginx will need to be on the same docker network.
-
-So your `compose.yaml` might look like this:
-
-```yaml
-services:
   spothole:
     container_name: spothole
     build:
@@ -59,14 +54,11 @@ services:
 networks:
   docker-network:
     external: true
-```
+</code></pre>
-
+<p>In your nginx site configuration, you'll want to refer to the Spothole container directly, and drop the block that
-In your nginx site configuration, you'll want to refer to the Spothole container directly, and drop the block that
+    allows nginx to access static files directly, as these will be inaccessible in another container. So you may end up
-allows nginx to access static files directly, as these will be inaccessible in another container. So you may end up with
+    with something like:</p>
-something like:
+<pre><code>server {
-
-```nginx
-server {
     server_name spothole.app;
 
     # Global proxy settings
@@ -145,19 +137,16 @@ server {
     listen [::]:80;
     return 404;
 }
-```
+</code></pre>
+<p>If desired, you could even change the port on which Spothole runs from 8080 to a plain 80, in which case your
+    <code>proxy_pass</code> statements could drop the <code>:8080</code> suffix. Since Spothole is in a container, it
+    can serve HTTP on port 80 if desired, because it doesn't conflict with the host system.</p>
 
-If desired, you could even change the port on which Spothole runs from 8080 to a plain 80, in which case your
+<h3 class="mt-4">Restoring the static files bypass</h3>
-`proxy_pass` statements could drop the `:8080` suffix. Since Spothole is in a container, it can serve HTTP on port 80 if
+<p>If you would still like to bypass Spothole's web server for the static files, and serve them with nginx, you can do.
-desired, because it doesn't conflict with the host system.
+    The easiest way is to run another nginx container to serve the files, so your Spothole <code>compose.yaml</code>
-
+    becomes:</p>
-### Restoring the static files bypass
+<pre><code>services:
-
-If you would still like to bypass Spothole's web server for the static files, and serve them with nginx, you can do. The
-easiest way is to run another nginx container to serve the files, so your Spothole `compose.yaml` becomes:
-
-```yaml
-services:
   spothole:
     container_name: spothole
     build:
@@ -183,16 +172,15 @@ services:
 networks:
   docker-network:
     external: true
-```
+</code></pre>
-
+<p>Then you can re-add the block that handles the <code>/static</code> path in your nginx reverse proxy config, but this
-Then you can re-add the block that handles the `/static` path in your nginx reverse proxy config, but this time point it
+    time point it at the new container rather than at a filesystem path:</p>
-at the new container rather than at a filesystem path:
+<pre><code>    # Load static assets from the spothole-static-nginx container
-
-```nginx
-    # Load static assets from the spothole-static-nginx container
     location /static/ {
         proxy_pass http://spothole-static-nginx/;
         expires 1h;
         add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600, must-revalidate";
     }
-```
+</code></pre>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/usage/embedding.html

@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+{% extends "../help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+<h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">Embedding Spothole in Another Website</h2>
+<p>You can embed Spothole's web interface in another website, e.g. for use as part of a ham radio custom dashboard.</p>
+<p>URL parameters can be used to trigger an "embedded" mode which hides the headers, footers and settings. In this mode,
+    you provide configuration for the various filter and display options via additional URL parameters. Any settings
+    that the user has set for Spothole are ignored. This is so that the embedding site can select, for example, their
+    choice of dark mode or activity filters, which will not impact how Spothole appears when the user accesses it
+    directly. Effectively, it becomes separate to their normal Spothole settings.</p>
+<p>Setting <code>embedded</code> to true is important for the rest of the settings to be applied; otherwise, the user's
+    defaults will be used in preference to the URL params.</p>
+<p>These are supplied with the URL to the page you want to embed, for example for an embedded version of the band map in
+    dark mode, use <code>https://spothole.app/bands?embedded=true&amp;dark-mode=true</code>. For an embedded version of
+    the main spots/home page in the system light/dark mode, use <code>https://spothole.app/?embedded=true</code>. For
+    dark mode showing 70cm TOTA spots only, use <code>https://spothole.app/?embedded=true&amp;dark-mode=true&amp;sig=TOTA&amp;band=70cm</code>.
+    Providing no URL params causes the page to be loaded in the normal way it would when accessed directly in the user's
+    browser.</p>
+<p>The supported parameters are as follows. Generally these match the equivalent parameters in the real Spothole API,
+    where a mapping exists.</p>
+<div class="table-responsive">
+    <table class="table table-sm table-bordered">
+        <thead>
+        <tr>
+            <th>Name</th>
+            <th>Allowed Values</th>
+            <th>Default</th>
+            <th>Example</th>
+            <th>Description</th>
+        </tr>
+        </thead>
+        <tbody>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>embedded</code></td>
+            <td><code>true</code>, <code>false</code></td>
+            <td><code>false</code></td>
+            <td><code>?embedded=true</code></td>
+            <td>Enables embedded mode.</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>color_scheme</code></td>
+            <td><code>light</code>, <code>dark</code>, <code>auto</code></td>
+            <td><code>auto</code></td>
+            <td><code>?color_scheme=dark</code></td>
+            <td>Forces light or dark mode in preference to the operating system default.</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>time_zone</code></td>
+            <td><code>UTC</code>, <code>local</code></td>
+            <td><code>UTC</code></td>
+            <td><code>?time_zone=local</code></td>
+            <td>Sets times to be in UTC or local time.</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>limit</code></td>
+            <td>10, 25, 50, 100</td>
+            <td>50</td>
+            <td><code>?limit=50</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the number of spots that will be displayed on the main spots page</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>limit</code></td>
+            <td>25, 50, 100, 200, 500</td>
+            <td>100</td>
+            <td><code>?limit=100</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the number of alerts that will be displayed on the alerts page</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>max_age</code></td>
+            <td>300, 600, 1800, 3600</td>
+            <td>1800</td>
+            <td><code>?max_age=1800</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the maximum age of spots displayed on the map and bands pages, in seconds.</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>band</code></td>
+            <td>Comma-separated list</td>
+            <td>(all)</td>
+            <td><code>?band=20m,40m</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the list of bands that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options match the
+                labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.
+            </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>sig</code></td>
+            <td>Comma-separated list</td>
+            <td>(all)</td>
+            <td><code>?sig=POTA,SOTA,NO_SIG</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the list of activities that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options
+                match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.
+            </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>source</code></td>
+            <td>Comma-separated list</td>
+            <td>(all)</td>
+            <td><code>?source=Cluster</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the list of sources that will be shown on any spot or alert pages. Available options match the
+                labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.
+            </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>mode_type</code></td>
+            <td>Comma-separated list</td>
+            <td>(all)</td>
+            <td><code>?mode_type=PHONE,CW</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the list of mode types that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options
+                match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.
+            </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>dx_continent</code></td>
+            <td>Comma-separated list</td>
+            <td>(all)</td>
+            <td><code>?dx_continent=NA,SA</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the list of DX Continents that will be shown on any spot or alert pages. Available options match
+                the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.
+            </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>de_continent</code></td>
+            <td>Comma-separated list</td>
+            <td>(all)</td>
+            <td><code>?de_continent=EU</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the list of DE Continents that will be shown on the spots, bands and map pages. Available options
+                match the labels of the buttons in the standard web interface.
+            </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>map-center-lat</code></td>
+            <td>Numeric (decimal)</td>
+            <td>(auto)</td>
+            <td><code>?map-center-lat=51.5</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the initial latitude of the map centre on the map page. If omitted, the map auto-fits to the loaded
+                spots.
+            </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>map-center-lon</code></td>
+            <td>Numeric (decimal)</td>
+            <td>(auto)</td>
+            <td><code>?map-center-lon=-0.1</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the initial longitude of the map centre on the map page. If omitted, the map auto-fits to the
+                loaded spots.
+            </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td><code>map-zoom</code></td>
+            <td>Numeric (integer)</td>
+            <td>(auto)</td>
+            <td><code>?map-zoom=6</code></td>
+            <td>Sets the initial zoom level of the map on the map page. If omitted, the map auto-fits to the loaded
+                spots.
+            </td>
+        </tr>
+        </tbody>
+    </table>
+</div>
+<p>See the comment at the end of the <a href="/help/usage/clients">Writing your own Client</a> page regarding
+    reliability and uptime of the "main" server.</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/usage/modifying.html

@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+{% extends "../help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+<h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">Modifying the source code</h2>
+<p>Spothole is Public Domain licenced, so you can grab the source code and start modifying it for your own needs.
+    Contributions of code back to the main repository are encouraged, but completely optional.</p>
+
+<p>The source code can be found at <a href="https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole">https://git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole</a>.
+</p>
+
+<p>I'm sorry this isn't on GitHub. There's too much noise on there now it's been given over to Copilot agents. If you
+    want to contribute code changes, that unfortunately means you'll have to sign up for an account on my Forgejo
+    server (linked above), or email me patch files the old-fashioned way. I'd hoped that Forgejo federation would be
+    working soon, so that at least you could use a Codeberg account rather than a new login specifically for my
+    instance, but unfortunately we're still waiting on that one!</p>
+
+<h3 class="mt-4">Code structure</h3>
+<p>To navigate your way around the source code, this list may help.</p>
+
+<p><em>Python back-end code</em></p>
+<ul>
+    <li><code>/core</code> - Core classes and utilities</li>
+    <li><code>/data</code> - Data storage classes</li>
+    <li><code>/providers/spot</code> - Classes providing spots by accessing the APIs of other services</li>
+    <li><code>/providers/alert</code> - Classes providing alerts by accessing the APIs of other services</li>
+    <li><code>/providers/solarconditions</code> - Classes providing solar and propagation by accessing the APIs of other
+        services
+    </li>
+    <li><code>/providers/staticdata</code> - Classes providing static lookup data by accessing bundled data files or the
+        APIs of other services
+    </li>
+    <li><code>/providers/callsign</code> - Classes providing callsign lookup data by accessing bundled data files or the
+        APIs of other services
+    </li>
+    <li><code>/providers/activityrefdata</code> - Classes providing activity reference lookup data by accessing bundled
+        data files or the APIs of other services
+    </li>
+    <li><code>/webserver</code> - Classes for running Spothole's own web server</li>
+    <li><code>/telnetserver</code> - Classes for running Spothole's telnet server</li>
+    <li><code>spothole.py</code> - Main application script</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p><em>Templates</em></p>
+<ul>
+    <li><code>/templates</code> - Templates used for constructing Spothole's user-targeted HTML pages</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p><em>HTML/JS/CSS front-end code</em></p>
+<ul>
+    <li><code>/static</code> - Root for static files served by the web server. These are all served from a path starting
+        <code>/static/</code>.
+    </li>
+    <li><code>/static/apidocs</code> - Contains the OpenAPI spec (<code>openapi.yml</code>)</li>
+    <li><code>/static/audio</code> - Audio files used by the web front-end</li>
+    <li><code>/static/css</code> - CSS files used by the web front-end</li>
+    <li><code>/static/img</code> - image files used by the web front-end</li>
+    <li><code>/static/js</code> - JavaScript used by the web front-end</li>
+    <li><code>/static/vendor</code> - Third-party libraries (CSS, JS, fonts and images)</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p><em>Miscellaneous</em></p>
+<ul>
+    <li><code>/</code> - pip <code>requirements.txt</code>, config, README, etc.</li>
+    <li><code>/docs</code> - Documentation</li>
+    <li><code>/images</code> - Image sources</li>
+    <li><code>/datafiles</code> - Local data files, used by some providers when the data will never change and/or is not
+        easily available online in a format Spothole can handle
+    </li>
+    <li><code>/cache</code> - Directory where Spothole stores all the data it uses that should be persisted to disk.
+        Created on first run.
+    </li>
+</ul>
+
+<h3 class="mt-4">Extending the server</h3>
+<p>Spothole is designed to be easily extensible. If you want to write your own spot provider, for example, simply add a
+    module to the <code>providers.spot</code> package containing your class. (Currently, in order to be loaded
+    correctly, the module
+    (file) name should be the same as the class name, but lower case.)</p>
+<p>Your class should extend "SpotProvider"; if it operates by polling an HTTP Server on a timer, it can instead extend "
+    HTTPSpotProvider" where some of the work is done for you.</p>
+<p>The class will need to implement a constructor that takes in the <code>provider_config</code> and provides it to the
+    superclass
+    constructor, while also taking any other config parameters it needs.</p>
+<p>If you're extending the base <code>SpotProvider</code> class, you will need to implement <code>start()</code> and
+    <code>stop()</code> methods that start
+    and stop a separate thread which handles the provider's processing needs. The thread should call
+    <code>submit()</code> or
+    <code>submit_batch()</code> when it has one or more spots to report.</p>
+<p>If you're extending the <code>HTTPSpotProvider</code> class, you will need to provide a URI to query and an interval
+    to the
+    superclass constructor. You'll then need to implement the <code>http_response_to_spots()</code> method which is
+    called when new
+    data is retrieved. Your implementation should then call <code>submit()</code> or <code>submit_batch()</code> when it
+    has one or more spots to
+    report.</p>
+<p>When constructing spots, use the comments in the Spot class and the existing implementations as an example. All
+    parameters are optional, but you will at least want to provide a <code>time</code> (which must be timezone-aware)
+    and a <code>dx_call</code>.</p>
+<p>Finally, simply add the appropriate config to the <code>spot_providers</code> section of <code>config.yml</code>, and
+    your provider should be
+    instantiated on startup.</p>
+<p>The same approach as above is also used for alerts, and other types of providers. Give me a shout if you need any
+    advice.</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/usage/multicluster.html

@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+{% extends "../help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+<h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">Multiple Cluster Nodes with Different Settings</h2>
+<p>Dan, S50U has written in with his Spothole cluster settings. He is using a cluster node which provides RBN spots, and
+    uses different SSIDs on his callsign to get different settings when logged into the same cluster node. For
+    example:</p>
+<pre><code>  -
+    class: "DXCluster"
+    name: "S50CLX"
+    enabled: true
+    host: "s50clx.si"
+    port: 41112
+    login_prompt: "login: "
+    login_callsign: "callsign-10"
+</code></pre>
+<p>Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-10" and execute the following commands:</p>
+<p><code>CLEAR/SPOTS ALL</code> (delete all previous filters)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/ANN</code> (stop announce messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/WCY</code> (stop wcy messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/WWV</code> (stop wwv messages)<br/>
+    <code>SET/DX</code> (enable human DX spots)</p>
+<pre><code>  -
+    class: "DXCluster"
+    name: "RBN CW"
+    enabled: true
+    host: "s50clx.si"
+    port: 41112
+    login_prompt: "login: "
+    login_callsign: "callsign-11"
+    allow_rbn_spots: true
+    enabled_by_default_in_web_ui: false
+</code></pre>
+<p>Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-11" and execute the following commands:</p>
+<p><code>CLEAR/SPOTS ALL</code> (delete all previous filters)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/ANN</code> (stop announce messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/WCY</code> (stop wcy messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/WWV</code> (stop wwv messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/DX</code> (stop human DX spots)<br/>
+    <code>SET/SKIMMER CW</code> (enable CW RBN spots)</p>
+<pre><code>  -
+    class: "DXCluster"
+    name: "RBN RTTY"
+    enabled: true
+    host: "s50clx.si"
+    port: 41112
+    login_prompt: "login: "
+    login_callsign: "callsign-12"
+    allow_rbn_spots: true
+    enabled_by_default_in_web_ui: false
+</code></pre>
+<p>Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-12" and execute the following commands:</p>
+<p><code>CLEAR/SPOTS ALL</code> (delete all previous filters)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/ANN</code> (stop announce messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/WCY</code> (stop wcy messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/WWV</code> (stop wwv messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/DX</code> (stop human DX spots)<br/>
+    <code>SET/SKIMMER RTTY</code> (enable RTTY RBN spots)</p>
+<pre><code>  -
+    class: "DXCluster"
+    name: "RBN FT4/8"
+    enabled: true
+    host: "s50clx.si"
+    port: 41112
+    login_prompt: "login: "
+    login_callsign: "callsign-13"
+    allow_rbn_spots: true
+    enabled_by_default_in_web_ui: false
+</code></pre>
+<p>Telnet to DXSpider and log in with "callsign-13" and execute the following commands:</p>
+<p><code>CLEAR/SPOTS ALL</code> (delete all previous filters)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/ANN</code> (stop announce messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/WCY</code> (stop wcy messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/WWV</code> (stop wwv messages)<br/>
+    <code>UNSET/DX</code> (stop human DX spots)<br/>
+    <code>SET/SKIMMER FT</code> (enable FT RBN spots)</p>
+<p>For each callsign-SSID, we also specify our basic information with commands:</p>
+<p><code>SET/NAME Spothole10</code>, Spothole11... etc.<br/>
+    <code>SET/QTH Cerkno</code><br/>
+    <code>SET/QRA JN66XD</code><br/>
+    <code>SET/HOME S50CLX</code></p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/usage/nginx.html

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+{% extends "../help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+<h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">nginx Reverse Proxy Configuration</h2>
+<p>Web servers generally serve their pages from port 80. However, it's best not to serve Spothole's web interface
+    directly on port 80, as that requires root privileges on a Linux system. It also and prevents us using HTTPS to
+    serve a secure site, since Spothole itself doesn't directly support acting as an HTTPS server. The normal solution
+    to this is to use a "reverse proxy" setup, where a general web server handles HTTP and HTTP requests (to port 80
+    &amp; 443 respectively), then passes on the request to the back-end application (in this case Spothole). nginx is a
+    common choice for this general web server.</p>
+<p>To set up nginx as a reverse proxy that sits in front of Spothole, first ensure it's installed e.g.
+    <code>sudo apt install nginx</code>, and enabled e.g. <code>sudo systemd enable nginx</code>.</p>
+<p>Create a file at <code>/etc/nginx/sites-available/</code> called <code>spothole</code>. Give it the following
+    contents, replacing <code>spothole.app</code> with the domain name on which you want to run Spothole. If you changed
+    the port on which Spothole runs, update that on the "proxy_pass" line, and if you installed Spothole somewhere other
+    than <code>/home/spothole/spothole</code>, adjust the alias location for serving static files.</p>
+<p>(The latter section, configuring the nginx server to serve static files directly, improves efficiency because it
+    saves Spothole itself from serving JS, CSS etc. files. If you can't do this for some reason, e.g. your nginx and
+    spothole are on different computers, you can omit the <code>location /static/ {}</code> block.)</p>
+<pre><code>server {
+    server_name spothole.app;
+
+    # Global proxy settings
+    proxy_http_version 1.1;
+    proxy_set_header Connection "";
+    proxy_connect_timeout 10s;
+    proxy_buffering on;
+
+    # Pass on IP address and host information to Spothole, in case logging this information is required
+    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
+    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
+    proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
+    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
+
+    # Wellknown area for Lets Encrypt
+    location /.well-known/ {
+        alias /var/www/html/.well-known/;
+    }
+
+    # Load static assets directly from the Spothole static directory
+    location /static/ {
+        alias /home/spothole/spothole/static/;
+        expires 1h;
+        add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600, must-revalidate";
+    }
+
+    # SSE endpoints
+    location ~ ^/api/v\d*/(spots|alerts)/stream/? {
+        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
+
+        # Remove buffering, remove caching, add suitable timeouts for SSE API calls
+        proxy_buffering off;
+        proxy_cache off;
+        proxy_read_timeout 24h;
+        proxy_send_timeout 24h;
+        proxy_set_header X-Accel-Buffering no;
+        add_header Cache-Control no-store always;
+
+        # Allow cross-origin requests to API
+        proxy_hide_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin;
+        add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin * always;
+    }
+
+    # Other API endpoints
+    location /api/ {
+        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
+
+        # Remove buffering, remove caching, add suitable timeouts for API calls
+        proxy_buffering off;
+        proxy_cache off;
+        proxy_read_timeout 30s;
+        add_header Cache-Control no-store always;
+
+        # Allow cross-origin requests to API
+        proxy_hide_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin;
+        add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin * always;
+    }
+
+    # Templated pages
+    location / {
+        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
+        proxy_read_timeout 30s;
+        add_header Cache-Control "no-cache, must-revalidate" always;
+    }
+}
+</code></pre>
+<p>One further change you might want to make to the file above is the <code>add_header
+    Access-Control-Allow-Origin</code> statements. These are what's used on my own Spothole server to make sure that
+    other third-party web-based software can get the data from my instance, and applies to any endpoint underneath
+    <code>/api</code>. If you want <em>your</em> Spothole instance to be set up the same way, so that others can write
+    software in JavaScript that can access it, leave this intact. But if you want your Spothole instance to only be
+    usable by scripts running on the web server you write, you can remove these lines. (Note that this doesn't stop
+    other people writing <em>non-web-based</em> software that accesses your Spothole API&mdash;the enforcement of
+    cross-origin headers only happens within the user's browser. If you need to lock your instance down so that no-one
+    else can access it with <em>any</em> software, that's an aspect of nginx or firewall config that you will need to
+    find help with elsewhere.)</p>
+<p>Now, make a symbolic link to enable the site:</p>
+<pre><code>cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
+sudo ln -sf ../sites-available/spothole
+</code></pre>
+<p>Test that your nginx config isn't broken using <code>nginx -t</code>. If it works, restart nginx with
+    <code>sudo systemctl restart nginx</code>.</p>
+<p>If you haven't already done so, set up a DNS entry to make sure requests for your domain name end up at the server
+    that's running Spothole.</p>
+<p>You should now be able to access the web interface by going to the domain from your browser.</p>
+<p>Once that's working, <a href="https://certbot.eff.org/instructions?ws=nginx&amp;os=snap">install certbot</a> onto
+    your server. Run it as root, and when prompted pick your domain name from the list. After a few seconds, it should
+    successfully provision a certificate and modify your nginx config files automatically. You should then be able to
+    access the site via HTTPS.
+</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/usage/running.html

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+{% extends "../help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+<h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">Running your own Server</h2>
+<p>If you want to run a copy of Spothole with different configuration settings than the main instance, you can download
+    it and run it on your own local machine or server.</p>
+<p>You will require Python version 3.10 or later. If you encounter an error about <code>gdal-config</code> during the
+    following process, you will also need <code>libgdal-dev</code> installed.</p>
+<p>To download and set up Spothole on a Debian server, run the following commands. Other operating systems will likely
+    be similar.</p>
+<pre><code>git clone ssh://git@git.ianrenton.com/ian/spothole.git
+cd spothole
+python3 -m venv ./.venv
+source .venv/bin/activate
+pip install -r requirements.txt
+deactivate
+cp config-example.yml config.yml
+</code></pre>
+<p>Then edit <code>config.yml</code> in your text editor of choice to set up the software as you like it. Mostly, this
+    will involve enabling or disabling the various providers of spot and alert data.</p>
+<p>By default, all outdoor programme providers are enabled, as is one cluster node and the NG3K DXpedition data. The RBN
+    spot providers are turned off by default due to the volume of traffic from CW/RTTY/FT8 skimmers, and the APRS and
+    Packet spot providers are off by default on the assumption that Spothole users want a spot with a human at the other
+    end of it, but all can be easily re-enabled.</p>
+<p>Other parameters you will want to update include the base URL to your instance, and whether you want to serve a full
+    web-based DX cluster interface or just the API endpoints for client software to use.</p>
+<p><code>config.yml</code> has an entry for a Clublog API key. If provided, this will allow Spothole to retrieve some
+    more information about DX spots. The software will work just fine without it, but you may find a few country flags
+    etc. are less accurate or missing. Clublog API keys are free, but you'll need to get your own by submitting a
+    helpdesk ticket and explaining what you'll use it for. The admin team are happy with the rate of requests made by my
+    Spothole server, so unless you change the source code of yours to radically increase the rate of querying Clublog,
+    I'm sure they will be fine with your server too.</p>
+<p>Once you're happy with the content of <code>config.yml</code>, you can proceed to running the software.</p>
+<p>To run the software this time and any future times you want to run it directly from the command line:</p>
+<pre><code>source .venv/bin/activate
+python3 spothole.py
+</code></pre>
+<p>The software can take a few seconds to start up, particularly if it's been run previously and has a large amount of
+    cache data to sort through. This is normal, don't panic! Once you see <code>You can access your copy of Spothole at
+        http://localhost:8080</code> in the log, your server is good to go.</p>
+<p>If you see some errors on startup, check your configuration, e.g. in case you have specified a port for the web
+    server that is already in use by something else.</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/usage/systemd.html

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+{% extends "../help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+<h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">systemd Configuration</h2>
+<p>If you want Spothole to run automatically on startup on a Linux distribution that uses <code>systemd</code>, follow
+    the instructions here. For distros that don't use <code>systemd</code>, or Windows/OSX/etc., you can find generic
+    instructions for your OS online.</p>
+<p>Create a file at <code>/etc/systemd/system/spothole.service</code>. Give it the following content, adjusting for the
+    user you want to run it as and the directory in which you have installed it:</p>
+<pre><code>[Unit]
+Description=Spothole
+After=syslog.target network.target
+
+[Service]
+Type=simple
+User=spothole
+WorkingDirectory=/home/spothole/spothole
+ExecStart=/home/spothole/spothole/.venv/bin/python /home/spothole/spothole/spothole.py --serve-in-foreground
+Restart=on-abort
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
+</code></pre>
+<p>Run the following:</p>
+<pre><code>sudo systemctl daemon-reload
+sudo systemctl enable spothole
+sudo systemctl start spothole
+</code></pre>
+<p>Check the service has started up correctly with <code>sudo journalctl -u spothole -f</code>.</p>
+
+{% end %}

templates/help/usage/telnet.html

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+{% extends "../help_page.html" %}
+{% block help_content %}
+
+<h2 class="mt-4 mb-4">Using the Telnet Server</h2>
+{% if telnet_server_enabled %}
+<p>As well as a web interface and an HTTP API, Spothole offers a telnet server. This can be used to integrate Spothole's
+    data into a traditional desktop logging program. The data Spothole produces is compatible with DXSpider, and
+    therefore many loggers should accept it with no problems.</p>
+<p>This is a relatively new feature however, so if you run into problems, please do let me know.</p>
+<p>The one caveat with the Spothole telnet server is that <em>it does not support any commands</em>, other than <code>exit</code>.
+    You cannot therefore issue commands to retrieve past entries, set up filters, etc. If you need to filter the data,
+    many desktop logging programs support this client-side, so hopefully this is not too big of an obstacle.
+</p>
+<p>To access Spothole via telnet, set up your logger with the server address <code>{{ telnet_server_address }}</code>
+    and port <code>{{ telnet_server_port }}</code>. You can also access it from a terminal with <code>telnet {{
+        telnet_server_address }} {{ telnet_server_port }}</code></p>
+{% else %}
+<p>The telnet server on this instance of Spothole is disabled. If you need telnet access, please use a different
+    Spothole server, or run your own.</p>
+{% end %}
+
+{% end %}

templates/map.html

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
         other than a rough guide. In particular, if you are seeing lots of spots in the centre of a country, please
         consider opening the "Your Data" menu and providing QRZ.com and/or HamQTH credentials so that Spothole can find
         more accurate locations for these spots. More information can be found in the
-        <a href="/about#accuracy" class="alert-link">Data Accuracy section of the About page</a>.
+        <a href="/help/accuracy" class="alert-link">Data Accuracy section of the Spothole Help</a>.
         <button type="button" id="map-intro-box-dismiss" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="alert"
                 aria-label="Close"></button>
     </div>
@@ -113,8 +113,8 @@
     const CARTODB_API_KEY = "{{ web_ui_options.get('cartodb_api_key', '') }}";
 </script>
 
-<script src="/static/js/spotsbandsandmap.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/spotsbandsandmap.js?v=1790228319"></script>
-<script src="/static/js/map.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/map.js?v=1790228319"></script>
 <script>$(document).ready(function () {
     $("#nav-link-map").addClass("active");
 }); <!-- highlight active page in nav --></script>

templates/spots.html

@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@
     <div class="alert alert-primary alert-dismissible fade show" role="alert">
         <i class="fa-solid fa-circle-info"></i> <strong>What is Spothole?</strong><br/>Spothole is an aggregator of
         amateur radio spots from DX clusters and outdoor activity programmes. It's free for anyone to use and includes
-        an API that developers can build other applications on. For more information, check out the <a href="/about"
+        an API that developers can build other applications on. For more information, check out the <a href="/help"
-                                                                                                       class="alert-link">"About"
+                                                                                                       class="alert-link">Help
-        page</a>. If that sounds like nonsense to you, you can visit <a href="/about#faq" class="alert-link">the FAQ
+        pages</a>. If that sounds like nonsense to you, you can visit <a href="/help/faq" class="alert-link">the FAQ
-        section</a> to learn more.
+        page</a> to learn more.
         <button type="button" id="intro-box-dismiss" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="alert"
                 aria-label="Close"></button>
     </div>
@@ -125,8 +125,8 @@
 
 </div>
 
-<script src="/static/js/spotsbandsandmap.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/spotsbandsandmap.js?v=1790228319"></script>
-<script src="/static/js/spots.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/spots.js?v=1790228319"></script>
 <script>$(document).ready(function () {
     $("#nav-link-spots").addClass("active");
 }); <!-- highlight active page in nav --></script>

templates/status.html

@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@
     </div>
 </div>
 
-<script src="/static/js/status.js?v=1789927308"></script>
+<script src="/static/js/status.js?v=1790228319"></script>
 <script>
     $(document).ready(function () {
         $("#nav-link-status").addClass("active");

webserver/webserver.py

@@ -193,48 +193,44 @@ class WebServer:
                 )
             ]
         else:
-            ui_routes = [
+            ui_pages = [
-                (r"/", PageTemplateHandler, {"template_name": "spots"}),
+                "map",
-                (
+                "bands",
-                    r"/map",
+                "alerts",
-                    PageTemplateHandler,
+                "conditions",
-                    {"template_name": "map"},
+                "status",
-                ),
+                "help",
-                (
+                "help/about",
-                    r"/bands",
+                "help/usage",
-                    PageTemplateHandler,
+                "help/usage/clients",
-                    {"template_name": "bands"},
+                "help/usage/telnet",
-                ),
+                "help/usage/embedding",
-                (
+                "help/usage/running",
-                    r"/alerts",
+                "help/usage/docker",
-                    PageTemplateHandler,
+                "help/usage/nginx",
-                    {"template_name": "alerts"},
+                "help/usage/systemd",
-                ),
+                "help/usage/multicluster",
-                (
+                "help/usage/modifying",
-                    r"/conditions",
+                "help/sources",
-                    PageTemplateHandler,
+                "help/faq",
-                    {"template_name": "conditions"},
+                "help/accuracy",
-                ),
+                "help/privacy",
-                (
+                "help/thanks",
-                    r"/status",
-                    PageTemplateHandler,
-                    {"template_name": "status"},
-                ),
-                (
-                    r"/about",
-                    PageTemplateHandler,
-                    {"template_name": "about"},
-                ),
             ]
             # Only allow the Add Spot page if spotting is allowed
             if ALLOW_SPOTTING:
-                ui_routes += [
+                ui_pages.append("add-spot")
+            ui_routes = [
                 (
-                        r"/add-spot",
+                    rf"/{page}",
                     PageTemplateHandler,
-                        {"template_name": "add_spot"},
+                    {"template_name": page},
                 )
+                for page in ui_pages
             ]
+            # One awkward outlier, the home page - we need to serve a route from "/" but can't call a template "/.html"
+            # so we add this one separately, the template is called "spots"
+            ui_routes += [(r"/", PageTemplateHandler, {"template_name": "spots"})]
 
         # API docs, Prometheus metrics, webapp manifest and static assets are always available regardless of API-only
         # mode.