Ham Radio Scraper — Callsigns, POTA & SOTA

Four amateur-radio data sources bundled into one keyless actor: US callsign lookup (Callook/FCC), Parks on the Air (POTA) parks, live POTA activator spots, and Summits on the Air (SOTA) summits. No key, no auth.

Perfect for logging apps, live "who's on the air now" dashboards, spotting alerts, and mapping tools for an engaged hobby community.

What you get

Output shape depends on mode:

• callsign (Callook / FCC ULS) — callsign, status, type, name, operatorClass, previousCallsign, gridsquare, latitude, longitude, address, frn, grantDate, expiryDate, trustee, ulsUrl
• pota-parks — reference, name, latitude, longitude, grid, locationDesc, attempts, activations, qsos, url
• pota-spots (live) — activator, parkReference, parkName, frequency, mode_, spotTime, spotter, comments, locationDesc, grid, count
• sota-summit — summitCode, name, altitudeM, altitudeFt, points, bonusPoints, validFrom, validTo, activationCount, activationDate, latitude, longitude, region, association

Every row carries a mode field.

Modes

• callsign — US amateur callsign lookup (callsigns), name/class/grid/address/license dates.
• pota-parks — Parks on the Air parks for a program code (potaLocation), with activity stats.
• pota-spots — live activator spots: who's activating right now, frequency and mode.
• sota-summit — Summits on the Air summit detail by code (summits).

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	callsign	callsign, pota-parks, pota-spots, sota-summit
callsigns	array	—	US callsigns to look up (mode callsign)
potaLocation	string	US	POTA program code prefix, e.g. US, CA, GB, IT (mode pota-parks)
summits	array	—	SOTA codes ASSOC/REGION-NNN, e.g. W6/CT-001 (mode sota-summit)
maxResults	integer	100	Cap for park / spot lists

Example input

{ "mode": "callsign", "callsigns": ["W1AW", "K1ABC"] }

Live activator spots:

{ "mode": "pota-spots", "maxResults": 50 }

Example output (mode: callsign)

{
  "mode": "callsign",
  "callsign": "W1AW",
  "status": "VALID",
  "type": "CLUB",
  "name": "ARRL HQ OPERATORS CLUB",
  "operatorClass": null,
  "previousCallsign": null,
  "gridsquare": "FN31pr",
  "latitude": 41.7146,
  "longitude": -72.7272,
  "address": "225 MAIN ST, NEWINGTON, CT 06111",
  "frn": "0004416598",
  "grantDate": "07/12/2022",
  "expiryDate": "10/12/2032",
  "trustee": "W1AW (ARRL HQ OPERATORS CLUB)",
  "ulsUrl": "http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=..."
}

Why this actor

• Bundle beats fragmentation — Callook, POTA parks, live POTA spots and SOTA in one actor, one normalized schema.
• Live feed — pota-spots is a schedulable "who's activating now" stream.
• Keyless & reliable — public APIs with retry/backoff.
• Niche but passionate — near-zero competition on the Store.

Notes

• callsign covers US amateur licenses (Callook/FCC ULS); INVALID callsigns return a minimal row with status: "INVALID".
• pota-parks uses the program-code prefix (e.g. US, GB) — sub-regions like US-CA are not supported by that endpoint.
• Data comes from Callook, the POTA API and the SOTA database; this actor is independent and not affiliated with those programs.

Pricing

Pay per result — $2.00 per 1,000 results. No subscription or platform fees; you only pay for the results you get.

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