RBN — Reverse Beacon Network¶
The Reverse Beacon Network uses software-defined radio receivers running automated CW and RTTY decoders (skimmers) to report signals heard from transmitting stations. Unlike WSPR, RBN spots real operators making real contacts — a spot means a human operator sent a CQ or contest exchange that a skimmer decoded with sufficient signal strength to copy.
RBN SNR represents what an automated receiver heard, not what a human ear can copy. SNR values are in the 8–29 dB range for the bulk of spots, well above the WSPR floor. This makes RBN the middle layer: above minimum-power beacons, below the contest-grade SSB ceiling.
Dataset Statistics¶
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
Total Rows (rbn.bronze) |
2.31B |
| Date Range | 2009-02-21 to 2026-05-22 |
| Daily Spot Rate (recent) | ~2M spots/day |
| Unique Transmitter Callsigns | 2.2M |
| Unique Receiver Callsigns (skimmers) | 3,082 |
| Unique Grid Pairs | 960K |
| Modes | CW, RTTY, PSK31 |
Band Breakdown¶
| Band | Spots | Pct of Total |
|---|---|---|
| 160m | 99.5M | 4.31% |
| 80m | 292.8M | 12.69% |
| 40m | 686.1M | 29.73% |
| 30m | 114.4M | 4.96% |
| 20m | 703.8M | 30.5% |
| 17m | 60.2M | 2.61% |
| 15m | 213.5M | 9.25% |
| 12m | 16.4M | 0.71% |
| 10m | 109.3M | 4.74% |
Data Quality Notes¶
- Raw SNR range: up to 233 dB (skimmer AGC artifacts).
rbn.signaturesfilters to -20 to 80 dB. - 30M spots (2009–2010) have empty
tx_mode— RBN was CW-only then. These spots are included in signatures as CW. - 67.3M rows promoted to
rbn.signaturesafter quality filtering and solar joining. - DXpedition paths (rare, high-value paths) identified separately in
rbn.dxpedition_pathsandrbn.dxpedition_signatures.