Spacetrucker Galactic (iOS) — Support

Questions, bugs, or feedback: email support@river.io or open an issue on GitHub. We respond within a few business days. 73.

Radio operator FAQ

What’s the HF propagation summary actually based on?

NOAA SWPC’s published planetary Kp index, 10.7 cm solar flux (SFI), and A index. The app pulls those values directly and runs a small rules table to map them to a plain-English read on noise floor and band-by-band conditions. It’s a tendency indicator, not a propagation model — for serious planning, cross-check with a tool like VOACAP.

How fresh is the Kp / SFI data?

SWPC publishes Kp on a 3-hour cadence and SFI daily. The app fetches on launch, on pull-to-refresh, and on foreground-from-background when the cached brief is older than 5 minutes. If you’re staring at the Kp number waiting for a flare to bite, refresh manually — Spacetrucker Galactic won’t poll the server in the background.

The DX cluster / POTA / SOTA list is empty or stale.

The RF tab loads those feeds from their public endpoints. If your device is on a captive-portal Wi-Fi (campground, marina) or a marginal cell connection, the request can time out. The app degrades gracefully: sections that couldn’t load show an offline marker and the rest of the brief still renders. Pull-to-refresh once you have a real connection.

My callsign lookups say “API key missing” or “not authorized.”

aprs.fi requires a free account and a personal read API key for position queries. Get one at aprs.fi → My Account → Web service API key, then paste it into Settings → APRS.fi API key. The key is stored in UserDefaults on this device only and is sent only to aprs.fi.

Why doesn’t the app post APRS positions?

By design — Spacetrucker Galactic is a receive-only APRS client. It reads positions and bulletins via the aprs.fi read API. If you want to beacon, use a TNC, a radio with built-in APRS, or a dedicated client (APRSdroid, PinPoint, YAAC). Spacetrucker Galactic stays out of the transmit path on purpose.

Magnetic declination — what model and epoch?

On-device computation against the current World Magnetic Model (WMM) coefficients. Accurate to within a fraction of a degree for the current epoch; refresh the app version every couple of years to pick up the next WMM cycle.

Will it remind me about a contest, an aurora, or a band opening?

Not yet. The only local notifications the app schedules today are golden hour and astronomical dusk — useful for antenna work that should not happen in the dark. Aurora / Kp threshold alerts are on the roadmap; track on GitHub Issues.

Field-day / portable use — does the app work without cell?

Sun/moon/planet math, magnetic declination, and golden-hour / astro-dusk notifications work fully offline (they’re computed on-device against your last known location). Anything that needs a live feed (Kp, SFI, NWS forecast, marine bulletin, DX cluster, POTA, SOTA, APRS, launches) requires a working network round-trip and will show an offline marker if it can’t reach the source.

General FAQ

Spacetrucker Galactic fetches every network source directly from its public origin. If your device has no network, the brief falls back to on-device math (sun, moon, planets, declination) and shows an offline banner for the network-sourced sections. Pull-to-refresh once you’re back on a network.

Location is wrong, or the forecast is for the wrong place.

The brief uses Core Location’s one-shot fix. Make sure Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Spacetrucker Galactic is set to While Using the App. If you’re indoors with a poor GPS fix, step outside or wait a few seconds and refresh.

My marine zone isn’t showing a forecast.

Marine zones are NWS coastal text bulletins (GMZ, AMZ, PZZ, AN, …). Set the zone in Settings → Marine zone, exactly as NWS formats it (e.g. GMZ033). If the zone is valid but the bulletin source is slow, the brief continues without it and the other sections still render.

Golden hour / astronomical dusk notifications aren’t firing.

The app schedules local notifications fourteen days ahead. Make sure notifications are enabled at Settings → Notifications → Spacetrucker Galactic, and enabled inside the app at Settings → Notifications. If you’ve recently toggled the in-app switch, give the next golden-hour or astronomical-dusk window a chance to arrive.

Widgets are scheduled by iOS, not by Spacetrucker Galactic. The system generally refreshes widgets every ~15 minutes when your device is active. Opening the app forces a fresh fetch and re-renders the timeline.

The watch app is empty / not loading.

The watch app shares a brief snapshot with the iPhone over WatchConnectivity when the iPhone refreshes. Open the iPhone app, refresh, and the watch should pick up the next snapshot. The four complication families (circular, corner, inline, rectangular) are supported on Apple Watch Series 4 and later.

Planet positions are a few degrees off from Stellarium.

That’s a known and intentional trade-off. Spacetrucker Galactic computes planet positions from mean orbital elements plus the equation of center (Meeus chapter 33 style), not from VSOP87 or a JPL ephemeris. Accuracy is ~1–3°, which is fine for zodiac-sign and roughly-where-is-it-in-the-sky purposes, but not for telescope pointing.

How do I reset my User-Agent / API key / marine zone?

Settings has a clear control for each. Clearing the API key disables callsign lookups; clearing the marine zone disables marine bulletins; resetting the User-Agent restores the default StatusGalactic/<version> ([support@river.io](mailto:support@river.io)) string that NWS requires.

What Spacetrucker Galactic does not do

Transmit on APRS. Receive-only by design. Use a real TNC or a dedicated APRS client to beacon.
Replace VOACAP, ITURHFProp, or a real propagation model. The HF summary is a quick-look indicator, not a forecast.
Sync between devices. One iPhone per install. iCloud Backup is the safety net for moving to a new phone.
Replace marine / aviation weather briefings for commercial use. Spacetrucker Galactic is a personal almanac.
Send anything to a Spacetrucker Galactic server. There isn’t one.
Track you, run analytics, or report crashes. No third-party SDKs.
Background-track your location. One fix per refresh, foreground only.

Reporting a bug

Email support@river.io or open a GitHub issue at github.com/SpaceTrucker2196/StatusGalactic-iOS/issues with:

The version (Settings → at the bottom).
What you were doing when the bug happened.
What you expected vs. what actually happened.
A screenshot if you can.

The app collects no logs or diagnostics, so if a bug is reproducible you’ll need to walk us through it.

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