HamGrid

Six characters, three steps

A locator narrows down the whole world in three steps. The first two letters mark a field of 20 by 10 degrees. The two digits narrow it to a square of 2 by 1 degrees. The last two letters pick a subsquare of 5 by 2.5 minutes, just a few kilometres wide.

HamGrid draws this grid over the map and switches levels as you zoom: fields when you look at a continent, squares for a country, subsquares for a town. Each label sits in the corner of its box, so it stays out of the way.

Move the map, read the locator

Drag the map and a crosshair appears. The locator now shows the point under the crosshair. It's a quick way to check the square of a summit you want to operate from, or of the station you're talking to.

Tap the location button once to jump back to your position at the same zoom. Tap it again to reset the zoom too.

Search by locator or by place

Enter a full locator and the map takes you straight there. Enter just the start, like JO5, and all matching squares light up at once, from JO50 to JO59. You can also search for a town, a street or an airfield. Apple Maps suggests places as you type.

Small details that matter on the air

The zero has a slash through it, so you can't mix up JO and J0. Tap the big locator to copy it, ready to paste into your log or a message. The UTC clock runs right next to it, because UTC is the time that goes in the log. And the whole app is dark, which is easier on the eyes at night.

On the home screen

Two widgets, one small and one medium, show your locator, the UTC time and a small map of where you are. You don't even need to open the app.

No account, no tracking

HamGrid doesn't need an account, and there's no analytics or tracking. The app collects no data, and your locator is worked out on your phone. Maps and place search come from Apple Maps, so Apple sees which map areas you view and what you search for.