View contacts on the map

The map displays locations that Radio Bench can resolve from logged contact data. A station grid locator improves distance and bearing calculations.

Prepare contact data

Enter a valid callsign and locator when you know it. Country resolution can place a contact broadly when an exact locator is absent.

Incorrect or missing log data can put a marker in the wrong place. Edit the QSO to correct its stored details.

Set your station grid in Settings > Station for meaningful paths, distances, and bearings. You can also right-click the map and select Set home here. This changes the grid of the active station profile.

Use the map

1. Open the intended active logbook.
2. Open MAP.
3. Choose a time, band, mode, country, or callsign filter in the map controls.
4. Keep QSO markers enabled.
5. Hover over a marker for details, or select it to retain the selection.
6. Enable QSO labels if you want labels beside markers.

Pan and zoom to change the visible region. Fit Filtered frames the contacts that match your filters. Fit Home centers the map on your home grid. These presentation changes do not modify QSO records.

To find one contact from the log, right-click its logbook row and select Show on map.

Read markers, paths, and tooltips

Contacts that share a grid position merge into one marker. The marker shows a contact count and one ring with a colored segment for each Color by group. Its label shows the contact with the latest date and the number of others, such as K1ABC +2.

For one contact, the tooltip shows the callsign, country, grid, band, mode, date, signal reports, and distance from your home grid. For a merged marker, it lists up to six contacts at that position, then the number of others.

Under Paths, choose Off, Selected, or All. The highlighted path shows the distance and the short-path bearing from your home grid. Choose distance units in Settings > General > Distance units.

Under Layers, show or hide the Maidenhead grid and the Home marker.

Configure display

Open Settings > Map. Start with a style preset, then adjust individual settings if needed.

Presets change marker, grid, color, label, and legend presentation. They leave map filters unchanged. A style change cannot bring back a contact excluded by a filter.

The basemap styles are Liberty, Radio Bench Dark, and Radio Bench Light. Liberty is the default for new settings. Existing saved map choices are preserved.

With Custom selected, set a color for each band. Reset band colours restores the default band colors.

The legend names what the colors mean, such as band or mode. Counts show how many filtered contacts use each color.

Label templates choose the text. The map's QSO labels filter controls whether those labels are visible. A template can use {call}, {band}, {mode}, {grid}, {country}, {rst}, and {date}.

Understand positions and map downloads

A grid locator places a contact within that grid square. Without a usable locator, local country resolution can provide a broad country position. Neither establishes an exact antenna location.

The basemap fetches map data over the network and keeps a bounded disk cache. Cached areas can remain available offline. Uncached areas and zoom levels still need a connection.

Clearing the tile cache removes cached map data, not your contacts. Those map areas can then need to download again.

Find a missing contact

Check the active logbook, then remove restrictive map filters. Confirm that QSO markers are enabled and that the contact has a usable locator or country position.

A contact can also share a merged marker with other contacts at the same grid. Check the marker count and tooltip.

Check the stored callsign and locator if a marker is misplaced. Check station location separately if paths or bearings look wrong. A missing basemap with visible markers usually points to map downloads or cache availability.

The map is an operating aid, not a precise navigation tool. Location accuracy depends on the data stored with each QSO.