Files
OpsLog/internal/bandopen/bandopen.go
T
rouggy 8aa0e39aff fix(bandopen): find the busiest sector, and name it correctly
Two faults, both found from one field log: 70 000 decodes, 10 and 12 m plainly
open, nothing announced — and the two openings that DID fire named the wrong
direction.

evaluate() required EVERY distinct station in the window to fit inside one 90°
arc. That is the shape of a sporadic-E cloud and of nothing else. With 10 and 12
m open on F2 the reports arrive from all round the compass, the arc is 360°, and
the test can never pass — so the busier the band, the less likely an opening was
announced. Exactly backwards. It now finds the DENSEST sector instead, which
keeps the Es signature intact (a cloud still makes one direction dense) and lets
a real F2 opening be seen through the handful of neighbours who are always
there. Scattered-but-busy still reports nothing: the point was to stop demanding
global agreement, not to call every open band an opening.

Sector() averaged the two bearings arithmetically, so an arc crossing north was
labelled by its opposite: 353–61° averaged to 207° and went out as SW when it
was NE. Not a vague error — a reversed one, given to an operator who may turn a
beam on it. The detector has handled the 0/360 wrap since it was written; only
this label had not.
2026-08-11 14:50:37 +02:00

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// Package bandopen spots a band OPENING in the cluster stream — sporadic-E on
// 6 m, 4 m and 2 m above all.
//
// This is observation, not prediction. Every spot OpsLog receives is already
// enriched with the great-circle distance and bearing from the operator's own
// grid, so the signature of a single-hop Es opening is directly measurable:
// several distinct stations appearing on a VHF band, all at single-hop range,
// all in the same bearing sector, within a few minutes. That combination does
// not happen by chance — scattered spots at random distances and bearings are
// just a busy band.
//
// The season is REPORTED, never used to suppress. Es peaks in late spring and
// summer, so an opening in November is unusual — and an unusual opening is
// precisely the one an operator must not be told about last. InSeason only
// labels the announcement.
package bandopen
import (
"math"
"sort"
"strconv"
"strings"
"time"
)
// Spot is the little a detection needs, taken from an enriched cluster spot.
type Spot struct {
Call string
Band string
DistKm int
Bearing int // degrees from the operator, short path
At time.Time
}
// Config tunes the detector. The defaults describe single-hop sporadic E.
type Config struct {
Window time.Duration // how far back a burst may span
MinCalls int // distinct DX calls before it counts as an opening
MinKm, MaxKm int // path length accepted; MaxKm 0 = no ceiling
BearingSpread int // widest arc (degrees) the spots may cover
Requiet time.Duration // silence after announcing a band, so it is announced once
}
// DefaultConfig is the Es envelope.
//
// Below ~500 km a 6 m contact is ordinary tropo or ground wave and says nothing
// about the ionosphere, so that floor stays.
//
// There is NO ceiling. There used to be one at 2400 km, on the reasoning that
// past a single hop the bearing test stops meaning anything. That was wrong, and
// it silently threw away exactly the openings worth hearing about: multi-hop Es
// is ordinary on 6 m, 5000 km paths are common and 10000 km happens. Those are
// still directional — a double hop leaves the same sector it entered — so the
// bearing test holds perfectly well, and it is the test doing the real work here.
//
// 90° of spread because a genuine Es cloud illuminates a sector, not the whole
// horizon: the constraint that separates an opening from a merely busy evening.
func DefaultConfig() Config {
return Config{
Window: 12 * time.Minute,
MinCalls: 4,
MinKm: 500,
MaxKm: 0, // no ceiling — see above
BearingSpread: 90,
Requiet: 45 * time.Minute,
}
}
// Bands watched.
//
// 10 and 12 m are in, and they are HF. The line is not "HF versus VHF" but
// "is an opening here an event": 20 m being open is the normal state of the
// band and saying so is noise, while 10 and 12 m spend most of a solar cycle
// shut and open sharply when they go — which is exactly what an operator wants
// interrupting them for. They also carry the Es that reaches 6 m, often first.
//
// Anything below 12 m stays out for the reason above.
var watched = map[string]bool{"12m": true, "10m": true, "6m": true, "4m": true, "2m": true}
// Watched reports whether a band is one the detector looks at.
func Watched(band string) bool { return watched[strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(band))] }
// Opening is a detected opening, ready to be announced.
type Opening struct {
Band string `json:"band"`
Calls int `json:"calls"` // distinct DX stations seen
MedianKm int `json:"median_km"` // typical hop length
BearingMin int `json:"bearing_min"` // sector, degrees
BearingMax int `json:"bearing_max"`
InSeason bool `json:"in_season"` // false = unusual for the time of year
At time.Time `json:"at"`
Examples []string `json:"examples"` // a few callsigns, for the announcement
}
// Detector keeps the rolling window and the per-band quiet period.
type Detector struct {
cfg Config
recent []Spot
lastFire map[string]time.Time
}
func New(cfg Config) *Detector {
if cfg.Window <= 0 {
cfg = DefaultConfig()
}
return &Detector{cfg: cfg, lastFire: map[string]time.Time{}}
}
// Add records a spot and returns an Opening when this spot completes one.
//
// Returns nil far more often than not; that is the point. lat is the operator's
// latitude, for the hemisphere the season depends on.
func (d *Detector) Add(s Spot, lat float64) *Opening {
if !Watched(s.Band) {
return nil
}
band := strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(s.Band))
s.Band = band
if s.At.IsZero() {
s.At = time.Now()
}
// Out-of-range spots are dropped rather than stored: they can never be part
// of a single-hop detection, and keeping them only grows the window.
if s.DistKm < d.cfg.MinKm || (d.cfg.MaxKm > 0 && s.DistKm > d.cfg.MaxKm) {
return nil
}
d.recent = append(d.recent, s)
d.prune(s.At)
if last, ok := d.lastFire[band]; ok && s.At.Sub(last) < d.cfg.Requiet {
return nil // already announced this band recently
}
inBand := make([]Spot, 0, len(d.recent))
for _, r := range d.recent {
if r.Band == band {
inBand = append(inBand, r)
}
}
op := evaluate(band, inBand, d.cfg)
if op == nil {
return nil
}
op.At = s.At
op.InSeason = InSeason(band, s.At, lat)
d.lastFire[band] = s.At
return op
}
func (d *Detector) prune(now time.Time) {
cut := now.Add(-d.cfg.Window)
keep := d.recent[:0]
for _, r := range d.recent {
if r.At.After(cut) {
keep = append(keep, r)
}
}
d.recent = keep
}
// evaluate decides whether a band's recent spots look like one opening.
func evaluate(band string, spots []Spot, cfg Config) *Opening {
// Distinct callsigns, not spot count: one station spotted by six skimmers is
// six spots and one station, and it is not an opening.
seen := map[string]Spot{}
for _, s := range spots {
c := strings.ToUpper(strings.TrimSpace(s.Call))
if c == "" {
continue
}
if _, dup := seen[c]; !dup {
seen[c] = s
}
}
if len(seen) < cfg.MinCalls {
return nil
}
bearings := make([]int, 0, len(seen))
dists := make([]int, 0, len(seen))
calls := make([]string, 0, len(seen))
for c, s := range seen {
bearings = append(bearings, ((s.Bearing%360)+360)%360)
dists = append(dists, s.DistKm)
calls = append(calls, c)
}
// The DENSEST sector, not the sector covering everything.
//
// This used to demand that EVERY station fit inside one 90° arc, which is the
// right shape for a sporadic-E cloud and hopeless for anything else. With 10
// and 12 m open on F2 the reports come from all round the compass, the arc is
// 360°, and the test can never pass — so the busier the band, the less likely
// an opening was announced. Backwards.
//
// Finding the busiest 90° instead keeps the Es signature intact — a cloud
// still makes one direction dense — and lets an F2 opening toward South
// America be seen through the handful of Europeans that are always there.
lo, hi, n := densestSector(bearings, cfg.BearingSpread)
if n < cfg.MinCalls {
return nil // nothing concentrated anywhere: a busy band, not an opening
}
sort.Ints(dists)
sort.Strings(calls)
if len(calls) > 5 {
calls = calls[:5]
}
return &Opening{
Band: band, Calls: len(seen), MedianKm: dists[len(dists)/2],
BearingMin: lo, BearingMax: hi, Examples: calls,
}
}
// arc returns the smallest compass sector containing every bearing, coping with
// the wrap at north: 350° and 10° are 20° apart, not 340°.
// densestSector returns the width-degree arc containing the most bearings, as
// its start, end and count.
//
// Brute force over each bearing as a starting edge. n is at most a few hundred
// distinct callsigns in a twelve-minute window, so n² is nothing, and it runs
// once per accepted spot rather than once per decode.
//
// The arc STARTS on a real bearing rather than sweeping every degree: the
// densest window can always be slid until its leading edge sits on a station, so
// nothing is missed and there are 360 fewer positions to try.
func densestSector(b []int, width int) (lo, hi, count int) {
if len(b) == 0 {
return 0, 0, 0
}
s := append([]int(nil), b...)
sort.Ints(s)
best, bestAt := 0, 0
for i, start := range s {
n := 0
for _, x := range s {
// Distance clockwise from start to x, so the wrap through 0° needs no
// special case — which is where the old arc() logic earned its keep and
// this one has to match it.
d := x - start
if d < 0 {
d += 360
}
if d <= width {
n++
}
}
if n > best {
best, bestAt = n, i
}
}
lo = s[bestAt]
// The end is the furthest station actually inside the window, not lo+width:
// reporting an empty 90° when every station sits in the first 20° would
// overstate the opening's width by four times.
hi = lo
for _, x := range s {
d := x - lo
if d < 0 {
d += 360
}
if d <= width {
if e := (lo + d) % 360; d >= ((hi-lo)+360)%360 {
hi = e
}
}
}
return lo, hi, best
}
func arc(b []int) (lo, hi, spread int) {
if len(b) == 0 {
return 0, 0, 0
}
s := append([]int(nil), b...)
sort.Ints(s)
// The widest GAP between consecutive bearings (round the circle) is the part
// NOT covered; the sector is everything else.
worst, at := -1, 0
for i := range s {
next := s[(i+1)%len(s)]
gap := next - s[i]
if i == len(s)-1 {
gap = next + 360 - s[i]
}
if gap > worst {
worst, at = gap, i
}
}
lo = s[(at+1)%len(s)]
hi = s[at]
spread = 360 - worst
return lo, hi, spread
}
// InSeason reports whether the time of year is one where sporadic E is common
// at the operator's latitude.
//
// Each hemisphere has a strong summer peak AND a smaller winter one, and both
// count as expected: a December opening in Europe surprises nobody. What the
// label marks is the genuinely odd month — an equinox opening.
//
// This LABELS a detection, it never gates one. Out-of-season Es exists, and it
// is precisely the opening an operator must not be told about last.
func InSeason(band string, t time.Time, lat float64) bool {
m := t.UTC().Month()
var months map[time.Month]bool
if lat >= 0 {
months = map[time.Month]bool{
time.May: true, time.June: true, time.July: true, time.August: true, // main
time.December: true, time.January: true, // lesser winter peak
}
} else {
months = map[time.Month]bool{
time.November: true, time.December: true, time.January: true, time.February: true,
time.June: true, time.July: true,
}
}
return months[m]
}
// Sector renders the bearing range for a human, e.g. "NE (3575°)".
func (o *Opening) Sector() string {
return compass(midBearing(o.BearingMin, o.BearingMax)) +
" (" + strconv.Itoa(o.BearingMin) + "" + strconv.Itoa(o.BearingMax) + "°)"
}
// midBearing is the middle of the arc running CLOCKWISE from min to max.
//
// Not the arithmetic mean, which is wrong for every sector crossing north and
// wrong by the worst possible amount: an opening reported as 35361° averaged to
// 207° and was announced as SW when it was NE — the exact opposite direction, to
// an operator who might turn a beam on it. The detector itself has handled the
// 0/360 wrap since it was written; only this label did not.
func midBearing(min, max int) float64 {
span := max - min
if span < 0 {
span += 360
}
return math.Mod(float64(min)+float64(span)/2, 360)
}
func compass(deg float64) string {
names := []string{"N", "NE", "E", "SE", "S", "SW", "W", "NW"}
i := int(math.Round(deg/45)) % 8
if i < 0 {
i += 8
}
return names[i]
}