Guardian Documentation

Guardian Documentation

Welcome to the Guardian documentation. Guardian is a real-time space weather, propagation, and signal-environment situational-awareness dashboard built for operators, communicators, educators, preparedness users, and technical professionals. It is designed for continuous, always-on display on a workstation, second screen, kiosk, or command-wall.

Getting Started

To begin using Guardian:

  1. Complete your purchase and download the Guardian file from your order confirmation email.
  2. Open the file (guardian-v1.0.html or similar) in a supported browser on your computer.
  3. Enter your local reference location in the station panel. Radio users may think of this as DE or QTH location; non-radio users can simply enter the latitude and longitude of the location they want Guardian to use as its local reference point.
  4. Press F11 (or your browser’s full-screen key) to go full-screen.

You are operational in under 60 seconds.

Installation

Guardian is a browser-based application with no installer, account, server, or companion app required. It is licensed for use on a single computer by a single user. See the License Agreement (EULA) for full details.

To run Guardian:

  • Open the Guardian HTML file in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari on your computer.
  • Press F11 to enter full-screen mode.
  • No unzipping, no setup wizard, no account creation required.

System Requirements

  • Browser: Current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari. Chromium-based browsers are recommended.
  • OS: Windows 10+, macOS 11+, Linux (any modern distribution)
  • Display: 1080p or 4K recommended; other resolutions may work. Optimized for full-screen or dedicated second-screen use.
  • CPU: Any modern processor
  • RAM: 4 GB or more
  • Internet: Optional for core display functions; required for live feed refreshes such as space weather data, TLE updates, weather, and custom ticker feeds.

Feature Overview

Space Weather Dashboard

Guardian’s space weather panel pulls from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) and presents core conditions in operator-readable format. Values refresh automatically when internet connectivity is available.

  • Kp Index — Current value, today’s maximum, G-scale geomagnetic storm level, and 24-hour forecast bar
  • Solar Flux Index (SFI) — Current value; primary indicator for HF propagation potential
  • Sunspot Count — Today’s number from NOAA/SWPC
  • Solar Wind Speed and Density — Current solar wind conditions from ACE/DSCOVR
  • IMF Bt/Bz — Interplanetary Magnetic Field components; Bz southward indicates enhanced geomagnetic activity
  • Aurora Status — Current auroral activity level and estimated equatorial boundary
  • D-RAP — Disturbed ionosphere absorption; high absorption can degrade HF conditions
  • Particle Flux — Proton flux ≥10 MeV and electron flux >2 MeV from NOAA/SWPC
  • Radio Blackout Forecast — R-scale probability for next 24 hours (R1–R5)
  • Solar Flare Probabilities — C-class, M-class, X-class, and proton event probabilities

HF Band Conditions

Guardian includes an HF band conditions table derived from current solar indices and space-weather data.

  • Band-by-band overview: 160m, 80m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m, 6m
  • Day and night columns for each band — conditions differ significantly between solar illumination states
  • Condition labels: Good, Fair, Poor, based on current SFI, Kp, and solar-flux data
  • MUF/foF2 indicators — heuristic reference values for maximum usable frequency and critical frequency context
  • GIRO reference: GIRO is noted as an ionospheric-data reference for MUF/foF2 context

Important note: The band conditions table is a heuristic estimate based on publicly available NOAA/SWPC data. It is designed for at-a-glance orientation, not precision forecasting. For critical planning, supplement with real-time propagation tools and local observations.

Ionospheric Data

  • MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) — heuristic reference value
  • foF2 (Critical Frequency) — heuristic reference value
  • GIRO noted as an ionospheric-data reference

Aurora Status

  • Current aurora activity level (Quiet, Active, Storm)
  • A-index (geomagnetic activity measure)
  • Aurora at local reference location — estimated aurora visibility from your selected location

Satellite Tracking

Guardian’s satellite tracking is built around your selected local reference location.

  • ISS and CSS — Always-on tracking with live AOS/LOS and in/out-of-view status
  • SAT 1 and SAT 2 — Optional satellite overlays with footprint rings and orbit trails
  • Custom satellite entry — Add any satellite by NORAD catalog ID or paste a TLE directly. CelesTrak lookup runs automatically when you enter a NORAD ID.
  • Satellite tooltips — Lat/lon, altitude, speed, perigee/apogee, inclination, period, eccentricity, TLE source
  • AOS/LOS countdown — hh:mm:ss format for selected satellites relative to your local reference location

Local Reference Context

  • Enter latitude/longitude, city, and state; radio users may also enter a callsign
  • All satellite in-view determinations computed relative to your selected location
  • Station context persists between sessions

Custom Ticker & Live Feeds

  • Add your own ticker text for local notes or reminders
  • Configure up to 5 public RSS or XML feed URLs
  • Adjust ticker scroll speed
  • Useful for public bulletins, organization announcements, space-weather updates, operational notes, or any public XML/RSS source
  • Feeds load best-effort; some sources may be restricted by browser CORS policy

Weather Context

  • Sunrise and sunset times for your selected location
  • Moon phase display
  • Local time and UTC reference
  • Temperature, humidity, and wind conditions at your selected location

Help & Keyboard Shortcuts

  • H or F1 — Open the in-app Help overlay
  • I — Open the Info / Quick Start panel
  • Additional shortcuts listed in the Help overlay

Offline Behavior

Guardian continues to function with reduced capability if internet connectivity is lost.

Continues working:

  • Satellite propagation using last-known TLEs
  • Local reference marker, clocks, and map rendering
  • Last-good space weather values remain displayed

Pauses until connectivity returns:

  • NOAA/SWPC space weather data refresh
  • TLE updates from CelesTrak
  • Custom RSS/XML ticker feeds
  • Weather data at the selected location

Data Sources

Guardian combines local computation with authoritative public data feeds.

  • NOAA/SWPC — Space weather data: Kp index, solar flux, solar wind (ACE/DSCOVR), IMF, aurora, D-RAP, particle flux, radio blackout forecasts, solar flare probabilities
  • CelesTrak — Orbital elements (TLE/OMM) for ISS, CSS, and custom satellites
  • satellite.js — SGP4 orbital propagation library (MIT license)
  • GIRO — Ionospheric-data reference for MUF/foF2 context
  • Clocks and astronomical data — Computed locally using browser Intl APIs and on-device calculations

Full attribution and licensing details: Guardian Third-Party Notices & Data Credits

What Guardian Is Not

Guardian is a display and awareness tool. It is intentionally scoped:

  • Not a contact logger or communications workflow tool
  • Not a replacement for station-control, radio-control, or logging software
  • Not a DX Cluster console
  • Not a generic SDR interface
  • Not designed for safety-critical decision making

Version

Current version: v1.0

See Guardian Release Notes for the full change history.

Support

If you need help, contact us via the Contact page. Include your order number, browser, OS, and a description of what you’re seeing.