What FT8 Hero is, what it is not, and what remains yours — above all, everything your station transmits.
Last updated 1 September 2026
These terms cover FT8 Hero and the Combo DX subscription, operated by QSL World (“we”, “us”). By creating an account or using the software you agree to them. If you do not, do not use the service.
FT8 Hero lets you see and operate your own amateur radio station remotely. It runs on the computer beside your radio, reads what WSJT-X or JTDX reports, and presses their controls on your behalf when you ask it to from a phone or browser. It is a remote control for a station you already own and are licensed to operate. It is not a station, not a transmitter, and not a substitute for your own licence.
This is the most important term here. You remain the control operator of your station at all times. Everything your station transmits is your responsibility and is transmitted under your callsign and your licence, exactly as if you had typed it yourself.
You are responsible for operating within your licence class, your permitted bands, modes and power, and every rule your national regulator applies to you. We cannot know your licence, your country or your antenna, and nothing in this software checks any of them.
Remote operation — a licensed operator controlling their own station from another place, over a control link, able to stop it — is permitted in most jurisdictions. Unattended or fully automatic operation, where a station transmits with nobody supervising it, is generally not permitted on the bands and modes FT8 is used on, and is separately regulated where it is allowed at all.
In the United States, for example, the FCC requires a control operator at a control point whenever a station transmits, and permits automatic control only for particular kinds of station and in particular sub-bands (47 CFR §97.109 and §97.221). Other countries word it differently and some are stricter. It is your responsibility to know what applies to you, and to operate accordingly.
FT8 Hero is built for remote operation with you present and paying attention. Do not use it to leave a transmitter running unsupervised.
The software includes a safeguard we call the operator presence timeout. When FT8 Hero itself has armed your transmitter, it watches for evidence that a person is still watching — a phone with the page open, or a recent instruction. If that evidence stops arriving, it halts transmission and disarms the transmitter.
Please understand what this is and is not:
You must be able to shut your station down by other means — at the radio, at the power, or otherwise — and you must not rely on this feature as your only way of stopping a transmission.
FT8 Hero does not decode or transmit anything itself. It reads the messages WSJT-X and JTDX broadcast, and operates their on-screen controls. That means:
FT8 Hero and Combo DX, which adds Auto FT8 and a QSL World account, are annual subscriptions at the price shown at checkout. Both renew automatically each year at the then-current price until cancelled. We will tell you in advance if the price changes at renewal.
One subscription licenses one computer — the machine running the FT8 Hero agent beside your radio. You may connect as many phones, tablets and browsers to it as you like, and you may move the licence to a different computer yourself from your account page. Sharing a licence key so that more than one computer is running on one subscription is not permitted.
The software is free to download and to use on your own station before you pay anything. The application itself tells you if and when a subscription is needed.
Once you subscribe, payments are non-refundable, including part-years. Please use the software before deciding.
You can cancel at any time and it is deliberately easy. Cancel from the receipt Stripe emailed you, or from your PayPal account. Cancelling stops the next renewal; your licence keeps working normally until the end of the year you have already paid for. You do not have to email anybody, give a reason, or wait for us to act. Anything else about your subscription, write to support@ft8hero.com.
We will email you about your account and your service: your licence key, receipts, renewal reminders, password resets, and occasional notices about updates, changes or problems affecting QSL World solutions you use.
We do not send marketing email, and we do not sell, rent or share your details with anybody for marketing. Service emails of this kind are necessary to provide what you have paid for; if you do not want them, cancel the subscription.
You agree not to: use the service without a valid amateur radio licence for the transmissions you make; operate a station you are not authorised to operate; interfere with other users or with the relay; attempt to bypass licensing, share keys, or run more computers than you have paid for; or use the service for anything unlawful. We may suspend or end an account that does these things.
We run the relay on a best-effort basis and do not promise it will always be available. If the relay is unreachable, a licensed installation keeps working for a period without it rather than stopping. Remote operation depends on your internet connection, your computer, your radio and third-party services, none of which we control.
The software and service are provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind. We do not warrant that they will be uninterrupted, error-free, or fit for any particular purpose. To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability to you for any claim relating to the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss — including loss of contacts, logs, awards, equipment damage, or any consequence of a transmission your station made.
Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
Your contacts and log data are yours. We process them only to provide the service and, where you have asked for it, to send them to QSL World or QRZ on your behalf.
We may update these terms. If a change materially affects you we will tell you by email or in the app before it takes effect. Continuing to use the service after that means you accept the change; if you do not, cancel.
You may stop using the service and delete your account at any time by asking us. We may end an account that breaches these terms. On ending, your right to use the software stops; sections that by their nature survive — liability, responsibility for your own transmissions — continue to apply.
The software and the subscription are sold by Andrei Ivanoff (KO4ZHL), an individual trading as QSL World / FT8 Hero, 1535 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Louisiana and the federal laws of the United States, and any dispute is brought in the courts of Louisiana, without prejudice to consumer protections that apply where you live and cannot be excluded.
Questions about these terms: support@ft8hero.com.