Quick answers for common questions.

Your best bet is to get a receiver that is pre-programmed with the SPOT from your organization.

If you're on your own and want to buy a receiver, SPOT runs on consumer amateur radio hardware from a manufacturer named Quansheng. Supported models are the Quansheng UV-K5(8) and UV-K6. These are basically the same device which are branded slightly differently. Be sure they are the latest version, v3, with 2MB of storage. Older versions or variants of the unit are not supported. Please be careful when purchasing.

Unfortunately, no. We are not able to sell or distribute the hardware.

The body of the receiver has a male SMA connector. You'll need an adapter for use with a BNC connector. The SPOT manual covers this.

Yes! Dealing with low level firmware on devices like this can result in the receiver becoming inoperable. If you flash new firmware onto the unit, you do so at your own risk. Please see our disclaimer.

You can, but I wouldn't. If you have more than a handful of channels (tags) that you want to program into SPOT, it becomes a very laborious process - particularly entering names. You will be much better off using SPOT Tools to program your unit.

Yes. SPOT Tools can read a spreadsheet with channel information, list information, and even receiver settings, and send that to the device. You'll need to copy and paste information from your spreadsheet into the format that SPOT Tools expects. More information on the details can be found here.

Probably. SPOT Tools has it's own JSON format which you can read about here. It's fairly straightforward so producing it from information in a database should not be difficult. The app also reads Excel files which you may prefer.

We can help you get over hurdles you may have. Please contact us with questions.

Let us know about it, but we can't promise if or when it will be implemented.

Please inform us know about it. We'll put it on our list and let you know if there is a workaround.

Let us know about it, but we can't promise if or when it will be implemented.

Please inform us know about it. We'll put it on our list and let you know if there is a workaround.

SPOT and SPOT Tools are free, but you'll need to source the hardware (the physical receiver). As of 2026-06, these can be had for about $30.

Testing is our biggest need right now, along with review of the documentation. Please let us know about issues in SPOT Tools, SPOT, the manuals, or the site.

We aren't quite ready yet to take software contributions, but that is coming.

Please take a look at our JSON File Specification and our Excel File Specification. You can also save files from SPOT Tools to get as many examples as you'd like.

No problem, just reach out to us and we'll do our best to answer.