Offline repeater apps: how to choose one

Why offline matters

• Mountains and back roads. VHF and UHF repeaters sit on high ground, often far from mobile masts, and the valleys you drive through on the way are where coverage drops first.
• Emergencies. When power fails or a network is overloaded, mobile data is among the first things to go, and a repeater is among the last.
• Roaming abroad. Data can be expensive or simply switched off, and a foreign band plan is exactly when you need the shift and tone written down for you.
• Field days, portable operation and long drives, where you want a list that does not drain the battery looking for a signal.

Offline list or offline map

"Works offline" can mean very different things. The essential part is the data: frequencies, shift, tones and digital parameters stored on the phone, searchable with no connection. A map is a second layer. Map tiles take far more storage than a repeater database, so many apps keep the list on the device but load the map from the network, or let you download map areas in advance.

Both approaches can work. What matters is knowing which one you have. A list sorted by distance from your GPS position is often all you need in a car; a map helps when you are choosing a summit or checking which side of a ridge a repeater sits on.

What to check

Coverage of the database

Check the countries and regions you actually operate in, not the headline total. Coverage is rarely even: a directory can be dense in one country and thin in the next. Look up a few repeaters you know well and see whether they are there and correct.

How the data is kept current

Repeaters change tone, move site and go off the air. Ask where the data comes from — national coordinators, network registries, operators — and how often the copy on your phone is refreshed. A date on each station, showing when it was last updated, is the single most useful signal of whether you can trust it.

Corrections

Every directory has errors. The question is how fast they are fixed. Prefer an app that lets you report a wrong tone or a dead machine from the station itself, and that reviews those reports before publishing them, so one mistaken report does not overwrite good data.

Filters and search

You want to see only what your radio can work: filtering by band and by mode (FM, DMR, C4FM, D-STAR) removes most of the noise. Search by frequency, callsign or town saves time when someone gives you a repeater over the air.

Complete access parameters

An entry is only useful if it is complete: output, shift and direction, CTCSS on transmit and receive, DCS code and polarity, and for digital modes the colour code, talkgroups or DG-ID. A frequency with no tone is a frequency you will hear and never open.

Distance and direction from where you are

With GPS working offline, a good app sorts repeaters by distance and tells you which way they lie. That is the difference between a list and an answer when you have just stopped on an unfamiliar road.

Privacy and permissions

An app like this needs your location. Read the privacy policy to see whether that location stays on the device or is sent to a server, and whether you need an account just to browse.

Platforms and cost

Check that the app runs on the phones you and your club actually use. Then look at the cost model: a one-off price, a subscription, or a free tier with paid extras. None is wrong, but you should know which features, offline ones especially, sit behind the paywall before you rely on them.

A checklist before you rely on one

1. Install it at home, on Wi-Fi, and let it finish downloading its data.
2. Download any map areas you need for the trip, if the app offers them.
3. Switch the phone to airplane mode, keep location on, and try a search, a filter and the map.
4. Look up three repeaters you know and check their tones and shifts.
5. Check when the entries were last updated.
6. Program the repeaters you expect to use into the radio memories as well. A phone battery is a single point of failure.

Alternatives

There are several good sources of repeater data. Long-established directories such as RepeaterBook, the lists published by national societies and coordinators, and the frequency files that ship with radio programming software all have their place. Many operators use more than one, and cross-checking a repeater in two sources is a sensible habit.

Where HamQRG fits

HamQRG is our own app, for iOS and Android, so read this section with that in mind. The repeater database lives on the phone, so search, filters and every access parameter work with no signal. Each station shows when it was last updated; the data comes from national coordination bodies, network registries and corrections sent in by operators, which are reviewed before they are published. Browsing needs no account. Your GPS position is used on the device to work out distances and directions, not stored on our servers.

Pro is a subscription handled by the App Store or Google Play and can be cancelled at any time. Coverage is not uniform across the world; the country pages on this site show how many repeaters the database holds where you are going, so you can judge before installing.