Terms of Service

1. These terms

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and Chris Hawk (W7CWH), an individual in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, who operates ShackOS (“ShackOS”, “we”, “us”). They cover the ShackOS web application at shackos.app, the website at shackos.net, the ShackOS AllStar agent, and any related service (together, the “Service”).

You accept these Terms by ticking the box when you create an account, or by using the Service. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your information and forms part of these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Who can use ShackOS

• Age. You must be at least 13 years old. If you are under 18 (or under the age of majority where you live), a parent or legal guardian must agree to these Terms on your behalf, and is responsible for your use of the Service.
• License. ShackOS is for licensed amateur radio operators. The callsign you register must be one currently assigned to you by your country’s licensing authority.
• Sanctions. You may not use the Service if you are located in, or ordinarily resident in, a country or region subject to comprehensive US sanctions, or if you are on a US government list of restricted parties.

3. Your account

• Give accurate information, and keep it up to date.
• An account is for one person. Do not share it, and do not let anyone else sign in as you.
• Keep your password secret. You are responsible for what happens under your account. Tell us straight away if you think someone else has access to it.
• We may review new accounts before they are opened, and may decline one at our discretion.

4. A free beta

ShackOS is in beta and is currently free. Features may change, be limited to some accounts (“early access”), or be withdrawn. If we introduce paid plans, we will tell you in advance, and nothing will be charged unless you explicitly agree to pay. Paid plans would come with their own terms, which we would show you first.

5. Your content

“Your Content” means what you put into ShackOS: your log, equipment, notes, settings, messages to Elmer, park notes, and anything else you enter or upload.

• You own Your Content. These Terms do not give us ownership of it.
• You give us permission to use it to run the Service for you. That is, a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, copy, process, display and transmit Your Content as needed to provide the Service — including sending it to the services you connect and to our service providers, such as our AI provider when you use Elmer — as described in the Privacy Policy. This permission ends when Your Content is deleted, except for copies in backups until they are overwritten.
• Park notes you write are shown to other ShackOS users with your callsign and name, and remain your responsibility.
• You must have the right to put Your Content into ShackOS, including information about other people in your log and Rolodex.
• Back it up. Export your log regularly as ADIF. We take reasonable care of your data, but you should not rely on ShackOS as your only copy.
• Feedback. If you send us ideas or suggestions, we may use them without any obligation to you.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• break the law, including the rules that govern amateur radio where you operate;
• register or use a callsign that is not yours, or impersonate anyone;
• access, or try to access, another person’s account or data, or parts of the Service you are not authorised to use;
• probe, scan or test the Service’s security, or interfere with or overload it;
• scrape or harvest data from the Service, or access it by automated means other than features we provide for that purpose;
• upload malware, or anything that infringes someone else’s rights;
• post park notes or other content that is abusive, harassing, hateful, misleading or spam;
• try to make Elmer reveal other users’ data, ignore his instructions, or produce harmful content; or use Elmer in a way that breaks Anthropic’s Usage Policy, which applies to your use of Elmer;
• copy, resell or build a competing product from the Service, or reverse engineer it except where the law allows.

7. You are the station licensee

ShackOS is a set of tools. It never transmits on its own, and it is not your control operator. You, as the licensee and control operator of your station, are solely responsible for every transmission made from it, including any made through features of the Service such as AllStar node control or radio control, and for complying with the rules that apply to you (in the United States, the FCC’s Part 97).

Band conditions, frequency suggestions, license-privilege warnings, spots and anything Elmer says are aids, not guarantees. A privilege check can be wrong or incomplete, and a forecast is an estimate. Before you transmit, confirm for yourself that you are allowed to.

8. Elmer and AI-generated content

• Elmer is an AI. When you use Elmer or the Help assistant, you are interacting with an artificial intelligence system (Anthropic’s Claude), not a person.
• Elmer is optional. You do not have to use him to use ShackOS.
• His answers can be wrong. They are generated automatically and may be inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, even though he is designed to say when he does not know. Do not rely on factual statements from Elmer without checking them independently.
• Not professional advice. Nothing Elmer says is legal, regulatory, engineering, electrical or safety advice. Antenna and tower work, mains electricity, RF exposure and lightning protection can kill: follow the applicable codes and use qualified professionals.
• Actions you ask for are yours. If you ask Elmer to do something on your behalf, such as connecting an AllStar node, you are responsible for confirming it is what you want.
• How your data is handled when you use Elmer is set out in the Privacy Policy.

9. Other services

ShackOS works with services run by others, including QRZ.com, HamQTH, Callook, Parks on the Air, PSK Reporter, DX clusters, NOAA, HamQSL and AllStarLink. We do not control them, and are not responsible for their availability, accuracy or what they do with information they receive. Your use of them is governed by their own terms, and some need your own account or subscription. ShackOS is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them, or by Summits on the Air; their names are trademarks of their owners.

10. Software you install

If you install the ShackOS AllStar agent, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and run it on equipment you control, only to use it with the Service. It connects outward to ShackOS and may update itself. You are responsible for the system you install it on. You may uninstall it at any time.

11. Our property

The Service, including its software, design, text, graphics and the ShackOS name and logo, belongs to us or our licensors and is protected by law. Apart from the rights these Terms give you, no rights are granted to you.

12. Copyright complaints

If you believe content in ShackOS infringes your copyright, send a notice to [email protected] with: your contact details; a description of the work; where the material is in ShackOS; a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorised; a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorised to act for the owner; and your physical or electronic signature. If your content was removed and you believe that was a mistake, you can send a counter-notice. We will end the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.

13. Ending your use

• You can stop using ShackOS and delete your account in Settings at any time. What happens to your information is set out in the Privacy Policy.
• We may suspend or close your account if you break these Terms, if your use creates a risk to others or to the Service, or if the law requires it. Where it is reasonable to do so, we will tell you first and give you a chance to export your log.
• We may change or discontinue the Service. If we discontinue it, we will give you at least 30 days’ notice by email so you can export your data, unless that is impossible.
• Sections 5 (the backup and feedback points), 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16 and 17 continue to apply after your use ends.

14. Disclaimer of warranties

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, as a beta. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement, and any warranty that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure or error-free, that data will not be lost, or that forecasts, spots, lookups or AI-generated content will be accurate or reliable.

15. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits, goodwill or use, or for equipment damage, fines or regulatory action, arising from or related to the Service, even if we were told they were possible. Our total liability for all claims relating to the Service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for the Service in the 12 months before the claim, or US$50.

Some places do not allow some of these exclusions or limits. Where that is so, they apply only as far as the law allows. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, such as for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence where the law does not permit that to be limited.

16. Indemnity

You agree to defend and indemnify us against claims, losses and reasonable costs (including legal fees) brought by third parties that arise from Your Content, your transmissions, or your breach of these Terms or of the law.

17. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Arizona, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Before starting any legal claim, please contact us and give us 30 days to try to resolve it informally. Any claim that is not resolved must be brought in the state or federal courts located in Maricopa County, Arizona, and you and we consent to their jurisdiction; either of us may instead bring a claim in a small-claims court that has jurisdiction.

If you are a consumer living outside the United States, nothing in these Terms takes away the protection of mandatory consumer laws of the country where you live, or your right to bring a claim in its courts where those laws give you that right.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. For a material change, we will email you at least 14 days before it takes effect; minor changes, such as clarifications, take effect when posted. The effective date at the top shows the current version. If you keep using the Service after a change takes effect, you accept the new Terms; if you do not agree, you can delete your account. A change does not apply to a dispute that arose before it.

19. General

• These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and us about the Service.
• If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect.
• If we do not enforce a term straight away, we have not given up the right to enforce it later.
• You may not transfer your rights under these Terms. We may transfer ours to someone who takes over the Service, and will tell you if we do.
• We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.

20. Contact

Chris Hawk, W7CWH · Phoenix, Arizona, USA · [email protected] · contact form.