Check Radio Serial, Hardware Version, Region and Options

The Radio tab in Radio Setup shows identifying information reported directly by the radio — serial number, hardware version, regulatory region, and licensed options. Use this page to verify what hardware and options your radio has before troubleshooting or contacting support.

Before you start

• AetherSDR must be connected to the radio. The Radio tab fields are populated from live radio data.

Steps

1. Click Settings > Radio Setup....
2. The dialog opens on the Radio tab by default.
3. Read the values in the Radio Information group:
4. Radio SN — the chassis serial number.
5. HW Version — the hardware version string reported by the radio.
6. Region — the radio's regulatory region (defaults to USA if the radio does not report one).
7. Options — the licensed options active on this radio (for example, GPS, PGXL).

What each control does

Label	Kind	Behavior
Radio SN	Indicator (read-only)	Chassis serial number as reported by the radio.
HW Version	Indicator (read-only)	Hardware version string prefixed with v.
Region	Indicator (read-only)	Regulatory region. Displays USA if the radio reports none.
Options	Indicator (read-only)	Licensed radio options.
TX Follows Active Slice	Push button	TX follows the active slice. Mutually exclusive with Active Slice Follows TX. Disabled automatically during Split operation.
Active Slice Follows TX	Push button	Switches the active slice when TX moves externally (e.g. WSJT-X or CAT). Mutually exclusive with TX Follows Active Slice.
Voice / CW / Digital filter sharpness sliders	Slider	Sets filter sharpness (0=lowest latency to 3=sharpest) per mode; slider is disabled when Auto is enabled. Commands sent as radio filter_sharpness <mode> level=<N>.
Auto (Voice / CW / Digital)	Toggle button	Enables automatic filter-level selection for that mode; disables the manual sharpness slider. Commands sent as radio filter_sharpness <mode> auto_level=1.
Connect / Disconnect (TGXL)	Push button	Opens/closes direct TCP connection to the TGXL on port 9010. Saves IP and port to TGXL_ManualIp and TGXL_ManualPort on connect so AetherSDR auto-reconnects on startup. Required to recover TUNE on firmware 4.2+. When connected, the TUNE button sends the native autotune command directly to the TGXL instead of the radio-side tgxl autotune handle=<H> path broken in firmware 4.2. The TGXL drives radio PTT via its hardware interlock cable; no client-side keying is needed. If the IP field is empty and the radio has discovered the TGXL, the discovered IP is pre-filled.
Connect / Disconnect (PGXL)	Push button	Opens/closes direct TCP connection to the Power Genius XL (default port 9008). Saves IP and port to PGXL_ManualIp and PGXL_ManualPort.
Connect / Disconnect (Antenna Genius)	Push button	Opens/closes connection to the Antenna Genius (default port 9007). Saves IP and port to AG_ManualIp and AG_ManualPort. The row shows "Connected" only when the connected device is a non-ShackSwitch Antenna Genius. If a ShackSwitch is the connected device, this row's status is hidden.
Connect / Disconnect (ShackSwitch)	Push button	Opens/closes connection to a ShackSwitch antenna switch via the AG UDP/TCP protocol on port 9007. Saves IP to SS_ManualIp and port to SS_ControlPort. ShackSwitch is detected by the ShackSwitch field in the AG broadcast beacon. Auto-discovery via UDP also works without this row. The row shows "Connected" only when the connected device is identified as a ShackSwitch; the row is hidden from "Connected" status if a non-ShackSwitch Antenna Genius is the connected device.
⚙ Web UI (ShackSwitch)	Push button	Opens the ShackSwitch device's local web configuration interface in the system browser. Uses the beacon's webPort if greater than 1024, otherwise falls back to SS_WebPort or port 5000. The button reads the IP from SS_ManualIp or, if empty, from the live peer address when the connected device is a ShackSwitch.
Select Installer...	Push button	Opens a file picker that accepts .msi (FlexRadio v4.2+ WiX installer), .exe (older self-extracting installer), or a pre-extracted .ssdr firmware file. The firmware stager auto-detects format from the first 8 bytes (OLE/MSI magic vs PE/COFF MZ) and extracts the .ssdr without external tools. Label changed from Browse .ssdr... in v0.9.3.
APD (tab)	Tab	External Adaptive Pre-Distortion sampler configuration — per-TX-antenna selection of the feedback sample port (INTERNAL / RX_A / RX_B / XVTA / XVTB) and an equalizer reset button. Tab is hidden unless the radio reports apd configurable=1. Only FLEX-8x00 series with SmartSDR 4.2.18+ firmware exposes this; 6000-series and pre-4.2.18 radios keep the tab invisible.
ANT1 / ANT2 / XVTA / XVTB sampler combos (APD)	Combo box	Selects the feedback path the radio uses to sample the outgoing RF for APD training for that TX antenna. Choose an external RX/XVTR input when driving an external linear amplifier. Options are populated live from the radio's apd sampler sub-object. Falls back to INTERNAL if the radio reports an unrecognised value.
Equalizer Reset (APD)	Push button	Sends apd reset to the radio, clearing all per-antenna APD training data so adaptation starts fresh.
Themes (tab)	Tab	UI customization tab — currently hosts the Slice Colors section.
Use Aether defaults / Custom colors	Radio button	Switches the slice color scheme between the built-in AetherSDR palette and a fully custom per-slice set. Backed by SliceColorManager::useCustomColors().
Slice A–H color buttons	Push button	Click any lettered button (A–H) to open a color picker and assign a custom color for that slice. Changes are visible immediately in VFO widgets, panadapter overlays, and CAT channel badges. Buttons are disabled when Use Aether defaults is selected. Up to 8 slices.
Reset All to Defaults (Themes)	Push button	Resets all custom slice colors to the built-in AetherSDR palette.

All four Radio Information fields are read-only. No persisted settings keys are associated with them.

Firmware tab — selecting an installer or firmware file (v0.9.3)

In v0.9.3 the Browse .ssdr... button was renamed Select Installer.... The button now accepts the full SmartSDR installer package in addition to a pre-extracted .ssdr file, so you no longer need to extract the firmware manually before uploading.

To stage firmware for upload:

1. Click Check for Update. If an update is available, the status label instructs you to download the SmartSDR installer from flexradio.com.
2. Download the installer from flexradio.com (.msi for SmartSDR 4.2 and later, .exe for older releases).
3. Click Select Installer... and choose the downloaded file, or choose a pre-extracted .ssdr file if you have one.
4. AetherSDR reads the first 8 bytes of the file to detect whether it is an MSI package, a self-extracting EXE, or a raw .ssdr. The .ssdr payload is extracted automatically without external tools. Progress is shown in the progress bar and status label.
5. When staging completes, click Upload Firmware to transfer the firmware to the radio.

Note: In versions before v0.9.3, clicking Check for Update when an update was available converted the button into a Download vX.Y.Z button that downloaded and staged the firmware automatically. That behavior has been removed. You must download the installer from flexradio.com yourself and then use Select Installer... to stage it.

RX tab — frequency calibration

In v0.9.2.1 the calibration controls in the RX tab are always visible regardless of whether a GPSDO is installed. Previously, the Cal Frequency, Start, and Freq Offset fields were hidden when a GPSDO was detected. The status banner at the top of the group now reads:

• GPSDO installed — "GPSDO installed. Manual frequency offset calibration available." (green text)
• No GPSDO — "Manual frequency offset calibration available." (amber text)

The following controls are now available in both configurations:

Label	Kind	Behavior
Cal Frequency (MHz):	Spinbox	Frequency used for calibration. Enter the known reference frequency before clicking Start.
Start	Push button	Starts the frequency calibration sequence. The button is disabled and its label changes to Busy while calibration is in progress. Before triggering the PLL sweep, AetherSDR resets the radio's frequency error to zero (radio set freq_error_ppb=0) and then issues radio pll_start. If the Cal Frequency field is empty, the button shows a warning and takes no action.
Freq Offset (ppb):	Spinbox	Manual frequency offset in parts per billion, applied after calibration completes or set directly for manual correction.

A status label appears to the right of the Start button and updates throughout the calibration sequence:

State	Text	Color
Idle	(empty)	—
Cal frequency not entered	"Enter cal frequency"	Amber
Sequence started	"Starting…"	Grey-blue
In progress	Updated as PLL state is reported by the radio	Grey-blue

The Start button is re-enabled and its label reverts to Start when the calibration sequence completes or fails.

RX tab — 10 MHz reference source (v0.9.7)

In v0.9.7 the 10 MHz Reference Source: combo box and its accompanying lock-status label were updated to handle a wider range of oscillator states reported by the radio.

Combo box population: The list of available sources is now built dynamically each time the tab opens or the radio's oscillator state changes. Sources appear in the combo only if the radio reports the relevant hardware as present, if the current setting or active state uses that source, or if oscillator status has been received (in which case TCXO and External 10 MHz are always included as options). The fixed options from earlier versions — which could show sources the radio did not have — are no longer used.

Source value	Label shown in combo
auto	Auto
tcxo	TCXO
gpsdo	GPSDO
external / ext	External 10 MHz

Lock-status label: The label to the right of the combo now shows richer state information:

Condition	Text shown	Color
No oscillator status received yet	"Waiting for oscillator status"	Grey-blue
Source locked	<source> Locked	Green (#00c040)
Source unlocked	<source> Unlocked	Red (#c04040)
Auto mode has selected a source	Auto -> <resolved source> Locked/Unlocked	Green or red
Setting and active state differ	<setting> -> <active> Locked/Unlocked	Green or red
External selected but no signal detected	`External 10 MHz