Tune the radio to a frequency (type MHz in the readout)¶

Type a frequency directly into the RX Controls applet to move the active slice's VFO to any frequency within the radio's tuning range.

Before you start¶

AetherSDR must be connected to a FLEX-8600 radio. If not, go to Settings > Connect to Radio....
The RX Controls applet must be visible. If it is not, click the RX tray button on the right sidebar.
Make sure the slice you want to tune is not locked. If the lock icon shows 🔒, click it to unlock before proceeding (see Lock the slice to prevent accidental retuning).

Steps¶

If you have more than one slice, click the appropriate slice tab (A, B, C, etc.) at the top of the RX Controls applet to select the slice you want to tune.
Click the Frequency label (the dotted readout, e.g. 0.000.000). It switches into edit mode, becoming the Frequency edit field.
Type the desired frequency in MHz. For example, type 14.225 for 14.225 MHz.
Press Enter. The slice tunes to the entered frequency and the panadapter recenters on it.

To cancel without changing frequency, press Escape. The editor closes and the previous frequency is restored.

What each control does¶

Control	Behavior	Default
Frequency label	Displays the current VFO frequency with dotted grouping. Click to enter edit mode.	`0.000.000`
Frequency edit	Text field. Enter a frequency in MHz and press Enter to tune and recenter. Escape cancels.	—
STEP	Sets the step size used when nudging the frequency with the `<` / `>` buttons or the mouse wheel.	100 Hz
Filter width presets	Click a preset button to apply that filter bandwidth for the current mode. Right-click a preset to save the current width into that slot. Buttons are hidden in FM, NFM, and DFM modes.	—
## Slice tab and badge colors

From v0.9.3, slice tab buttons and the Slice badge indicator take their border, active background, and text color from the SliceColorManager singleton rather than a fixed color table. Colors are configurable per slice, persist across sessions, and are reflected consistently in the slice tab buttons, the Slice badge, VFO widgets, and meter strips.

Slice tab row behavior on reconnect¶

From v0.9.5.1, the slice tab row is rebuilt correctly whenever the number of available slices changes — for example, after a disconnect and reconnect or when the radio reports a different slice count. The previous implementation skipped rebuilding if any tab buttons already existed, which could leave stale buttons on screen.

The updated behavior works as follows:

If the new slice count matches the number of existing tab buttons, the row is left unchanged.
If the counts differ, the existing tab buttons are torn down (clearSliceButtons()) before new buttons are created.
On teardown, the tab row is hidden and the static Slice badge is restored.
The signal connection that maps button clicks to sliceActivationRequested is established only once per applet instance, regardless of how many times the tab row is rebuilt. This prevents duplicate signal handlers accumulating across reconnects.

No user action is required to take advantage of this fix. The tab row updates automatically.

Filter width preset storage format¶

From v0.9.5.1, filter width presets can store either a plain bandwidth value or an explicit low-edge/high-edge pair. This matches the storage format used by VfoWidget and allows presets saved from VfoWidget to be loaded correctly in the RX Controls applet.

The FilterPresets setting for each mode (stored under the key FilterPresets_<mode>, e.g. FilterPresets_USB) accepts a comma-separated list of entries in either of the following formats:

Format	Example	Meaning
`width`	`2700`	Bandwidth in Hz; edges are calculated from the mode's default alignment.
`lo:hi`	`-1350:1350`	Explicit passband edges in Hz relative to the carrier. Both values must be integers and `hi` must be greater than `lo`.

Entries that do not conform to either format, or where hi <= lo, are silently skipped. The applet loads at most six presets per mode.

You do not normally need to edit these values by hand. Right-clicking a Filter width presets button saves the current filter width into that slot using the appropriate format automatically.

NT mode¶

v0.9.3 adds the NT mode to the mode selector. NT behaves as a digital mode in the following ways:

It uses the same filter width presets and step sizes as DIGU and DIGL.
Filter width is calculated from the high-edge value (same as USB, DIGU, and FDV).
The SQL button and squelch level slider are disabled while NT is active, and any active squelch is turned off automatically (same behavior as DIGU and DIGL).

Tips¶

You do not need to type trailing zeros. 14.2 is interpreted as 14.200 MHz.
To move frequency in small steps without retyping, use the < and > buttons next to STEP, or scroll the mouse wheel over the Frequency label after tuning.
The step size list changes when you switch modes. Changing the Mode combo resets the step presets to values appropriate for that mode.

Troubleshooting¶

The Frequency edit field does not appear when I click the readout — The slice may be locked. Check whether the lock icon shows 🔒. If so, click it to unlock, then click the frequency readout again.
The frequency I typed was ignored — You may have pressed Escape instead of Enter, or entered a value outside the valid range (0.001–54.000 MHz on a standard antenna, up to 450.000 MHz on a transverter antenna). Re-enter the value and press Enter.
The panadapter did not follow the new frequency — Check that View > Pan Follows VFO is enabled.
The SQL button is greyed out after switching to NT mode — This is expected. NT is a digital mode; squelch is disabled automatically, the same as for DIGU and DIGL.
Slice tab buttons show the wrong slices after reconnecting — This was a known issue in versions before v0.9.5.1. Update to v0.9.5.1 or later; the tab row now rebuilds itself automatically when the slice count changes.