Panadapter overview¶

The panadapter displays a real-time FFT spectrum and waterfall for a radio slice, letting you visualise band activity and tune by clicking or dragging. Each panadapter can also show an optional CW decode panel that reads Morse off-air directly in the application, and an optional RTTY decode panel for RTTY/DIGL modes.

Before you start¶

AetherSDR must be connected to a FLEX-8600 radio. The panadapter requires an active radio connection.
For CW decoding, PC audio routing to AetherSDR must be configured. The panel displays a "(requires PC Audio)" reminder when this is not in place.

How it works¶

AetherSDR opens with one panadapter visible in the centre of the main window. It is always present; you cannot close the last panadapter. In multi-slice mode, additional panadapters appear, each in its own titled container. Every panadapter is bound to one slice (Slice A through Slice H), shown in the title bar. In Multi-Flex sessions, the title uses the radio-provided index letter so it matches the slice badge.

Spectrum and waterfall. The upper portion of the panadapter shows the FFT spectrum trace; below it is the waterfall. Click anywhere on the spectrum or waterfall to activate that panadapter. Drag to pan across the band. Scroll to zoom. The View > Single-Click to Tune and View > Pan Follows VFO menu items affect how clicking and scrolling interact with the VFO.

Title bar. The 16-pixel title bar across the top of each panadapter carries the slice label, a drag grip, and (in multi-slice mode) the pop-out, maximize, and close buttons. In single-pan mode those three buttons are hidden. The title bar uses theme-aware colour tokens for the gradient background and text labels.

Waterfall freeze behaviour. When any connected client begins transmitting, the waterfall freezes automatically. It unfreezes when transmission stops, eliminating the 10–23 second TX-trail artifact that previously appeared after unkeying.

Reconnection behaviour. On radio reconnect, the panadapter FPS and waterfall line duration are reasserted to prevent silently dropping to the radio's 10 Hz default.

CW decode panel. An optional panel can appear beneath the waterfall. It runs an off-air Morse decoder and displays decoded text in a rolling read-only field, colour-coded by decoder confidence. The panel is hidden by default and is enabled from the CW mode controls. See Turn on the CW decoder to read Morse off-air.

RTTY decode panel. An optional panel can appear beneath the waterfall when the slice mode is RTTY or DIGL. It displays decoded RTTY text in a rolling read-only field. The panel is hidden by default and is enabled from the RTTY/DIGL mode controls.

What each control does¶

Title bar¶

Control	Kind	Behavior	Notes
Slice title	Indicator	Shows the slice bound to this panadapter. Values: Slice A – Slice H. In Multi-Flex sessions, uses the radio-provided index letter.	—
⬈ / ↩ (pop-out/dock)	Button	Pops the panadapter into a floating window, or docks it back.	Hidden in single-pan mode. The floating window is frameless; drag via the in-app title strip, resize via the bottom-right size grip. On macOS, GPU resources are reset each float/dock cycle to keep the spectrum live.
□ (maximize)	Button	Maximizes this panadapter to fill the main layout area.	Hidden in single-pan mode.
× (close)	Button	Closes this panadapter.	Hidden in single-pan mode.

Spectrum / waterfall¶

Control	Kind	Behavior
Spectrum / waterfall	Display and drag area	Click to activate the panadapter. Drag to pan. Scroll to zoom.

CW decode panel¶

Control	Kind	Default	Valid range	Setting key	Behavior
CW stats label	Indicator	—	`<hz> Hz <wpm> WPM`	—	Shows the pitch and speed currently detected by the decoder.
Sens	Slider	30	0 – 100	`CwDecoderSensitivity`	Filters low-confidence decodes. Higher values are stricter. Internally maps the 0 – 100 range to a cost threshold of 1.0 – 0.1. Uses themed slider styling via `applyPrimarySliderStyle`.
🔒P (Lock Pitch)	Toggle button	Off	On / Off	—	Locks the decoder pitch to the currently tuned frequency.
🔒S (Lock Speed)	Toggle button	Off	On / Off	—	Locks the decoder speed to the current WPM reading.
Pitch (range slider)	Range slider	500 – 700 Hz	300 – 1200 Hz	—	Sets the minimum and maximum pitch the decoder searches. Uses a dual-handle slider; Lo and Hi are adjusted together.
WPM (range slider)	Range slider	15 – 40 WPM	5 – 60 WPM	—	Sets the minimum and maximum speed (WPM) the decoder searches. Uses a dual-handle slider.
CPY ALL	Button	—	—	—	Copies the full decoded text buffer to the clipboard.
CPY VIS	Button	—	—	—	Copies only the text currently visible in the scroll area to the clipboard.
CLR	Button	—	—	—	Clears the CW decode buffer.
× (close CW)	Button	—	—	—	Hides the CW decode panel.
CW decode text	Read-only text field	—	—	—	Rolling display of decoded Morse, colour-coded by confidence: green (<0.15 cost), yellow (<0.35), orange (<0.60), red (>=0.60). Right-click the text area to open a context menu; the menu includes standard text actions and a Clear item that clears the decode buffer.

TX-side CW decode¶

When your own transmitted signal is routed back through PC audio to AetherSDR, the decoder can also display your transmitted Morse. Your transmitted text appears in a distinct cyan colour (#5fc8ff) to differentiate it from received signals. A separator space is automatically inserted between receive and transmit text, and between transmit and receive text, to prevent the colour runs from visually merging.

Behaviour	Detail
TX text colour	Cyan (#5fc8ff)
Separator insertion	Automatic space added on TX→RX and RX→TX transitions
Confidence filter	Same `Sens` slider threshold applies to both receive and transmit paths

RTTY decode panel¶

Control	Kind	Default	Valid range	Setting key	Behavior
CPY ALL	Button	—	—	—	Copies the full decoded RTTY text buffer to the clipboard.
CPY VIS	Button	—	—	—	Copies only the RTTY text currently visible in the scroll area to the clipboard.
CLR	Button	—	—	—	Clears the RTTY decode buffer.
× (close RTTY)	Button	—	—	—	Hides the RTTY decode panel.
RTTY decode text	Read-only text field	—	—	—	Rolling display of decoded RTTY characters. Right-click the text area to open a context menu; the menu includes standard text actions and a Clear item that clears the decode buffer.

Theme integration¶

All visual elements of the panadapter now use theme-aware colour tokens instead of hardcoded hex values:

Container: The panadapter widget is registered with the theme system as applet/panadapter.
Title bar gradient: Uses {{color.text.disabled}}, {{color.background.1}} tokens.
Drag grip dots: Uses {{color.text.label}} token.
Slice title: Uses {{color.text.secondary}} token.
CW panel background: Uses {{color.background.0}} and {{color.background.1}} tokens.
CW title: Uses {{color.accent}} token.
CW hint: Uses {{color.meter.bar.fill}} token.
CW stats label: Uses {{color.text.label}} token.
Sensitivity slider: Styled via applyPrimarySliderStyle().

This ensures the panadapter appearance adapts to the selected theme without manual colour overrides.

Tips¶

The Pitch range slider constrains the frequency range the decoder searches. Narrowing this range around the expected CW tone reduces false decodes on a busy band.
The WPM range slider constrains the speed range the decoder searches. Narrowing this range around the expected sending speed reduces false decodes.
Decoded text colour reflects decoder confidence. Green text is the most reliable; red text should be treated with caution. Adjust Sens upward to suppress red and orange characters if noise is producing junk output.
CwDecoderSensitivity is persisted across sessions. You do not need to re-tune it each time you open the application.
You can clear the decode buffer from the keyboard-free right-click context menu on the decoded text area as an alternative to clicking CLR.
When viewing both transmitted and received CW in the same panel, the cyan TX text helps you identify your own keying. No textual "[TX]" prefix is added — colour alone distinguishes the source.
The RTTY decode panel automatically appears when the slice mode is set to RTTY or DIGL.