The Connection Panel is the main screen for discovering and connecting to a FLEX-8600 radio. It provides three connection modes: Local (LAN discovery), SmartLink (remote via internet), and Manual (direct IP or VPN). The panel appears automatically when AetherSDR starts and no radio is connected, or you can open it at any time from Settings > Connect to Radio....
Open Network Diagnostics — Opens a diagnostics dialog for troubleshooting network connectivity.
Retry Discovery — Re-runs LAN discovery on the Local page.
Disconnect — Disconnects from the current radio and returns to the connection panel.
Connect to last radio on start up — When checked (default), AetherSDR automatically reconnects to the last used radio on startup. When unchecked, the connection panel opens each session.
Enable adaptive frame-rate throttle — When checked, AetherSDR automatically reduces FFT and waterfall frame rates when network quality degrades, helping to maintain a stable connection on slower or congested links.
The connection panel now appears as a frameless dialog. Drag it by the title bar at the top.
SmartLinkEmail is persisted, so your email address is pre-filled on the next launch. Your password is never stored.
After signing in to SmartLink, the status label shows your name, callsign, or confirmation that you are signed in.
The Remote radios list is sized for compact display; scroll within the list if the radio you want is not immediately visible.
The Radio IP address field stores up to three recent addresses. If you previously used the LastRoutedRadioIp setting, AetherSDR imports it automatically the first time you open the Manual page after upgrading.
On the Local page, you can quickly switch to SmartLink or Manual mode using the shortcut buttons.
When switching to or from frameless mode, AetherSDR preserves the dialog geometry only if the dialog was visible at the time of the switch.
The SmartLink login form now includes accessibility hints for password managers (macOS Passwords, Windows Authenticator, KDE Wallet). The email and password fields are labeled as a "SmartLink login form" so credential managers can correctly scope the account pair.
Available radios list is empty — Ensure the radio is powered on and on the same local network. Click Retry Discovery to refresh the list.
Remote radios list is empty after sign-in — The remote radio may be powered off, not registered with SmartLink, or associated with a different FlexRadio account.
Sign In produces an error — Check that your email and password are correct. Verify your credentials at the FlexRadio website.
Cannot connect by IP — Ensure the radio is reachable on the network. Use Open Network Diagnostics to check connectivity.
AetherSDR connects to the wrong radio on startup — Uncheck Connect to last radio on start up if you want to choose a radio manually each session.