Enable the low-latency CW sidetone (Sidetone button drives both radio and local path)¶

Turning on the CW sidetone in AetherSDR enables two paths at once: the radio's DAX-fed monitor and a client-side tone generator with approximately 10 ms latency. A single button and a single volume slider control both in lockstep, so you hear a consistent tone regardless of network jitter.

Before you start¶

AetherSDR must be connected to the radio. The Phone/CW applet requires an active radio connection.
The active slice must be in a CW mode. The applet panel automatically switches from the Phone sub-panel to the CW sub-panel when CW mode is detected.

Steps¶

If the Phone/CW applet is not visible, click the P/CW tray button on the right sidebar to open it.
Confirm the CW sub-panel is displayed. If the Phone sub-panel is showing, switch the active slice to a CW mode on the radio; the panel switches automatically.
Click Sidetone to enable the sidetone. The button lights up when active.
Adjust the Sidetone volume slider to a comfortable level. The slider controls both the radio-side monitor volume and the client-side tone generator volume simultaneously.
Optionally, adjust Pitch < / > to set the sidetone frequency. The pitch follows the radio's cw_pitch setting automatically, but you can step it in 10 Hz increments using the < and > controls.

What each control does¶

Control	Kind	Default
Sidetone	Toggle button	—
Sidetone volume	Slider	—
Pitch < / >	Spinbox	600 Hz
L / R pan (CW)	Slider	50 (centre)

RADE mode and the mic level slider¶

When RADE mode is active, the Mic gain slider operates as a client-side gain control rather than sending a mic level command to the radio. The slider value is stored under PcMicGain (the same setting used when the mic source is PC) and is not written to the radio's mic_level property while RADE is active. This prevents RADE mode from silently overwriting your hardware mic setting on the radio.

The Level meter remains active during RX when RADE is enabled, so you can monitor input level without transmitting.
When RADE mode is deactivated, the slider reverts to reflecting the radio's mic_level and the Level meter returns to its normal suppression behaviour (hidden during RX unless met_in_rx is on).

Tips¶

The client-side tone generator pitch and pan always follow the radio's cw_pitch and mon_pan_cw settings automatically. You do not need to configure them separately for the local path.
Double-clicking the L / R pan (CW) slider resets it to centre (50).
The Compression gauge reads 0 dB during RX. It only shows a non-zero value when the radio's interlock reports the TRANSMITTING state and the speech processor (PROC) is enabled. This prevents stale readings from the TX chain being displayed while you are receiving.
With Breakin off, key presses are queued and TX must be engaged manually with PTT. With Breakin on (QSK), key edges trigger TX directly and break_in_delay controls the relay hang time. No automatic PTT envelope overrides this behaviour.

Troubleshooting¶

No tone heard despite Sidetone being enabled — Confirm the Sidetone volume slider is above 0. Also check that your system audio output device is correctly configured, as the client-side generator uses the local audio path.
Sidetone button is not visible — The CW sub-panel only appears when the active slice is in CW mode. Switch the active slice to CW on the radio; the applet panel switches automatically.
Pitch does not match expectation — Pitch follows the radio's cw_pitch setting. Adjust it using Pitch < / > in the applet, which updates the radio setting in 10 Hz steps.
Compression gauge always shows 0 — This is expected during RX. The gauge is gated on the radio's interlock TRANSMITTING state. It will show compression only while you are transmitting with PROC enabled.
Breakin OFF does not hold TX between characters — With Breakin off, AetherSDR no longer applies an automatic PTT envelope. Engage PTT manually before sending and release it when finished.
Mic gain slider has no effect in RADE mode — In RADE mode the slider sets client-side gain stored as PcMicGain and does not send commands to the radio. Adjust the slider to the desired level; it takes effect on the local RADE audio path.