Skip to content

Radio Setup Dialog

The Radio Setup dialog is the master per-radio configuration window. It provides tabs for radio information, network settings, GPS, transmit configuration, Phone/CW settings, receive calibration, audio, antennas, filters, transverters, USB cables, peripherals, Adaptive Pre-Distortion (APD), themes, SmartLink certificate management, and serial port configuration for FlexControl.

Before you start

  • AetherSDR must be connected to the radio to access tabs that communicate with the radio.
  • Some tabs (APD, Themes, SmartLink, Serial) are built lazily when first clicked.
  • The APD tab is only visible on FLEX-8x00 series radios with SmartSDR 4.2.18 or later firmware.

Opening the dialog

  1. Click Settings > Radio Setup... to open the Radio Setup dialog.

General dialog behavior

  • The dialog remembers its size and position between sessions.
  • Tab order from left to right: Radio, Network, GPS, TX, Phone/CW, RX, Antennas, Audio, Filters, XVTR, USB Cables, Peripherals, APD, Themes, SmartLink, Serial.
  • Tabs whose content may exceed the dialog height (Themes, Audio, Filters, Peripherals on small or high-DPI displays) are wrapped in a scroll area so the dialog never grows past the screen edge.
  • Click Close to dismiss the dialog.

Radio tab

Displays radio identification, license information, and firmware update controls. Includes a Reboot Radio button.

Steps

  1. Click the Radio tab.
  2. View the read-only indicators for Radio SN, Region, HW Version, Model, Options, FlexControl, multiFLEX, and License Info (Subscription, Expiration, Radio ID, Licensed version). Each read-only indicator includes a clipboard copy button next to the label — click to copy the value to the clipboard.
  3. Optionally set a Nickname, Callsign, or Station Name in the text fields. The Station Name identifies this AetherSDR client to other multiFLEX stations; it defaults to the OS hostname if empty. Stored in AppSettings as StationName.
  4. Click Remote On to enable remote wake/remote-on.
  5. To reboot the radio:
  6. Click Reboot Radio. A confirmation dialog appears.
  7. On LAN connections, AetherSDR automatically reconnects once the radio finishes booting.
  8. On SmartLink/WAN connections, you must manually reconnect after the radio boots.
  9. The button is disabled when the radio is disconnected; it re-enables automatically when the radio reconnects.
  10. To update firmware:
  11. Click Check for Update to query the FlexRadio update server.
  12. Download the SmartSDR installer from flexradio.com (.msi for v4.2+, .exe for older releases).
  13. Click Select Installer... to open a file picker. Select the installer or a pre-extracted .ssdr file.
  14. When staging is complete, click Upload Firmware to transfer the firmware to the radio.

Firmware update notes

  • The Select Installer... button label changed from Browse .ssdr... in v26.5.3.
  • The button accepts .msi, .exe, and .ssdr files.
  • The stager auto-detects the file format from the first 8 bytes (OLE/MSI magic vs PE/COFF MZ) and extracts the .ssdr without external tools.
  • A progress bar and status label track the upload.

Network tab

Configure how the radio obtains its network address and advanced network options.

Steps

  1. Click the Network tab.
  2. Note the read-only IP Address, Mask, and MAC Address. Each includes a clipboard copy button.
  3. Toggle Enforce Private IP Connections: to reject non-RFC1918 peers.
  4. Set Network MTU: as a spinbox value (576-9000 bytes, default 1450). This sets maximum outgoing VITA-49 UDP packet size. The default 1450 is safe for most VPN/SD-WAN tunnels. Stored in AppSettings as NetworkMtu.
  5. Click the DHCP / Static toggle button to switch modes.
  6. If you selected static mode, fill in the IP Address:, Mask:, and Gateway: text fields.
  7. Click Apply to push the network configuration to the radio.
  8. Reconnect to the radio at its new address using Settings > Connect to Radio....

GPS tab

Displays GPS information from the radio.

  • Shows GPS presence status.
  • Displays live latitude, longitude, altitude, time, and satellite count.
  • Read-only indicators.

TX tab

Configure transmit timing, interlocks, power limits, and behavior.

Steps

  1. Click the TX tab.
  2. Adjust Timings spinboxes for ACC TX, TX Delay, RCA TX1, Timeout, and TX2 delays in milliseconds.
  3. Timeout (sec): Displays in whole seconds; the radio stores this in milliseconds internally.
  4. Toggle Interlocks - TX REQ: RCA / Accessory to enable interlock inputs.
  5. Set Max Power: as a percentage (0-100%).
  6. Select Tune Mode: from the combo box.
  7. Toggle Show TX in Waterfall: to display the TX signal in the waterfall.
  8. Configure slice following:
  9. TX Follows Active Slice: Push button (default False). Stored as TxFollowsActiveSlice. Mutually exclusive with Active Slice Follows TX. Disabled automatically during Split operation.
  10. Active Slice Follows TX: Push button (default False). Stored as ActiveFollowsTxSlice. Switches the active slice when TX moves externally (e.g. WSJT-X or CAT).
  11. Click TX Band Settings to open the dedicated per-band power/tune dialog.

Phone/CW tab

Configure microphone, CW keyer, and RTTY defaults.

Steps

  1. Click the Phone/CW tab.
  2. Toggle Enable/Disable the Level Meter During Receive to show the mic level meter even in RX.
  3. Configure CW settings:
  4. Iambic: Toggle to enable or disable the iambic keyer on the radio. Mutually exclusive with the radio-side iambic keyer; also drives the local software iambic keyer for sub-5 ms sidetone.
  5. Iambic Mode: A / B: Select Curtis iambic mode A or B. Applies to both the radio and the local software keyer.
  6. Swap: Toggle to swap dit/dah.
  7. Sideband: Select LSB or USB for CW pitch.
  8. CWX: Toggle to enable CWX macro keying.
  9. Decode: Toggle (default True) to enable the CW decode overlay on the panadapter. Stored as CwDecodeOverlay.
  10. Set RTTY Mark Default: spinbox for default RTTY mark frequency.

RX tab

Configure GPSDO frequency offset calibration and 10 MHz reference source.

Steps

  1. Click the RX tab.
  2. Set Cal Frequency (MHz): for manual calibration.
  3. Click Start to begin the frequency calibration sweep.
  4. Adjust Freq Offset (ppb): manually.
  5. Select 10 MHz Reference Source: from the combo box (Auto, TCXO, GPSDO, External). Options depend on hardware installed. Lock status (Locked/Unlocked) is shown alongside the combo and updates live.

Antennas tab

Configure antenna names and assignments.

  • Tab labeled "Antennas" appears between RX and Filters tabs.
  • Provides controls for naming and configuring antenna ports.

Audio tab

Configure radio audio outputs, PC audio devices, recording, and NVIDIA BNR container.

Steps

  1. Click the Audio tab.
  2. Adjust Line Out: and Headphone: sliders. Click the corresponding Mute buttons to mute.
  3. Click Front Speaker: / Mute to mute the front speaker (model-specific).
  4. Select Audio Compression (SmartLink): as Auto, Uncompressed, or Opus. Stored as AudioCompression.
  5. Toggle Prevent system sleep while connected to keep the OS awake. Stored as InhibitSleepWhileConnected.
  6. Select PC Audio Devices: Input: and Output: from combo boxes.
  7. Toggle Audio Boost: for extra gain on the client audio path. Stored as AudioBoost.
  8. Set Audio Buffer: (50-1000 ms, default 200) for VPN/SmartLink jitter. Stored as AudioBufferMs.
  9. Configure recording:
  10. Recording: Radio Side / Client Side: Select the recording mode. Stored as RecordingMode.
  11. Save to: Text field for folder (client-side only). Defaults to Documents/AetherSDR/Recordings. Stored as QsoRecordingDir.
  12. Click ... to browse for a recording folder.
  13. Toggle Auto-record on TX to automatically record while transmitting. Stored as QsoRecordingAutoRecord.
  14. Set Idle timeout: (10-3600 sec, default 120) for seconds of silence before recording stops. Stored as QsoRecordingIdleTimeout.
  15. Control NVIDIA BNR: with Autostart Container, Start, Stop, and Check Status buttons. A colored dot indicates container Running/Stopped/Unknown status.

Filters tab

Configure filter sharpness per mode and low-latency options for digital modes.

Steps

  1. Click the Filters tab.
  2. Adjust Voice / CW / Digital filter sharpness sliders (0-3). 0 = lowest latency, 3 = sharpest. Slider is disabled when Auto is enabled.
  3. Toggle Auto (Voice / CW / Digital) to enable automatic filter-level selection for that mode; disables the manual sharpness slider.
  4. Toggle Use Low Latency Filters for Digital Modes to force low-latency filters in DIGU/DIGL.

XVTR tab

Configure per-transverter settings.

Steps

  1. Click the XVTR tab.
  2. The tab contains nested tabs, one per transverter, plus a '+' tab.
  3. For each transverter:
  4. Toggle RX Only: to force RX-only.
  5. Click Remove to delete the transverter definition.
  6. Click Create New Transverter to add a new transverter entry.

USB Cables tab

Assign USB serial adapters to cable types.

Steps

  1. Click the USB Cables tab.
  2. View detected Cables list / Status with Plugged/Unplugged status per cable type.
  3. Configure per-cable parameters: Name, Enabled, Speed, Data Bits, Parity, Stop Bits, Flow, Source, Auto Report, BCD Type, Polarity, Bit Configuration (0-7).

Peripherals tab

Configure external device connections (TGXL, PGXL, Antenna Genius).

Steps

  1. Click the Peripherals tab.
  2. For each peripheral, enter the IP address and port (default ports: TGXL=9010, PGXL=9008, Antenna Genius=9007).
  3. Click Connect to establish a direct TCP connection. The IP and port are saved on connect so AetherSDR auto-reconnects on startup.
  4. Click Disconnect to close the connection.

Peripheral auto-connect and clearing manual IP

When you enter an IP address for a peripheral and click Connect, the IP and port are saved to settings. On subsequent startups, AetherSDR automatically attempts to reconnect to that peripheral.

If you clear the IP field and click Connect while disconnected, the saved manual IP and port are removed from settings, preventing auto-connect on startup. If you clear the IP field and close the Radio Setup dialog without clicking Connect/Disconnect, the saved settings are also cleared and any active connection is disconnected.

TGXL specific notes

  • 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 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.

APD tab

Configure Adaptive Pre-Distortion sample ports per TX antenna. Tab is hidden unless the radio reports apd configurable=1 (FLEX-8x00 with SmartSDR 4.2.18+).

Steps

  1. Click the APD tab (only visible on compatible radios).
  2. For each TX antenna (ANT1, ANT2, XVTA, XVTB), select the sampler port from the combo box (INTERNAL, RX_A, RX_B, XVTA, XVTB).
  3. INTERNAL samples inside the radio.
  4. External ports require a coupled feedback signal from the linear amplifier output.
  5. Click Reset (APD Equalizer) to clear all per-antenna APD training data on the radio.

Themes tab

Configure UI appearance including per-slice color overrides.

Steps

  1. Click the Themes tab.
  2. In the Slice Colors section:
  3. Select Use Aether defaults
⚡ Athena AetherSDR Assistant
Hi! I'm Athena, the AetherSDR AI assistant. Ask me anything about installation, configuration, or troubleshooting.