Set a specific background color that appears behind spot labels on the panadapter. Use this when the automatic color contrast is not suitable for your display or operating conditions.
Open the Spot Settings dialog by right-clicking the spots overlay on a panadapter.
Confirm that "Override Background: Enabled" is active (button shows "Enabled"). The background color picker has no effect when the background is disabled.
Disable "Override Background: Auto" if you want your chosen color to take effect. When "Auto" is active, AetherSDR selects the background color automatically and ignores the manual color picker.
Right-click the spots overlay on the panadapter and open Spot Settings.
Locate the Override Background: row.
If the "Enabled" button shows a red/disabled state, click it so it shows a green/enabled state. This persists to IsSpotsOverrideBackgroundColorsEnabled.
If the "Auto" button shows a green/enabled state, click it so it shows a red/disabled state. This persists to IsSpotsOverrideToAutoBackgroundColorEnabled. While "Auto" is active, the manual color picker is overridden.
Click the small color swatch button to the right of "Auto". This opens the system color dialog titled "Spot Background Color".
Select your desired color and confirm the selection.
The swatch updates immediately and the panadapter background behind spot labels changes to the chosen color. The value is persisted to SpotsOverrideBgColor.
Master toggle for DX spot display. Persists to IsSpotsEnabled. The button label always shows "Enabled" regardless of state; the checked state is indicated by color (green = enabled, red = disabled).
Memories:
Toggle button
Disabled
Toggles memory channel overlays on panadapter. Setting key changed from IsMemoriesShownOnPanadapter in v0.9.7. Persists to IsMemorySpotsEnabled. The button label always shows "Enabled" regardless of state.
Levels:
Slider (1–10)
3
Vertical stacking rows for spots. Setting key changed from SpotsStackLevels in v0.9.7. Persists to SpotsMaxLevel.
Position:
Slider (0–100)
50
Vertical position on panadapter as a percentage. Setting key changed from SpotsPosition in v0.9.7. Persists to SpotsStartingHeightPercentage.
Font Size:
Slider (8–32)
16
Spot text size in points. Setting key changed from SpotsFontSize in v0.9.7. Persists to SpotFontSize.
Spot Lifetime:
Slider (non-linear steps)
(varies)
How long spots remain before fading. Non-linear scale from 10 seconds to 24 hours. Stored in seconds. Setting key changed from SpotsLifetime in v0.9.7. Migrates old minutes-based DxClusterSpotLifetime key on first read. Persists to DxClusterSpotLifetimeSec.
Override Colors:
Toggle button
Disabled
Forces a single text color for all spots. Persists to IsSpotsOverrideColorsEnabled. The button label always shows "Enabled" regardless of state.
Spot text color picker
Push button (swatch)
#FFFF00
Opens a color dialog for text color. Persists to SpotsOverrideColor.
Override Background: Enabled
Toggle button
Enabled
Draws a background under spot text. Persists to IsSpotsOverrideBackgroundColorsEnabled. The button label always shows "Enabled" regardless of state.
Override Background: Auto
Toggle button
Enabled
Auto-picks background color for contrast. When enabled, the manual color picker is ignored. Persists to IsSpotsOverrideToAutoBackgroundColorEnabled. The button label always shows "Enabled" regardless of state.
Spot background color picker
Push button (swatch)
#000000
Opens a color dialog for background color. Persists to SpotsOverrideBgColor.
Background Opacity:
Slider (0–100)
48
Alpha of spot background. 0 = fully transparent, 100 = fully opaque. Setting key changed from SpotsOverrideBgOpacity in v0.9.7. Persists to SpotsBackgroundOpacity.
Spot Lines:
Toggle button
Enabled
Draws vertical lines from the spectrum baseline up to each spot label. Disable during contests to reduce visual clutter. New in v0.9.7 (#2349). Persists to IsSpotsLinesEnabled. The button label always shows "Enabled" regardless of state.
Setting opacity to 0 makes the background fully transparent regardless of the color chosen. If the background disappears after picking a color, check the "Background Opacity:" slider.
"Override Background: Auto" defaults to "Enabled", so a freshly opened dialog will ignore any manual color until you disable "Auto".
"Spot Lines:" defaults to "Enabled". If vertical lines from the spectrum baseline to spot labels are adding clutter during a contest, click the toggle so it shows a red/disabled state. This persists to IsSpotsLinesEnabled.
Color picker has no visible effect on the panadapter — Confirm "Override Background: Enabled" shows green/enabled and "Override Background: Auto" shows red/disabled. Both conditions must be met for a manual background color to display.
Background is invisible despite correct toggle states — Check the "Background Opacity:" slider. If it is at 0, the background is fully transparent. See Adjust spot background opacity.
Spot lines are not visible — Confirm "Spot Lines:" shows green/enabled. The toggle persists to IsSpotsLinesEnabled. This control was added in v0.9.7; if you are running an earlier version, the setting is not available.