TX Controls

The TX Controls applet provides transmit controls for the radio, including forward power and SWR meters, RF and Tune power sliders, a TX profile selector, and TUNE/MOX/ATU/MEM buttons. It also includes the APD (Adaptive Pre-Distortion) toggle with Active/Cal/Avail status indicators.

Opening the TX Controls applet

If the TX Controls applet is not visible, click the TX tray button on the right sidebar.

APD (Adaptive Pre-Distortion)

APD reduces transmitter non-linearity by applying a correction equaliser to the signal before it reaches the PA. Enabling it improves spectral purity, particularly on SSB and digital modes.

Enabling APD

1. Locate the APD button at the bottom of the TX Controls applet.
2. Click APD to toggle adaptive pre-distortion on. The button background changes to green when enabled.
3. Watch the status indicators to the right of the button:
4. Cal lights green while the radio is collecting calibration data.
5. Avail lights green when a calibration is complete but not yet applied.
6. Active lights green when the equaliser is applied to the transmit signal.
7. To turn APD off, click APD again. The button returns to its unlit state and all three indicators go dim.

The normal progression after enabling APD is: Cal → Avail → Active.

Control	Kind	Behavior
APD	Toggle button	Enables or disables adaptive pre-distortion on the radio. Green when on, unlit when off.
Active	Indicator	Lit green when APD is on and the equaliser is actively applied to the signal.
Cal	Indicator	Lit green when APD is on and the radio is still calibrating.
Avail	Indicator	Lit green when APD is on and a calibration is available but not yet applied.

Tips

• APD calibration takes place automatically after you enable it. You do not need to transmit manually to trigger it; wait for the indicators to step through Cal → Avail → Active.
• If you disable and re-enable APD, the calibration sequence restarts from Cal.

RF Pwr and SWR meters

Forward power is displayed as a horizontal bar gauge. The scale changes based on the radio model (barefoot 0–120 W, or Aurora 500W 0–600 W). The gauge turns red above 100 W (barefoot) or 500 W (Aurora).

PEP peak-hold: a peak reading is held for 2 seconds, then decays smoothly to the current value. The peak is cleared immediately when the transmitter unkeys to prevent lingering readings across overs.

Hover the mouse over the RF Pwr gauge to see the exact power reading in watts (e.g., "45 W").

SWR is displayed as a horizontal bar gauge. Range 1.0–3.0. The gauge turns red above 2.5.

Hover the mouse over the SWR gauge to see the exact ratio in conventional form (e.g., "1.52:1").

When the transmitter is not keyed, both gauges rest at zero power / 1.0 SWR. If the radio does not report a valid SWR reading during transmission, the SWR gauge stays at its 1.0 rest position rather than showing an off-scale value.

Control	Kind	Behavior
RF Pwr	Meter	Displays forward power at the exciter output with PEP peak-hold (2 s hold then decay to current smoothed value over ~2.5 s). Peak resets immediately on un-key. Scale changes based on radio model. Red above 100 W (barefoot) or 500 W (Aurora 500W).
SWR	Meter	Displays standing wave ratio at the exciter. Range 1.0–3.0, red above 2.5. Parks at 1.0 when no valid reading is available or the transmitter is unkeyed.

RF Power / Tune Power sliders

Control	Kind	Behavior
RF Power	Slider	Sets the transmit RF power level as a percentage of maximum (0–100%). Default: 100%. During drag, displays the current value as "XX%" above the slider handle. The value snaps to the last set position after release.
Tune Pwr	Slider	Sets the tune-carrier power level as a percentage of maximum (0–100%). Default: 10%. During drag, displays the current value as "XX%" above the slider handle. The value snaps to the last set position after release.

When you release either slider, the value synchronises from the radio model, ensuring the displayed value matches the actual radio state even if the radio rejected the intermediate value during the drag.

TX Profile selector

Select a TX profile from the combo box to load it on the radio. Profiles are populated from the radio's profile list.

TUNE button

Click TUNE to start or stop a tune carrier. The button label changes to TUNING... with a red background while the carrier is active.

TUNE right-click menu

Right-click the TUNE button to choose the carrier shape for the next tune cycle:

Action	Behavior
Mono Tone	Sets the tune carrier to a single tone. Checked if this is the current mode.
Two Tone	Sets the tune carrier to two tones. Checked if this is the current mode.

The selection is a one-shot transient — the radio's tune mode reverts to single tone across power cycles. AetherSDR does not persist the choice in AppSettings.

Control	Kind	Behavior
TUNE	Push button	Starts/stops tune carrier; text becomes TUNING... with red background while active. Right-click picks the carrier shape (Mono Tone / Two Tone) for the next tune cycle.

MOX button and Quindar tones

Clicking MOX routes through the Quindar-tone coordinator rather than toggling the transmitter directly. This means:

• Engage (click MOX on): if Quindar is enabled in the Audio Channel Strip and the active TX slice is on a phone mode, the K-tone plays before the transmitter keys.
• Disengage (click MOX off): the BK-tone plays after the transmitter unkeys.
• If Quindar is disabled, or the active TX slice is not on a phone mode, MOX behaves as before and keys the transmitter immediately.

The MOX button has a distinct appearance even when idle (amber border and text) to distinguish it from the TUNE/ATU/MEM buttons. The button turns red while the transmitter is keyed and returns to its amber accent when the transmitter is off. The accent colours are theme-editable via color.tx.mox.* tokens.

When the transmitter is keyed, the MOX button turns red. When the transmitter is off, the button returns to its amber accent.

Control	Kind	Behavior
MOX	Toggle button	Toggles manual transmit. Routes through the Quindar-tone coordinator so K/BK tones play on PTT engage/disengage in phone modes when Quindar is enabled. Button goes red while TX is keyed, amber accent when idle.

ATU button

The ATU button starts the internal antenna tuner tuning cycle. It uses a per-frequency toggle that mirrors SmartSDR behaviour:

• First click (or any click after a frequency change): starts a new ATU tune cycle.
• Second click at the same frequency, when the ATU reports a successful match: switches the tuner to bypass.
• Click after any frequency change: always starts a fresh tune cycle, even if the previous status was successful.

The bypass state is cleared automatically when the transmit frequency changes, so the next click will start a new tune rather than bypassing. There is no change to the ATU button label or appearance; the Success, Byp, and Mem indicators below the button continue to reflect ATU status as before.

ATU right-click menu

Right-click the ATU button to open a context menu with two actions:

Action	Behavior
Pre-tune bands…	Opens the ATU Pre-Tune dialog to sweep and store tuner settings across bands. Enabled only when MEM is on.
Clear ATU memories…	Clears all stored ATU memories on the radio. A confirmation dialog appears before clearing.

Indicator	Kind	Behavior
Success	Indicator	Lights green when the ATU reports a successful or OK match.
Byp	Indicator	Lights orange when the ATU is in bypass or manual bypass.
Mem	Indicator	Lights green when the ATU is using a stored memory.

Control	Kind	Behavior
ATU	Push button	Starts the internal ATU tuning cycle. If status is Successful/OK at the same frequency, a second click sends bypass instead. Right-click opens the pre-tune sweep and Clear ATU Memories actions.

ATU and MEM availability

The ATU and MEM buttons are disabled with explanatory tooltips in two situations:

• No antenna tuner fitted: The radio reports no internal ATU. The tooltip reads "This radio has no antenna tuner".
• TGXL in OPERATE mode: The TGXL amplifier is present and in OPERATE (not bypass). The tooltip reads "Disabled — TGXL is in OPERATE mode".

When disabled for either reason, the TUNE button remains enabled so you can still send a carrier through the TGXL for power and SWR checks.

Control	Kind	Behavior
MEM	Toggle button	Toggles ATU memory recall on/off. Disabled when the radio has no ATU or when TGXL is in OPERATE mode.

Theme support

Starting with v26.6.1, the TX Controls applet uses theme-aware colours for all controls and indicators. Slider fill, label colours, and indicator states adapt to the active theme. If you use a custom theme, these controls will respect the applet/tx scope in the theme definition.

The MOX button and RF Pwr/SWR gauges also support theme tokens. The MOX button uses color.tx.mox.border, color.tx.mox.text, color.tx.mox.border.hover, and color.tx.mox.text.hover for its idle accent colouring. The gauge hover tooltips use the theme's default tooltip styling.

Related

• TX Controls overview
• Run a Two-Tone Tune
• Set RF output power