Set a custom filter edge from the VFO panel¶
The VFO panel's filter preset buttons let you save and recall filter widths quickly. Right-clicking a preset button opens a dialog where you can set exact low and high filter edge values for that slot. Use this when the built-in preset widths do not match your operating needs.
Before you start¶
- AetherSDR must be connected to a FLEX-8600 radio.
- The VFO panel must be open. If it is not visible, click the VFO marker flag on the spectrum display for the slice you want to adjust.
- The VFO panel must not be collapsed. If it shows only a frequency strip, click anywhere on it to expand it.
- Open the Mode tab inside the VFO panel so the filter preset buttons are visible.
Steps¶
- Click the VFO marker flag on the spectrum display to open the VFO panel for the target slice.
- In the VFO panel, click the Mode tab to show the mode selector and filter preset buttons.
- Right-click the filter preset button whose edges you want to customize. A context menu or dialog appears.
- Enter the desired low edge and high edge values in the fields provided.
- Confirm the entry to save the custom edges into that preset slot.
The preset button now applies your custom filter edges when clicked. The values are persisted in FilterPresets.
What each control does¶
| Control | Behavior | Default |
|---|---|---|
| RX antenna button | Opens antenna selection menu for the receive antenna of this slice. Now uses per-slice antenna list from the radio when available; falls back to the global antenna list if empty. Each menu item shows its internal antenna name as a tooltip and status tip. | — |
| TX antenna button | Opens antenna selection menu for the transmit antenna of this slice. Automatically filters out RX-only antenna ports. Uses txAntennaOptions() to determine available antennas. Each menu item shows its internal antenna name as a tooltip and status tip. |
— |
| Frequency display | Shows the current slice frequency. Click once to begin direct frequency entry; type MHz and press Enter or Tab. Uses FrequencyEntryParser for consistent parsing. Supports explicit MHz entry with dot separators (e.g., "14.225.000"). On XVTR bands, accepts frequencies up to 50000 MHz. For 2m/70cm (100–999 MHz range), a bare integer like 1446 is automatically converted to 144.6 MHz. On 23cm and microwave bands (≥1000 MHz), a bare integer is treated as MHz directly. When explicitly entering a frequency above 54 MHz as MHz, it is accepted without requiring XVTR band detection. When the slice is locked, the lock overlay is shown and direct entry is canceled (#2983). |
— |
| Filter width label | Shows current filter bandwidth. Click to cycle through filter preset buttons in the Mode tab. Uses RxApplet::formatFilterWidth as the single source of truth, fixing a 0.1 kHz offset that affected SSB/digital mode readouts (#2197, v0.9.8). | — |
| Slice badge | Shows the slice letter (e.g., A, B) in a colored badge. Now supports HTML rendering for the slice letter (#2606). Click to select this slice. | — |
| AF Gain slider (Audio tab) | Sets the audio output level for this slice (0–100). Not persisted — reflects live radio state. | 100 |
| Pan slider (Audio tab) | Sets left/right stereo pan for this slice. The slider fill is painted from the centre outward — when the handle is left of centre, the accent fill extends from the handle to the centre; when the handle is at or right of centre, no handle-to-centre fill is painted. A small centre-mark dot is painted on the groove at the midpoint so the neutral position is visible at a glance. 50 = centre. | 50 |
| Mute button (Audio tab) | Mutes audio output for this slice without changing the AF gain setting. | off |
| Squelch button + slider (Audio tab) | Enables squelch for this slice. The adjacent slider sets the threshold (0–100). Squelch is disabled and forced off when the slice mode is DIGU, DIGL, RTTY, or any CW mode, as it is not meaningful for digital/RTTY audio fed via DAX or for CW where the radio locks squelch on (#2504). | off |
| AGC combo (Audio tab) | Sets the AGC attack/release speed for this slice: FAST, MED, SLOW, or OFF. | FAST |
| NR / NR2 / RN2 / NR4 / MNR / DFNR / BNR / NRL / NRS / RNN / NRF buttons (DSP tab) | Enables the corresponding noise reduction algorithm for this slice. Button availability depends on radio series and build. Right-click NR2, NR4, MNR, or DFNR to open the AetherDSP Settings dialog for that algorithm. | off |
| ADSP button (DSP tab) | Opens the AetherDSP Settings dialog (client-side NR2 / NR4 / DFNR / RN2 / BNR / MNR). Same entry point as the Settings menu (v0.9.8). Styled like a radio-side DSP toggle but non-checkable. Click raises and focuses the modeless AetherDSP Settings dialog. | — |
| AetherVoice button (DSP tab) | Toggles the Aetherial Audio Channel Strip — the unified TX/RX DSP suite (v0.9.8). Spans 2 columns in the 4-column DSP grid. Matches the existing menu / chain entry points for the strip. | — |
| Mode combo (Mode tab) | Sets the demodulation mode for this slice: USB, LSB, CW, CWL, AM, SAM, DIGU, DIGL, FM, NFM, DFM, RTTY. | USB |
| Filter preset buttons (Mode tab) | Applies a saved filter width preset when clicked. Right-click to save the current filter width or set custom lo/hi edges for that slot. Persisted in FilterPresets. | — |
| RIT / XIT buttons + labels (X/RIT tab) | Enables receiver (RIT) or transmitter (XIT) incremental tuning. The label shows the current offset; scroll-wheel adjusts in 10 Hz steps. | off |
| DAX channel combo (DAX tab) | Assigns a DAX audio channel to this slice: Off or 1–8. | Off |
| Marker thickness button | Cycles the VFO marker line through Off, 1 px, and 3 px. Persisted per slice. | 1 px |
| Filter edges button | Toggles the filter edge lines on the spectrum passband display. Persisted per slice. | shown |
| Collapse toggle | Collapses the VFO panel to a compact frequency-only strip. Persisted per slice. | expanded |
| Lock button | Toggles the VFO lock for this slice. When locked, scroll-wheel tuning and direct frequency entry are blocked. A lock icon is displayed on the frequency display. Tuning attempts while locked show a LOCKED overlay and notify via tuneBlockedByLock signal (#2983). Direct frequency entry is automatically canceled when locking. Unlocking clears the LOCKED overlay centrally in SliceModel. |
unlocked |
| TX badge | Shows TX (red) when this slice is the active transmit slice; hidden otherwise. | hidden |
| SPLIT badge | Shows SPLIT (amber) when TX is assigned to a different slice than the active receive slice; hidden otherwise. Click to swap TX and RX slices. | hidden |
Indicators¶
| Label | States | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| TX badge | TX (red) / hidden | Shown when this slice is the active transmit slice. The badge and its container now use theme-aware tokens (color.background.0, color.background.1, color.background.2, color.text.primary, color.text.label, color.accent, color.accent.bright). Inspect-mode clicks on the badge or signal meter reveal these tokens for theme customization. |
| SPLIT badge | SPLIT (amber) / hidden | Shown when TX is assigned to a different slice than the active receive slice. Click to swap TX and RX slices. |
DSP tab buttons¶
Starting in v0.9.7, the DSP tab shows only radio-supplied noise reduction buttons. The client-side algorithms (NR2, NR4, MNR, BNR, DFNR, RN2) have moved to the spectrum overlay menu and the AetherDSP applet; toggle them there.
The buttons available in the DSP tab are:
| Button | Algorithm |
|---|---|
| NR | Noise reduction |
| NB | Noise blanker |
| ANF | Automatic notch filter |
| APF | Audio peak filter (CW mode only) |
| NRL | Noise reduction level |
| NRS | Spectral subtraction |
| RNN | RNN noise reduction |
| NRF | Spectral noise filter |
| ANFL | LMS notch filter |
| ANFT | FFT notch filter |
| ADSP | Opens the AetherDSP Settings dialog (client-side algorithms) |
| AetherVoice | Opens the Aetherial Audio Channel Strip (unified TX/RX DSP suite) |
DSP level slider¶
When one or more radio-side DSP functions that support a level control are enabled, a shared level slider appears below the button grid. The slider label and value update to reflect the most recently enabled function. The slider is always present in the layout but fades out when no supported DSP function is active. Drag the slider to set the level (0–100) for the targeted function.
Functions that the level slider can target: NR, NB, ANF, NRL, NRS, NRF, ANFL.
Functions that do not target the level slider: RNN, ANFT, APF.
VFO panel tab bar¶
The tab bar at the top of the VFO panel uses push buttons instead of labels (v26.6.3). Each tab button is focusable with the Tab key. The active tab has an accent-colored bottom border. The default tab (Audio/Speaker) supports a right-click context menu for direct mute toggling.
Accessibility¶
The frequency display includes accessibility support (v26.6.3). When accessibility tools are active, the frequency value is announced when it changes. The frequency input field uses a custom FreqLineEdit widget with hint text instead of placeholder text for improved accessibility.
Scrolling behavior¶
The VFO panel respects the reverse mouse wheel setting in InteractionSettings (v26.6.3). When reverse wheel is enabled, scrolling up decreases the frequency and scrolling down increases it.
Theming¶
The VFO panel uses its own theming scope (spectrum/vfo) to allow independent styling from the spectrum display. The VFO marker flag, slice badge, and signal meter paint using theme tokens declared to the theme inspector. When you click the slice badge or signal meter with the theme inspector open, the following tokens appear in the hit list:
color.background.0color.background.1color.background.2color.text.primarycolor.text.labelcolor.accentcolor.accent.bright
The Pan slider and Marker thickness button buttons use theme-aware stylesheets. The Pan slider's centre-mark fill is painted using color.accent and color.background.1 tokens instead of hardcoded colours.
Tips¶
- To verify the active filter edges on the spectrum, confirm that the filter edges button is in its default shown state. If the edge lines are hidden, toggle the filter edges button to make them visible again.
- Right-clicking a preset button saves the current filter width into that slot as an alternative to typing edge values manually. Use this for a quick capture of a filter you have already dialed in.
- To access NR2, NR4, MNR, BNR, DFNR, or RN2, right-click the spectrum display to open the overlay menu, or open the AetherDSP applet.
- The ADSP button and AetherVoice button are placed in the DSP tab button grid alongside the radio-side DSP toggles. They are non-checkable — clicking ADSP raises the AetherDSP Settings dialog, and clicking AetherVoice opens the Aetherial Audio Channel Strip.
- Squelch is automatically disabled and forced off when you switch to DIGU, DIGL, RTTY, or any CW mode. To re-enable squelch, switch to a voice mode (USB, LSB, AM, SAM, FM, NFM, DFM).
- When the VFO panel is in collapsed mode, the scroll wheel tunes the slice by step size even if the wheel event does not occur over the frequency display. In expanded mode, scrolling only tunes when the cursor is over the frequency display.
- The VFO panel tab stack now reports only the current tab's preferred size, eliminating the gap that could occur when switching from the taller DSP tab to the Mode tab.
- Right-click the speaker tab