Disconnect from the Current Radio¶

This page explains how to disconnect AetherSDR from a connected FLEX-8600. You would do this to switch radios, change connection modes, or shut down your session cleanly.

Before you start¶

AetherSDR must currently be connected to a radio. If no radio is connected, the ConnectionPanel is already shown and no action is needed.

Steps¶

Open Settings > Connect to Radio....
Click Disconnect.

AetherSDR drops the connection and returns to the ConnectionPanel, where you can connect to a different radio or choose a different connection mode.

Tips¶

After disconnecting, the ConnectionMode setting retains whichever mode was last selected (Local, Remote with SmartLink, or Connect by IP), so the panel reopens on the same page you used previously.
If you intend to reconnect to the same radio immediately, the Available radios list on the Local page will still show it as soon as discovery finds it again. Click the entry and then click Connect Selected Radio.

Auto-connect on startup¶

The Connect to last radio on start up checkbox controls whether AetherSDR reconnects automatically when the application starts.

Setting	Key	Default
Connect to last radio on start up	`AutoConnectToLastRadio`	Enabled

When checked, AetherSDR automatically connects to the last used radio on startup and when broadcast-discovery or a routed-radio probe finds it. No manual action is required.
When unchecked, the ConnectionPanel opens on every startup and you must select a radio manually each session.

To change this setting, open the ConnectionPanel and check or uncheck Connect to last radio on start up. The preference is saved immediately.

Recent IP addresses (Manual / VPN mode)¶

When you connect using the Manual page, AetherSDR now saves up to three recently used IP addresses. The Radio IP address field is an editable drop-down. Click the arrow to pick a previous address, or type a new one directly. Addresses are validated and normalised when saved; duplicates and malformed entries are discarded automatically.

If you previously used the legacy LastRoutedRadioIp setting, AetherSDR imports that address into the recent-addresses list the first time it starts after upgrading. The value is stored in RecentConnectByIpAddresses.

Manual connection: Source path and low bandwidth options¶

In the Manual connection page, under Advanced: collapse panel titled Advanced, you can configure:

Source path (ManualBindSource): Selects the local network interface used for the manual connection. The drop-down lists all available NICs. If the selected NIC becomes stale or unreachable, a warning appears below the field.
Use low bandwidth mode (LowBandwidthMode): When checked, AetherSDR uses reduced-rate streams for slow or high-latency links. Useful for VPN or satellite connections.
Enable adaptive frame-rate throttle (AdaptiveThrottleEnabled, default False): When checked, AetherSDR automatically reduces FFT and waterfall frame rates when network quality degrades. This helps maintain a responsive UI on slow or congested links.

The SmartLink login form is now accessible to operating-system password managers. macOS Passwords, Windows Authenticator, and KDE Wallet read the accessibility tree to associate credential fields.

The Email field has accessible name "SmartLink account email" and accessible description "FlexRadio account email address used to sign in to SmartLink".
The Password field has accessible name "SmartLink account password" and accessible description "FlexRadio account password used to sign in to SmartLink".
The form container is named "smartlinkLoginForm" so password managers can scope the credential pair.

Connection mode buttons (Local, Remote with SmartLink, Connect by IP) also have accessible names.

Frameless mode¶

The Connection Panel now supports frameless mode. When enabled (controlled by the FramelessWindow setting, default True), the dialog has no native window title bar. Instead, a custom title bar is displayed at the top of the dialog. The title bar includes the dialog title and can be used to drag or close the window, depending on the operating system.

If FramelessWindow is set to True, the custom title bar is shown.
If set to False, the standard OS window decorations are used.
The change takes effect the next time the Connection Panel is opened.

The dialog geometry is only restored when the panel was previously visible, preventing odd placement when switching frameless mode while hidden.

Theme-aware styling¶

The Connection Panel now uses theme variables for colors instead of hardcoded values. This ensures the panel integrates with the selected application theme. The following elements respect theme colors:

Panel background uses {{color.background.0}}
Group box borders use {{color.background.2}}
Text labels use {{color.text.primary}}

Theme changes take effect when the panel is opened or refreshed.