Network Diagnostics¶

Use the Network Diagnostics dialog to monitor the live network link between AetherSDR and the FLEX-8600 radio. The dialog provides a multi-pane layout with a navigation tree on the left, content area on the right, an Overview dashboard, detailed metric panels, per-stream performance graphs, a live log viewer, and a TCI Clients page.

Before you start¶

AetherSDR must be running. The dialog can be opened whether or not a radio is connected, but indicators are only meaningful after a connection attempt.
You must have already initiated a connection to a FLEX-8600 radio.

Steps¶

Click Settings > Network....
In the Network Diagnostics dialog, use the navigation tree on the left side to select the view you want to examine.
Click Close to dismiss the dialog.

What each control does¶

Indicator / Control	Meaning or Behavior	Notes
First UDP Packet	Shows `Yes` or `No`. Updates once per second. Reflects whether any UDP packet from the radio has been received in the current session.
Status	Overall link quality, color-coded green to red. States: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.
Target Radio IP	IP address of the connected radio, or "Not connected".
Selected Source	Local NIC or bind path used for the connection.
Local TCP	The local TCP endpoint in use for the current connection.
Local UDP	The local UDP endpoint AetherSDR is listening on. Useful for confirming the correct port is bound.
Latency (RTT)	Current round-trip time. Shown as `< 1 ms` for values below 1 ms, or `n/a` on links that have no round trip to time.	On transports without a round trip, the Details view shows `not measured on this link`.
Max Latency (RTT)	Highest RTT seen since connect. Shown as `< 1 ms` for values below 1 ms, or `n/a` on links that have no round trip to time.
Network Jitter	Smoothed jitter estimate of the audio stream in ms. Shown as `not measured on this link` until delivery-timing data is available.	Timing data becomes available from the first tick, one second before the first delivery-timing window closes.
Audio / FFT / Waterfall / Meters / DAX rates	Per-category ingress rate in kbps. Shown as `n/a` on transports that do not split streams into VITA-49 categories.	The per-category breakdown describes the VITA-49 multiplex of five separately-sequenced streams sharing one socket; a transport carrying everything in a single stream has no such split.
Total RX / Total TX	Aggregate bytes per second in each direction. These values are real on all transports and are not affected by the per-stream `n/a` display.
Audio / FFT / Waterfall / Meters / DAX drops	Per-category dropped-packet counts and percentage. Shown as `n/a` on transports without per-stream category statistics.
RX Buffer Now / Peak	Current and peak audio buffer fill in bytes and ms.
Underruns (total / last sec)	Audio underrun counters.
Audio Arrival Gap / Max Arrival Gap	Inter-packet arrival timing. Shown as `not measured on this link` until delivery-timing data is available.
Log path label	Shows the full path of the log file being tailed in the Logs view.
Navigation tree (left pane)	Tree-style navigation replacing tab bar. Select an item to display its content in the main area.
Search filter (above navigation tree)	Text input field for filtering items in the navigation tree. Typing narrows the visible items.
Page title (content area)	Large bold title at the top of the content area indicating the currently selected view.
Overview (page)	Shows four health cards (Status, Latency, Packet Loss, Audio Buffer) and four time-series graphs (Latency and Jitter, Recent Packet Loss, Total Stream Rates, Audio Buffer).
Connection Details (page)	Scrollable grid with labeled values for Network Status, Incoming Stream Rates, Packet Loss, Audio Playback, and the Adaptive Frame-Rate Throttle subsection.	Renamed from 'Details' in the v26.8.4 tree-navigation rework. Includes a Read-Only Clipboard Copy action to copy the whole diagnostic summary.
Adaptive Frame-Rate Throttle (section)	Shows the adaptive throttle's Current State, Pending Lift and Sessions This Run values. Reduces panadapter frame rates when latency or loss is detected.	New in v26.8.4. Hidden until throttle data is available.
Latency (page)	Full-width time-series graph of RTT, arrival gap, and jitter in ms. On transports without a round trip to time, the RTT trace is omitted rather than drawn as a flat 0 ms line.
Rates (page)	Full-width log-scale time-series graph of per-stream incoming bitrates (RX total, Audio, FFT, Waterfall, Meters, DAX) in kbps.
Packet Loss (page)	Full-width time-series graph of packet loss % per stream category.
Audio (page)	Full-width time-series graph of playback buffer fill (ms) and underruns/s. Includes per-stream RX audio diagnostics showing feed rate, deficit, late packets, packet class code, and stream health for each active audio stream.	v26.5.3 (#2889): per-stream RX diagnostics exposed in the support bundle and in this view's detail view.
Logs (page)	Live tail of the AetherSDR log file, filtered by category checkboxes. Syntax-highlighted by log level and category name.	The Timeframe selector is hidden while this view is active.
TCI Clients (page)	Lists connected TCI clients with a live traffic monitor (Pause/Save log/Clear), answer-command suppression controls, and per-client details.	New in v26.8.4. Build-gated by HAVE_TCI / TCI support. Timeframe selector is hidden on this page.
Timeframe	Selects how far back the time-series charts display history. Default is 5 minutes. Options: 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week.	Shown in the top-right corner of the content area when viewing Overview, Connection Details, Latency, Rates, Packet Loss, or Audio. Hidden when viewing Logs or TCI Clients.
Filter Categories (Logs)	Per-category checkboxes filter the log view. Includes a General (default) category plus all registered LogManager categories.
Select All (Logs)	Shows all log categories in the viewer.
Deselect All (Logs)	Hides all log categories from the viewer.
Live / Paused (Logs)	When Live, the viewer auto-scrolls to newest output. Scrolling up auto-pauses; clicking Live resumes and jumps to the tail.
Close	Closes the dialog.

Using the Logs view¶

The Logs view provides a live tail of the AetherSDR log file directly inside the dialog.

In the navigation tree, select Logs.
The full path of the log file being tailed is shown at the top of the view in the Log path label.
Use the Filter Categories checkboxes to show only the categories you are interested in. The General category is available by default; additional categories reflect all registered LogManager categories.
Click Select All to enable every category at once, or Deselect All to clear all selections.
The viewer starts in Live mode and auto-scrolls to the newest output. Scroll up at any time to pause auto-scrolling; the toggle switches to Paused.
Click Live to resume auto-scrolling and jump back to the tail.

Log entries are syntax-highlighted by log level (DBG, INF, WRN, CRT/FTL) and by category name, timestamps, numeric values, and protocol keywords.

Note: The Timeframe selector is hidden while the Logs view is active. Switch to any other view to restore it.

Tips¶

The dialog refreshes all indicators once per second. If First UDP Packet stays No for several seconds after connecting, UDP traffic is not reaching the host — check firewall rules, routing, and that the local UDP endpoint shown in Local UDP is reachable from the radio.
On a VPN or routed link, TCP may connect successfully while UDP is blocked separately. First UDP Packet showing No with Status showing a connected state is a reliable sign of this split.
First UDP Packet resets on each new connection. Disconnect and reconnect if you want to re-verify delivery after changing network settings.
Use the Timeframe selector to narrow or widen the history shown across all time-series views. The default is 5 minutes.
The Rates view uses a logarithmic scale so that low-bitrate streams (such as Meters) remain visible alongside the higher-bitrate RX total.
Use the Search filter above the navigation tree to quickly find specific view pages when many items are present.
The dialog uses a custom dark-themed appearance with styled panels, navigation tree, and controls for consistent visual feedback across all platforms.
The dialog geometry (position and size) is remembered between sessions via the NetworkDiagnosticsDialogGeometry setting.
On transports with no round trip to time, latency values display n/a in the Overview dashboard and not measured on this link in the Connection Details page. This distinction is deliberate: n/a means a measurement of nothing, while not measured on this link means the absence of a measurement.
On transports that do not split streams into VITA-49 categories, the per-category rate and drop rows in Connection Details display n/a. The Total RX/Total TX rows remain real and should be used instead.
Audio delivery-timing values (Arrival Gap, Max Arrival Gap, Network Jitter) display not measured on this link until the first timing window closes, approximately one second after the first tick.

Troubleshooting¶

First UDP Packet stays "No" after connecting — UDP is not arriving at the local endpoint. Verify that no firewall is blocking UDP on the port shown in Local UDP, and that the radio can route back to your machine's IP. On a VPN connection, confirm the VPN passes UDP in both directions.
Latency displays "n/a" or "not measured on this link" — The current transport has no round trip to time. This is expected behavior on such links, not an error. Use Total RX / Total TX and the audio diagnostics pages to assess link health instead.
Per-category rates and drops display "n/a" — The current transport does not split streams into VITA-49 categories. This is expected behavior; use the Total RX/Total TX rows instead.
First UDP Packet shows "Yes" but audio is silent — UDP is arriving, but a different problem affects playback. Check the Audio Playback group in the Connection Details view for underruns or buffer issues, and see the audio diagnostics page.
Log viewer is empty or shows no entries — Confirm that at least one Filter Categories checkbox is selected. If all categories are deselected, no entries are displayed. Click Select All to restore visibility.