User guide

The menu bar at the top of the user interface provides the following functions:

1) The station call sign menu

Clicking the call sign will open a menu that allows you to navigate to the device list view or the reservation calendar.

The call sign displayed in the menu bar is the call sign you specify during activation of your Web Radio Control license.

2) Shortcut menu for devices

The shortcut menu for devices ([device]) allows you to navigate directly to the control view of any available device.

Each device name in the list has an icon after the name indicating the status of the device. Additionally, there can be a blue calendar icon indicating that the device is currently reserved by an operator.

3) Settings button

The Settings button opens the settings dialog for managing Web Radio Control server settings.

Please see the settings guide and the station administrator guide for detailed documentation of the settings dialog.

4) Log button

The Log button opens the log window that displays technical log data about the Web Radio Control user interface and server and any startup errors that have occurred during the startup procedures of the Web Radio Control server software.

5) Offline button

The Offline button activates the Offline mode, which temporarily disconnects the web browser from the remote Web Radio Control server. Clicking the button again will restore the connection.

Please note that going offline does not log you out, and you can restore the connection by going back online without re-entering your login credentials (username and password).

6) Log Out button

The Log Out button logs you out from Web Radio Control and disconnects the web browser from the remote Web Radio Control server. Logging out will terminate the user session, which keeps you logged in, and you will need to re-enter login credentials (username and password) in order to restore the connection to Web Radio Control.

7) Clock

The clock displays the current time on the client device (web browser). Clicking the clock will toggle the displayed time between the local time zone and UTC time.

8) User account name

The user account name indicates your personal user account name on this particular Web Radio Control installation. The user accounts are station-specific. Clicking the user account name will open the user account details dialog, which allows you to edit your user account data, such as your password, call sign and full name.

9) Ping - network latency

The ping time indicates network latency: the time it takes for a message from the client device web browser to reach the Web Radio Control server and the time it takes for a response message from the server to reach the client device. The time includes the duration of a full round-trip of data over the network, so that data transfer in one direction takes approximately half of the measured ping time.

The remote control network connection quality is good if the latency is under 100 milliseconds. A latency of under 300 milliseconds is usually acceptable and does not heavily interfere with remote control commands or audio transfer. A large ping latency time is indicated with a red color.

10) Notifications icon

The notifications icon (bell icon) opens the notifications dialog, which displays detailed information about errors detected during remote control operations. This information can be useful for troubleshooting purposes.

The device list view lists every controllable device defined in the configuration of Web Radio Control. To use and control a device, click the green device ID or the name of the device to open the control view for that particular device. There is also a shortcut menu ([device]) in the menu bar at the top of the user interface for navigating between the available device control views. The station call sign in left end of the menu bar opens a drop-down menu, which contains a link back to the device list view.

Web Radio Control polls most commonly used radio state settings, such as VFO frequency and mode, every half a second and updates the radio control view to match the radio state if the radio is used outside of Web Radio Control. Additionally, Web Radio Control monitors radio meters, such as the S meter and the SWR meter, approximately 4-5 times a second. The rest of the radio state settings update only when explicitly refreshed. This includes all radio settings in the sidebar, which you can refresh using the refresh button at the top of the sidebar.

The following information will update every half a second by default:

The following meters update approximately 4-5 times a second:

The radio state settings are color-coded in the following way: their color is green when it matches the state of the radio device being controlled. When you change any setting, such as the VFO frequency, in the Web Radio Control user interface, its color changes temporarily to amber until the state of the actual radio transceiver device has changed to match the user interface. This change of color helps you to recognize the latency of remote control, and it allows you to verify that the state of the radio device has really changed to what you have requested when the setting color changes back to green.

Some radio transceiver models have "set-only" settings, which means that their state can be set via remote control commands, but their state cannot be queried. The radio control view indicates these set-only settings with a question mark ? next to the value of the setting. An example of set-only settings is the VFO setting in most Icom radios, where the VFO (A or B) can be selected, but the radio does not indicate which VFO is currently selected. The radio control user interface will display the last VFO setting that was selected in this case.

1) Audio stream control

The blue Play button on the left side starts audio streaming for reception (RX) and transmission (TX) between the client device web browser and the radio transceiver device. The button color changes to amber when the audio stream is active and clicking the amber Stop button will stop both audio streaming in both directions.

The drop-down menu on the right side opens a menu, which allows you to control audio streaming in a more fine-grained way. You can start or stop the individual audio streams used for either reception (RX) or transmission (TX). For example, if you do not plan to transmit audio, it is possible to start the stream for audio reception only, which will reduce the amount of network traffic generated by the web browser.

The menu provides settings for audio volumes of the received and transmitted audio. These volume settings control the audio volume in the web browser only and do not control the radio transceiver device directly. The web browser volume settings are saved for each radio device and for each user.

The TX audio settings section indicates the web browser audio processing functions, such as echo and noise cancellation, currently being applied for transmitted audio. This audio processing happens entirely in the web browser and the supported processing functionality depends on the web browser being used. You can change these settings in the Settings window tab Audio devices. You will need to restart audio streaming to take new audio processing settings into use.

2) Band selector

The band selector drop-down menu allows fast switching between amateur radio frequency bands. The currently available set of bands includes IARU Region 1 band definitions from 2200m (136 kHz) to 13cm (2.4 GHz). Future versions of the Web Radio Control software will include more bands and support for multiple IARU Regions.

Web Radio Control automatically saves the VFO frequency, mode, filter and the selected antenna for each band, so that when you return to a band you have used before, the previous settings on that band will be restored.

3) s button: Tuning step selector

The s button enables a software-based VFO tuning step that you can select either by using the VFO frequency wheel or by using the keyboard shortcuts for changing tuning step. The button will light up and display a capital S when the tuning step is enabled.

4) M button: Software memory channels

The M button opens the window for managing software memory channels. This user guide has a dedicated section that documents the functionality available in the software memory channels window.

5) A/B button: VFO selector

The A/B VFO selector button controls which VFO the frequency, mode and filter settings control. When the selector is indicates VFO B, the frequency, mode and filter settings control the state of the "opposite" VFO (depending on the currently selected VFO). This selector button does not change the active VFO, which allows, for example, setting the split frequency without having to activate the other VFO. As the active VFO never changes, the audio reception in the radio stays on the same VFO frequency all the time.

6) f button: Set current VFO frequency

The "f" button opens the Set frequency dialog that allows you also to set the current VFO frequency by typing the frequency.

The frequency text input field indicates the current VFO frequency (depending on the A/B VFO selector). The frequency unit (Hz / kHz / MHz) depends on the frequency unit drop-down menu selection. The Set button sets the current VFO frequency according to the frequency text input field value.

7) VFO frequency display

The VFO frequency display controls the frequency of the active VFO or the opposite VFO depending on the A/B VFO selector state.

You can change the VFO frequency by adjusting the individual digits. Left-clicking the mouse or scrolling the mouse wheel up will increase the selected digit and right-clicking or scrolling the mouse wheel down will decrease the selected digit.

There is a separate VFO wheel available for use with touch screens.

8) VFO, ANT, filter and mode settings

The VFO settings indicates the active VFO (e.g. A / B / Main / Sub) and you can change the active VFO by clicking the setting, which will display a drop-down menu of available VFOs.

The ANT setting indicates the selected antenna as a number, and you can change the selected antenna by clicking the setting, which will display a drop-down menu of available antenna choices. This antenna setting is for selecting the active antenna among the built-in antenna connectors of the radio transceiver. The list of available antennas will always display five antennas, because the exact number of antennas is currently not available via the radio control interface Web Radio Control uses.

It is only possible to control settings supported by the radio transceiver model. Settings not supported by the radio model will appear greyed out. For example, if the radio model has only a single antenna connector, it is not possible to change the selected antenna and the setting will appear as greyed out.

Some radio transceiver models have "set-only" settings, which means that their state can be set via remote control commands, but their state cannot be queried. The radio control view indicates these set-only settings with a question mark ? next to the value of the setting. An example of set-only settings is the VFO setting in most Icom radios, where the VFO (A or B) can be selected, but the radio does not indicate which VFO is currently selected. The radio control user interface will display the last VFO setting that was selected in this case.

9) RIT/XIT menu

The RIT/XIT menu allows you to enable and disable RIT (Receiver Incremental Tuning) and XIT (Transmitter Incremental Tuning) settings. To select the frequency displayed by the RIT/XIT frequency display next to this menu, click the RIT/XIT text in the menu. The dark blue background in the menu indicates the currently selected frequency (RIT or XIT).

It is only possible to control the RIT and/or XIT settings if the radio transceiver model supports these features. Settings not supported by the radio model will appear greyed out.

10) SPLIT button

The SPLIT button allows you to enable or disable the split function in the radio.

Some radio transceiver models have "set-only" settings, which means that their state can be set via remote control commands, but their state cannot be queried. The radio control view indicates these set-only settings with a question mark ? next to the value of the setting.

11) RIT/XIT frequency display

The RIT/XIT frequency display indicates the current RIT or XIT frequency depending on the selection in the RIT/XIT menu.

The RIT/XIT frequency can be adjusted using mouse the same way as the main VFO frequency.

There is a separate frequency wheel for adjusting RIT and XIT on touch screens.

12) Antenna selector (linked antenna switch)

To make antenna switch control faster and easier, Web Radio Control allows you to link antenna switches to one or more radios. When an antenna switch is linked to a radio, a drop-down selector for the antenna switch will appear in the radio control view above the radio meters. The selector lists the available antenna choices for the antenna switch and allows you to change the active antenna simply by selecting one of the antennas in the drop-down selector.

13) Antenna rotator control (linked antenna rotator)

To make rotator control faster and easier, Web Radio Control allows you to link rotators to one or more radios. When a rotator is linked to a radio, a direction indicator for the rotator direction will appear in the radio control view above the radio meters. The indicator displays the current azimuth and/or elevation (depending on rotator type) and allows you to set the azimuth and elevation angles by clicking the respective numbers.

There is also a drop-down menu shortcut to the saved rotator directions on the right side of the indicator.

14) Quick-access indicators and functions buttons for radio

The quick-access indicators and function buttons allow easy access to the squelch status and to some other commonly used functions. Clicking a button will toggle the function state.

The following indicators are available, depending on the features supported by the radio:

15) Radio meters

The radio meters provide feedback about received and transmitter signals. The set of available meters depends on the meters supported by the radio transceiver model control commands. This set of meters can be adjusted further with the selection of displayed meters in the Meters section of the sidebar menu.

Web Radio Control supports monitoring the following meters for radios:

You can adjust the set of meters displayed in the Meters section of the sidebar menu.

16) Band plan

The band plan displays band information for the active amateur radio frequency band between 2200m (136 kHz) and 13cm (2.4 GHz) according to IARU Region 1 regulations. The band plan information includes allowed modes and the largest allowed bandwidth for transmissions. You can select the current VFO frequency by clicking the band plan. You can also toggle the visibility of the band plan by clicking the Band plan button in the sidebar.

17) RF spectrum scope and waterfall display

The RF spectrum scope and waterfall display are available only when using a radio model that supports delivering the RF spectrum data via a remote connection and the radio control backend service, such as Hamlib, implements this functionality. Currently, the RF spectrum scope works only with the recent Icom SDR radio models, including IC-7300, IC-705, IC-7610, IC-9700 and IC-R8600. Future Web Radio Control versions will add RF spectrum scope support for new radio models.

Please note that even though many transceivers have a built-in RF spectrum scope display, the remote control (CAT) commands do not necessarily support reading the spectrum scope data. This is the case with all Yaesu radio models, including FT-991A, FT-710, FTDX10 and FTDX101.

The RF spectrum scope and waterfall display provides the following controls on top of the display:

18) Audio level meter, audio spectrum scope and waterfall display (Audio tab)

The Audio tab in the radio control view displays an audio level meter and a waterfall display for the audio frequencies. This waterfall display does not extend to frequencies outside the audio spectrum. The RX audio checkbox toggles visibility of the meter and the waterfall display for received audio and the TX audio checkbox toggles visibility for transmitted audio. Audio level meter and waterfall display for transmitted audio is displayed automatically when PTT is active.

19) PTT transmit button

The PTT transmit button near the right edge of the user interface indicates the state of PTT (transmit) and clicking the button will toggle the PTT state. The microphone icon on a blue background indicates reception and the antenna icon on an amber background indicates that transmission is active. A white microphone icon indicates that squelch is open and a black microphone icon indicates that squelch is closed.

There are two ways to use the PTT transmit button:

20) VFO frequency wheel for touch screens

The green button with a circular arrow icon near the right edge of the user interface toggles the visibility of the VFO frequency wheel for touch screens.

This user guide has a dedicated section that documents the functions available in the VFO frequency wheel.

21) Memory channels / Morse key for touch screens

The function of this button (near the right edge of the user interface) depends on the state of the On-screen keyer checkbox in the Options drop-down menu in the sidebar (radio settings). By default, the button displays a list icon and toggles the visibility of the memory channels browser. If the On-screen keyer checkbox is checked, the button displays an icon with three dots and the button toggles the visibility of the morse keyer for touch screens.

Memory channel browser

The memory channels browser allows you to browser the SOFTWARE and the HARDWARE memory channels.

The memory channels in the SOFTWARE mode are stored and managed entirely in Web Radio Control software, and you can edit them by clicking the M button near the VFO frequency.

The HARDWARE memory channels are stored in the hardware memory of the radio transceiver and usually require activation of the MEM VFO choice to navigate off from regular VFOs (e.g. VFOA or Main).

You can use the buttons below the memory channels selector to edit hardware memory channels:

Please note that it is recommended to use software memory channels in Web Radio Control, because not all radio transceivers have good support for browsing memory channels using remote control (CAT) commands.

Both memory channels modes, software and hardware, have keyboard shortcuts for quick browsing, and you can also type a memory channel number to go to by clicking the memory channel number between the arrows. When browsing the memory channels one-by-one using the arrow buttons, you may reach a memory channel number that does not exist. In this case the memory channel number will be displayed in parentheses, but you will be able to skip over any number of non-existing memory channels.

Morse key for touch screens

The on-screen keying method for transmitting morse code is suitable for slow keying only, because keying on a touch screen cannot happen in a particularly accurate way. This user guide has a dedicated section that documents the morse key for touch screens, see below for the detailed documentation.

22) Sidebar / radio settings

The arrow button at the left edge of the user interface toggles visibility of the sidebar, which provides control for radio-specific settings and other additional functions related to the user interface and the radio.

This user guide has a dedicated section that documents the functions available in the sidebar.

The antenna rotator control view contains the azimuth and/or elevation direction displays depending on the antenna rotator model. It is possible to control the antenna rotator either by setting the antenna direction in degrees or by turning the rotator manually in a specified direction.

1) Stop button

Pressing the Stop button stops the antenna rotator.

2) Park button

Pressing the Park button sets the rotator direction to "parking position", which may vary depending on the model of the antenna rotator. This direction is often zero degrees.

3) Reset button

The Reset button resets the antenna rotator controller state. What this function does depends on the antenna rotator controller model.

4) Counterclockwise and clockwise buttons

The counterclockwise (CCW) and clockwise (CW) buttons make the antenna rotator turn continuously to the chosen direction until the Stop button is pressed or another direction is chosen. Many antenna rotators also have certain limits, which prevent the rotator from turning too far in either direction.

It is recommended to be careful when using the CCW and CW buttons: make sure that the antenna rotator will not accidentally rotate too far, which could result in physical damage to the rotator or the antennas.

5) Azimuth and elevation direction displays

The azimuth and elevation direction displays indicate the current direction of the antenna rotator both as number in degrees and as a graphical pointer. The graphical direction pointer is green when the antenna rotator is idle (not rotating) and the pointer is red when the rotator is rotating the antennas. The available displays depend on the antenna rotator model, which can be an azimuth rotator, an elevation rotator or a combined azimuth and elevation rotator.

The antenna rotator direction can be set in the following to ways:

The saved rotator directions are a list of saved rotator direction information that includes either the azimuth, the elevation or both directions in degrees. The saved directions can be searched by name. Web Radio Control stores the saved directions internally, and they are not related to any built-in memory in the antenna rotator controller.

1) Saved direction search

You can search for saved directions by typing a part of or the full name of the saved direction in the text input field indicated by text Name to find. Typing into the text input field will automatically trigger display of search results below the text field.

2) Saved directions list

The list of saved directions will contain all saved directions by default, or the results of saved direction search if the text input field for search is not empty. Clicking the saved direction name will set begin turning the rotator to the azimuth and elevation directions indicated by the saved direction. The red cross on the left side of the saved direction name will delete the saved direction.

3) Storing a new saved direction

The New saved direction section provides functions for creating new saved directions.

There are two ways to create a new saved direction:

The antenna switch control view lists the antennas available in the switch and allows selecting the active antenna using the ON/OFF buttons.

Currently, Web Radio Control supports antenna switches connected to a single radio only.

1) ON/OFF buttons

Clicking the ON text makes the selected antenna active and deactivates the previously used antenna.

2) Disconnecting antennas

Some antenna switches have the ability to disconnect all antennas from a radio, where the antenna connection of the radio will be either left disconnected or it will be grounded. Clicking the OFF text for the antenna that is currently active removes the antenna selection to allow the antenna switch to disconnect the antennas.

Additional user guide documentation for various topics:

Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts for commonly used features

Reservations

Guide to device reservations and the reservation calendar

Working digital modes

Instructions on how to connect digital mode applications to Web Radio Control

Settings guide

Guide for the Settings dialog sections that are available for all user roles

Installing TLS root certificate authority on a new client device

Starting to use Web Radio Control on a new client device requires installation of a TLS root certificate authority in the web browser of the device

Station administrator guide

Guide for managing Web Radio Control software using features available for administrator and power user roles only