Tutorial Control a rig with Hamlib

OnAir tunes your radio; the sound card brings the signal in.

What you need

• A transceiver or receiver that Hamlib supports, connected by a serial / USB CAT cable.
• An OnAir build with Hamlib (the window tells you if not).
• For decoding: the rig's audio into a sound card input (a USB audio interface, the rig's own USB sound device or a virtual cable).

Steps

1. In the source list choose Add Hamlib rig....
2. Enter the Model (the Hamlib number from rigctl -l, for example 1025 for an IC-7300) and the Serial port (COM3 on Windows, /dev/cu.usbmodem... on macOS). Add a Label if you like.
3. Set the Sound card id of the audio input to use. Leave it empty for CAT only (silent IQ), which just lets OnAir move the rig.
4. Add the rig, choose it in the source list, and choose how the sound card is read: I/Q stereo, USB audio, LSB audio or Mono real.
5. Choose a mode (for example FT8) and press Start. The frequency and mode go to the rig over the serial port, and the decoder works on the sound card audio. The frequency field is the dial the decoder assumes.

Tips

• This is not a replacement for an SDR when you need megahertz of bandwidth.
• The same input type works with a WebSDR through a virtual audio cable: see Sound card input.
• Remove a rig in the same window.

Related: Hamlib rigs, FT8 and WSPR.