Panadapter Controls

Panadapter Controls

The panadapter is the main display area showing the FFT spectrum (top) and scrolling waterfall (bottom).

Layout

• FFT spectrum — real-time frequency vs. signal strength
• Frequency scale — between FFT and waterfall, shows MHz
• Waterfall — scrolling time vs. frequency heatmap
• dBm scale — right edge of FFT, draggable
• Time scale — right edge of waterfall, shows elapsed seconds
• Band plan — bottom 8px of FFT, color-coded ARRL sub-bands

Mouse Controls

Action	FFT Area	Waterfall Area	Frequency Scale
Single click + drag	Pan display	Pan display	Zoom bandwidth
Double-click	Tune to frequency	Tune to frequency	—
Scroll wheel	Tune by step size	Tune by step size	—
Right-click	Context menu (Add TNF, Close Slice)	Context menu	—

FFT/Waterfall Split

Click and drag the divider bar between the FFT and waterfall to resize. The split ratio persists across sessions.

dBm Scale (Right Edge of FFT)

• Drag the scale strip up/down to shift the reference level
• Click arrows (▲▼) at the top to step the scale
• The scale uses adaptive 1-2-5 step labels

Display Settings (Left Sidebar → Display)

Control	What it does
AVG	FFT averaging depth (0-100). Higher = smoother trace
FPS	FFT frame rate (5-30)
Fill	FFT fill opacity (0-100) + color picker
Weighted Average	On/Off — uses weighted averaging algorithm
Gain	Waterfall color intensity
Black	Waterfall noise floor threshold (higher = darker noise)
Auto	Auto black level from native waterfall tiles
Rate	Waterfall tile delivery rate (1-30)

Band Plan Overlay

The bottom strip of the FFT shows band allocations with color-coded segments:

• Blue — CW
• Red — Data/Digital
• Orange — Phone/SSB
• Cyan — Beacons
• Purple — Satellite
• Yellow — All modes / FM
• White dots — spot frequencies (QRP calling, FT8, WSPR, etc.) — hover for tooltip

Selecting a Band Plan

View → Band Plan offers two controls:

Size: Off, Small (6pt), Medium (10pt), Large (12pt), Huge (16pt) — controls the strip height and font size.

Region: Select from four bundled band plans:

• ARRL (US) — US allocations with Extra/General/Technician license class markings
• IARU Region 1 — Europe, Africa, Middle East, Northern Asia
• IARU Region 2 — Americas (similar to ARRL but without US license class distinctions)
• IARU Region 3 — Asia-Pacific, Oceania

Key differences between regions include band edges (Region 1 stops 80m at 3.800, Region 2 extends to 4.000; Region 1/3 stop 40m at 7.200, Region 2 extends to 7.300) and CW/Phone boundaries.

The selected plan persists across restarts. Each plan includes both segment allocations and spot frequency markers (FT8, WSPR, QRP calling frequencies, etc.).

License class brightness (ARRL plan only): Extra (dim) → General (medium) → Technician (bright). IARU plans do not use US license class distinctions.

Off-Screen VFO Indicator

When you pan the display so the VFO frequency is off-screen, a two-line label appears showing:

• Slice letter + TX status + chevron direction
• VFO frequency

Double-click the indicator to recenter on the VFO.

Status Bar Controls

The status bar at the bottom of the main window contains:

• +PAN icon — painted spectrum waveform with + sign. Click to add a panadapter (multi-pan mode). Tooltip: "Add Panadapter"
• ☰ (hamburger) — toggle the right applet panel visibility. Cyan when panel is shown, dim when hidden. Also available via View → Applet Panel.

Applet Panel

The right-side applet panel hosts all radio controls (VU, RX, TX, PHNE, P/CW, EQ, DIGI, etc.).

Collapsing the Panel

Click the ☰ hamburger icon in the status bar (or use View → Applet Panel) to hide the panel. The spectrum/waterfall expands to fill the freed space. State persists across restarts.

Reordering Applets

Each applet has a draggable title bar with ⋮⋮ grip dots. Drag the title bar to reorder applets in the panel. The order persists across restarts.

To restore the default order: View → Reset Applet Order.