RigHelm · FTDX3000 rig control

RigHelm is still in testing. These are early test builds and things may not work yet. Meter calibrations are approximate, and it only works with the Yaesu FTDX3000. If something goes wrong, please tell me or open an issue.

What it does

One radio, every program, any computer in the house.

Full radio control

VFO A/B, split, bands, modes, filters and DSP, keyer and voice memories, tuner, antennas, live meters, all 196 menu items with backup and restore, and a raw CAT console.

Port sharing

Virtual serial ports and a rigctld-compatible server, so WSJT-X, fldigi, flrig and your logger can all use the radio at once. Block TX per port for skimmers.

Remote over the LAN

Run a second copy on another computer. It finds the radio, controls everything, plays the radio's audio and can send your microphone back. Transmit needs a password. Or use your phone: RigHelm for iPhone or RigHelm for Android.

Audio waterfall

A spectrogram of the receive audio with the passband and CW pitch overlaid. Hover for a signal's frequency; in CW, click a trace to zero-beat it.

Band scope

Plug an RTL-SDR dongle into the radio's IF OUT or RX OUT jack for a spectrum and waterfall of the band up to 1.6 MHz wide. It follows the VFO, tunes with a click, pops out into its own window, and works over the LAN.

Auto-detect

Finds the radio's USB CAT and keying ports and its USB sound card, and probes the baud rate on connect.

Safe un-keying

If a program or remote computer that keyed the radio disappears, the radio is un-keyed. Commands sent while disconnected are thrown away, not replayed.

Computer mic & space-bar PTT

One click switches between the radio's own mic and this computer's, at the station or over the LAN. Hold the space bar to transmit, let go to stop.

CW from the computer

A RADIO KEY / COMPUTER KEY switch: key the radio from the touchpad, mouse or keyboard, as a straight key or iambic paddles, or send typed text.

Screenshots

What it looks like.

Demo, with sound. A real FTDX3000 on 20 m, controlled over the LAN: tuning onto a CW station on 14.066 and narrowing the filter to 500 Hz, FT8 on 14.074, then tuning into a voice net on 14.300.

Transmit demo. The same Mac keying the FTDX3000 over the LAN, into a dummy load: talking through the Mac's microphone (voice muted in the video), then CW typed on the Mac and sent by RigHelm's keyer, with the power and ALC meters live.

RigHelm's Operate tab connected to a real FTDX3000 on 40 m: VFO A and B frequencies, S, power and SWR meters, band and mode buttons, the band scope and audio waterfall, filter and receiver, DSP and transmitter controls — **Operate.** Both VFOs, live meters, bands, modes, the band scope and audio waterfall, filters, and receiver, DSP and transmitter settings on one screen. A real FTDX3000 on 40 m, over the LAN.

RigHelm's band scope in its own window: a 50 kHz span of 40 m around 7.218 MHz with SSB signals in the spectrum and waterfall, the receive passband shaded — **Band scope, in its own window.** 50 kHz of 40 m from an RTL-SDR on the radio's IF OUT, with the receive passband shaded. Click a signal to tune to it.

RigHelm's audio waterfall showing live 40 m receive audio with the filter passband and CW pitch marked — **Audio waterfall.** Live receive audio from a real FTDX3000 on 40 m, here over the LAN from another computer, with the filter passband and CW pitch overlaid.

RigHelm's Radio menu tab listing the FTDX3000's menu items with their values — **Radio menu.** All 196 menu items, searchable and editable, with backup and restore.

RigHelm's Ports and sharing tab: the CAT connection and three virtual CAT ports for WSJT-X, a logger and CW Skimmer — **Ports & sharing.** Virtual CAT ports for WSJT-X, your logger and a skimmer, all at once.

Screenshots on a Mac. Operate and the band scope are from v0.2.5 and the waterfall from v0.1.0, all with a real FTDX3000; the menu and sharing shots are from v0.1.0 with RigHelm's built-in FTDX3000 simulator. Click one to see it full size.

Download · test builds

Get it for Windows, Mac or Linux.

Latest: RigHelm v0.2.14 (testing)

Download for Windows Download for Mac Download for Linux Source on GitHub Windows: 10 and 11, 64-bit · Mac: Apple Silicon and Intel · Linux: x86-64 · native binaries, no runtime needed

Windows

Install the radio’s USB driver first: the Silicon Labs CP210x driver from Yaesu’s or Silicon Labs’ site. RigHelm tells you if a driver is missing. Then, in PowerShell:

cd $HOME\Downloads
Expand-Archive righelm-v0.2.14-windows-x86_64.zip -DestinationPath . -Force
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\righelm-v0.2.14-windows-x86_64\packaging\install-windows.ps1

That installs RigHelm for your user, with Start menu and desktop shortcuts; no administrator rights needed. Test builds aren’t signed yet, so if Windows SmartScreen warns, choose More info → Run anyway. Allow RigHelm through Windows Firewall if you use LAN remote. Sharing the radio with WSJT-X or a logger over a COM port needs com0com; programs that support Hamlib NET rigctl (127.0.0.1:4532) need nothing extra. The band scope’s RTL-SDR dongle needs the WinUSB driver, installed with Zadig.

Mac

cd ~/Downloads
tar xzf righelm-v0.2.14-macos-universal.tar.gz
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine righelm-v0.2.14-macos-universal   # test builds aren't signed yet
./righelm-v0.2.14-macos-universal/righelm

The first time it records audio, macOS asks to allow microphone access for Terminal. Allow it, or the waterfall and remote audio stay silent.

Linux

tar xzf righelm-v0.2.14-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
cd righelm-v0.2.14-linux-x86_64
sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER   # serial port access for CAT, then log out and back in
./righelm

On the radio, set menu 037 CAT SELECT to USB. The baud rate is detected on its own.

Open source

All of RigHelm's code is on GitHub at github.com/NR5P/righelm. Read it, build it yourself, report bugs or send changes. It’s free software under the GNU GPL v3 or later. To build it from source on Linux (on a Mac you only need xcode-select --install and Rust; on Windows, Rust and the Visual Studio C++ build tools; see the README):

sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev libgl1-mesa-dev
git clone https://github.com/NR5P/righelm.git && cd righelm
cargo build --release
./target/release/righelm

Source code · README & setup · Release notes & checksums · Report a problem · License (GPL v3)

Support on PayPal RigHelm is free and made in my spare time. If it's useful to you, a tip helps keep it going.

Your FTDX3000, shared and remote.