Keyboard shortcuts in RTL-SDR mode
The RTL-SDR workspace can be run from the keyboard. Press ? on the receiver page, or choose Keyboard shortcuts in Radio tools, for the list the app itself shows. It is not the ATS Mini’s set: that mode has its own keys, described in Keyboard shortcuts & the terminal.
When the keys work
- On the receiver page while a stick streams, or has just been lost. With no receiver connected the keys do nothing.
- Not while you type in a text field, and not while a dialog, a phone sheet or the search palette is open: those take the keyboard.
- Not with Ctrl, Alt or ⌘ held, so the browser’s own shortcuts stay as they are.
- Not on guide pages. The radio panel there has no shortcuts, so typing on a guide page never retunes the receiver. Its search entry for the shortcuts opens the list with the note “These keys work on the receiver page.”
Tuning
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ↑ ↓ | In the frequency readout: step the chosen digit up or down |
| ← → | In the frequency readout: choose the digit |
| [ ] | Smaller or larger tuning step |
| C | Centre the view on the active VFO |
| PgUp PgDn | Previous or next VFO |
| Enter | Go to the frequency readout and type a frequency: 145.5M, 7074k, 162.4/12.5k |
| Delete, Backspace | On a VFO tab: remove that VFO (a message offers Undo) |
Modes
| Key | Mode |
|---|---|
| N | NFM |
| W | WFM |
| A | AM |
| U | USB |
| L | LSB |
| K | CW |
| X | RAW |
A mode key changes the active VFO. Modes without a key, such as SAM and DSB, are in the Mode list of the VFO bar.
Spectrum
These keys work while the spectrum has focus: click it, or move to it with Tab.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| + − | Zoom in or out |
| 0 | Show the full capture |
| P | Peak hold on or off |
| Z | Freeze the display |
| M | Add a marker |
| F | Full screen |
| ← → | Tune by the step |
| ↑ ↓ | Narrower or wider bandwidth |
| Shift ← → | Pan the view |
With a mouse, the wheel over the spectrum tunes by the step; with Ctrl (⌘ on a Mac) it changes the bandwidth and with Shift it shifts the passband. Over the frequency axis the wheel zooms. In the Signals in view list, Enter tunes to the selected signal and B saves it as a bookmark.
Audio, recording and tools
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Space | Mute or unmute the active VFO |
| R | Start or stop recording |
| B | Bookmark the active VFO’s frequency |
| S | Open the Scanner |
| D | Open the Decoders (when the app offers them) |
| ⌘K, Ctrl K | Search |
| ? | Show the list of shortcuts |
Tuning from search
In the search palette (⌘K on a Mac, Ctrl K elsewhere) you can type a frequency the way the readout takes it, with an optional mode word at the end: 145.5 nfm, 7074k usb, 98.8 fm. “fm” means broadcast WFM from 76 MHz up and NFM below it. A bare number above 2000 is read as kHz, so 9580 is 9.58 MHz. Choose the Tune VFO … to … row and the active VFO goes there. Search also finds your bookmarks and scenes, and the receiver’s settings and tools.
Playing an IQ file
While an IQ file plays, three letters change meaning: K plays or pauses, J jumps back 10 seconds and L jumps forward 10 seconds. Choose CW and LSB in the Mode list meanwhile. With a stick connected, K and L are mode keys again. Recording and IQ files explains how to open a file.