Switching between the ATS Mini and an RTL-SDR

ATS Mini Controller drives two kinds of receiver: the ATS Mini, over USB serial or Bluetooth, and RTL-SDR USB sticks, over WebUSB. It works with one of them at a time. You pick it in the Device menu, and the rest of the app follows: the receiver page, the status strip, the bottom bar on a phone and the radio panel on guide pages.

Where the switch is

The Device button is in the header on every page and names the receiver you are using. On a phone the same choice is also in the More sheet. It offers two options: ATS Mini (“Si4732 receiver · serial or Bluetooth”) and RTL-SDR (“USB software-defined radio”), the second with an Experimental tag. The tag means what it says: the RTL-SDR mode is newer and still has rough edges.

What happens when you switch

• The receiver you leave is disconnected first. Only one can be connected in a tab.
• Leaving the ATS Mini closes its USB or Bluetooth connection. The radio keeps playing on its own, and its memory slots and settings stay on the radio.
• Leaving an RTL-SDR stops the stream. A running scan stops, and a running recording is finished and saved up to that moment.
• The receiver page then shows the other device’s connect card. Switching never opens a device by itself: you press Connect.
• Choosing the device that is already selected changes nothing.

What stays

Each receiver keeps its own settings. For the ATS Mini the app remembers which firmware it detected or you confirmed, and starts from that on the next connect. For an RTL-SDR it keeps each stick’s settings, your bookmarks, saved presets and recent frequencies. All of it is stored in this browser. The choice itself is remembered as well, so the next visit opens with the device you used last.

What changes on the page

• Receiver page: the ATS Mini cards make way for the RTL-SDR connect card and, once a stick streams, the RTL-SDR workspace.
• Bottom bar on a phone: Radio, Tune, Bookmarks and Scanner instead of Radio, Tune, Memory and Stations.
• Guide pages: with a receiver connected they get a small radio panel at the side (a mini bar on a phone), the ATS Mini one or the RTL-SDR one.
• Menus and search: the firmware installer is for the ATS Mini, so in RTL-SDR mode it is left out of the menus and the search palette. Its address still works if you open it directly.
• Keyboard: each mode has its own keys. See ATS Mini shortcuts and RTL-SDR shortcuts.

To connect each one: the ATS Mini over USB or Bluetooth, an RTL-SDR over WebUSB.