Skip to content

TGXL Tuner Control

Jeremy Fielder edited this page Mar 31, 2026 · 1 revision

TGXL Tuner Control

AetherSDR provides direct control of the 4O3A Tuner Genius XL (TGXL) Pi network relays — the first SDR client to support manual relay adjustment.

How It Works

The TGXL exposes a direct TCP connection on port 9010, independent of the FlexRadio connection on port 4992. AetherSDR auto-connects to the TGXL when detected and enables manual relay control via the Tuner applet.

Automatic Connection

When a TGXL is connected to your FlexRadio, the radio reports its IP address in the amplifier status messages. AetherSDR reads this IP and opens a direct TCP connection to the TGXL on port 9010. No user configuration required — it just works.

The connection is established automatically when the TGXL is detected and disconnected when you disconnect from the radio.

Tuner Applet

The Tuner applet (visible when a TGXL is connected) shows:

  • Fwd Power gauge — forward power in watts (auto-scales for barefoot/Aurora/PGXL)
  • SWR gauge — standing wave ratio (1.0-3.0 scale)
  • C1 bar — input capacitor relay position (0-255)
  • L bar — inductor relay position (0-255)
  • C2 bar — output capacitor relay position (0-255)
  • TUNE button — initiates auto-tune (tgxl autotune)
  • OPERATE button — cycles through OPERATE → BYPASS → STANDBY

Manual Relay Control

When the direct TGXL connection is active, the C1, L, and C2 relay bars become scrollable:

  • Scroll up over a relay bar — increment relay position by 1
  • Scroll down — decrement by 1
  • The mouse cursor changes to ↕ when hovering over scrollable relay bars
  • Relay values update in real-time (~3ms round-trip)

This allows fine manual tuning of the Pi network, useful for:

  • Tweaking an auto-tune result for lower SWR
  • Experimenting with different matching configurations
  • Matching antennas the auto-tuner struggles with

Relay Ranges

Relay Component Range
C1 Input capacitor 0-255
L Inductor 0-255
C2 Output capacitor 0-255

Troubleshooting

Relay bars don't scroll

  • Check that the TGXL direct connection is active (Tuner log category in Help → Support should show TgxlConnection: direct TGXL connection established)
  • The TGXL must be on the same network as AetherSDR (direct TCP to port 9010)
  • SmartLink (WAN) connections may not support direct TGXL access if port 9010 is not forwarded

TGXL not detected

  • Verify the TGXL is connected to the radio and powered on
  • Check Radio Setup → Network for the TGXL's IP address
  • The TGXL broadcasts its presence on UDP port 9010 (TunerGenius discovery packets)

Protocol Reference

The TGXL uses a text-based protocol identical in format to the SmartSDR protocol:

Direction Format
Client → TGXL C<seq>|<command>\n
TGXL → Client R<seq>|<code>|<body>\n
TGXL → Client (push) S0|state key=val ...\n

Manual relay command: tune relay=<0\|1\|2> move=<+1\|-1>

Reverse-engineered from the 4O3A TGXL management application.

Clone this wiki locally