Ham Radio Deluxe® Rig Control — Ham Radio Control Software
CAT Control for Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, Elecraft, and FlexRadio Transceivers
HRD Rig Control is the heart of Ham Radio Deluxe®. It provides a fully customizable screen to control your amateur transceiver using its built-in Computer Aided Transceiver (CAT) interface — giving you complete command of your radio from your PC without touching the front panel.
Rig Control allows you to organize buttons, sliders, and drop-downs to toggle radio options, select modes and filter settings, and control various level inputs directly from your computer screen. Features that are buried deep in your radio's menus become single mouse clicks. Whether you're switching between CW and SSB filters, adjusting noise reduction levels, or changing operating bands, Rig Control puts everything within reach.
While other programs like OmniRig support only basic CAT commands, HRD Rig Control goes much further — seeking to support all on-air programmable commands in a single interface. If your radio's manufacturer built it in, HRD aims to expose it.
Rig Control also serves as the central communications hub for the entire Ham Radio Deluxe suite. It feeds live frequency and mode data into HRD Logbook so your QSO records are always accurate, keys your radio when using DM-780 for digital modes, and automatically adjusts for Doppler shift when working satellites through HRD Satellite Tracking. When running WSJT-X for FT8 or FT4, Rig Control acts as the exclusive COM port manager — preventing conflicts and ensuring frequency changes are reflected consistently across all applications on your station PC.
Key Features
- Full CAT control support for Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, Elecraft, FlexRadio, Ten-Tec, and more
- Fully customizable control layout — buttons, sliders, and drop-downs arranged to your preference
- BandScope display for compatible radios
- Panadapter support for Icom IC-7300, IC-7610, IC-9700, Kenwood TS-890S, and other Panadapter-capable radios
- Favorites — cross-radio memory system for storing frequently used frequencies and modes
- Eltima Virtual Serial Port Driver (VSPD) interface support for complex multi-application setups
- Central COM port management for WSJT-X, DM-780, and other station software
- Integrated with HRD Logbook, DM-780, Satellite Tracking, and Rotor Control
Setting Up CAT Control with HRD
Getting started with HRD Rig Control is straightforward for most modern transceivers. Connect your radio to your PC via USB — most current Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, and Elecraft radios create a virtual COM port automatically after driver installation. Select your radio model in HRD Rig Control, choose the correct COM port, and in most cases the software connects and identifies your radio within seconds.
For Icom radios using the CI-V protocol, HRD auto-detects the CI-V address in most cases. For Yaesu radios that create two virtual COM ports after driver installation, the Enhanced port is used for CAT control. For radios connecting via a physical serial interface, ensure your baud rate in HRD matches the baud rate configured in your radio's menu.
If you're running WSJT-X alongside HRD, the critical setup step is setting the Rig field in WSJT-X to "Ham Radio Deluxe" rather than your specific radio model. This ensures HRD Rig Control manages the COM port exclusively, preventing conflicts. See our FT8 integration guide for full details.
Panadapter Support
For operators running Panadapter-capable radios, HRD Rig Control can display a live spectrum scope synchronized to your transceiver. This gives you a visual picture of band activity across your radio's passband — similar to an SDR display — without requiring a separate receiver. Panadapter support is available for the Icom IC-7300, IC-7610, IC-9700, and Kenwood TS-890S among others. See the supported radios list for the full set of Panadapter-capable models.
All rig control features are included in your Ham Radio Deluxe license at no additional charge. Download the free 30-day trial and take full control of your station today.
Ham Radio Deluxe® Rig Control
