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wfview

Control a modern Icom radio, waterfall and all, over USB or the network

What it does

Gives an Icom transceiver a full software front panel with the spectrum scope and waterfall the radio generates, over USB CI-V, over the radio's own Ethernet or WiFi, or over the internet. Frequency, mode, filters, memories and audio all come across, so the radio can be operated from another room or another country.

Why you would want it

Icom's own remote software is Windows-only. This is the Linux answer, and for the network-capable radios -- IC-705, IC-7610, IC-9700 and others -- it turns a transceiver into a genuinely remote station with the waterfall intact. The waterfall is the part that matters: remote operating without the scope is a large step backwards.

Before it will work

A supported Icom radio. USB control needs dialout; network control needs the radio's remote settings enabled and a user and password set on the radio itself. Over the internet, a route to it -- which is a firewall decision, not a software one.

How it installs

  • apt: wfview
  • AHRL purges the repository package and builds 2.11 from a tarball (inventory unit 69). The targets are very far apart here -- Debian 13 and Parrot 2.03, Ubuntu 26.04 2.11, Kali 2.23, Mint 1.64 (measured 2026-08-28) -- which is a wider spread than any other package in this catalog. wfview is under rapid development and new radio support arrives in new versions, so an operator with a recent Icom may genuinely need more than Debian 13 offers. Recorded rather than engineered around; a source build here is a real candidate once the case is measured.

Known problems

Radio support is per-model and newer radios need newer versions, which is why the target spread above is worth reading before assuming a fault. Exposing a radio's network control to the internet exposes a transmitter: the radio's own authentication is all that stands in front of it, and a tunnel is the sensible arrangement rather than a forwarded port. Audio over a lossy link degrades in ways that look like a radio problem.

Keeping it current

  • probe: apt policy
  • strategy: apt_upgrade

Where to get help with the software itself

The wfview project. Its forum and documentation are linked from the site, and the per-radio compatibility notes there answer most questions.

Source: catalog/packages/wfview.yaml