Operate a transceiver from any browser on your network — logbook, DX cluster, JS8Call, RTTY, a WSPR beacon and Mercury file transfer — with nothing installed on the phone, tablet or PC, and no internet.
Runs on any ESP32 WROOM module with 4 MB of flash — or on a ready-cased M5Stack Atom Lite (built from source, see BUILD.md) — or, if the radio is already on your network, as a native program on a Linux, Windows or Raspberry Pi PC with no extra hardware at all. Get the WROOM image or the desktop program from the web installer page: https://ok1hra.github.io/wifilt/ (flashing the ESP32 needs Chrome, Edge or Opera on a desktop, plugged in over USB-C first; the Linux/Raspberry Pi/Windows downloads are plain archives — the Atom Lite is not on this page yet, see BUILD.md).
A radio that is not an Icom — or an Icom with no network port — can be used too, on the PC route. The desktop archives carry a second program, local-trx, which pretends to be a LAN-networked Icom and translates for whatever the computer's sound card, CAT adapter and DTR/RTS keying adapter are wired to, over hamlib's full rig list. It ships switched off; a setup page of its own turns it on. See SOFTWARE.md § 1.6.
Three ways in. Pick the row that matches what you have; each one ends at the same interface, at the same address, with the same pages.
| You have | Go to | |
|---|---|---|
| A | an Icom with Network Control, and an ESP32 board | A — the ESP32 box |
| B | an Icom with Network Control, and a PC always on | B — on a PC, no extra hardware |
| C | any other rig — a Kenwood, a Yaesu, an Icom without LAN — and a PC | C — on a PC, through local-trx |
Routes B and C are the same download. local-trx is already inside it; route B simply
never starts it.
In the transceiver's own menu set Network Control to ON, and invent a network user name and password there. You will type them into WIFILT in a moment; they are the radio's, not an account with anybody.
- Open https://ok1hra.github.io/wifilt/ in Chrome, Edge or Opera on a desktop, with the board plugged in over USB-C, and flash it. (The page asks whether this is a new device or an upgrade, and explains the Erase device checkbox — leave it unticked to keep your configuration.)
- The board raises its own hotspot,
WIFILT-AP/remoteqth. Join it and open http://192.168.4.1. - SETUP walks you through the rest. Give it your WiFi, then reach it at http://wifilt.local from then on.
Wiring, connectors, the Status LED and the case are HARDWARE.md.
Download the archive for your system from the same page.
Linux and Raspberry Pi (64-bit Raspberry Pi OS — a 32-bit one cannot run it):
tar xzf wifilt-<rev>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz # or -linux-arm64
cd wifilt-linux-x86_64
sudo ./install.shThe installer copies the program to /opt/wifilt and grants it permission to bind ports 80,
82 and 83 — port 83 carries the audio, so without that permission JS8, RTTY, WSPR and
Mercury cannot work at all. It installs a systemd service but deliberately does not
enable it: starting a transmitter's control interface at boot should be your decision. Then:
/opt/wifilt/start-wifilt.sh # starts it and opens the browser
# or
sudo systemctl start wifilt # this boot only
sudo systemctl enable --now wifilt # and at every bootWindows — unpack the ZIP anywhere and run start-wifilt.bat (or wifilt.exe
directly). Nothing is installed and there is no runtime to add. Windows asks once whether to
allow it through the firewall — say yes, or nothing else on your network will reach it.
Because the file is not code-signed, SmartScreen may warn on first run: More info → Run
anyway.
Then open http://wifilt.local and go to SETUP → Radio: set TRX1 to ICOM-LAN, enter the radio's address and the user name and password you invented in its menu, and press Test & identify radio. The radio reports its own model back, and from there the power limits and setup guidance follow whichever transceiver actually answered.
Same download and the same install as B — local-trx comes with it and lands in the same
place. What is different is that a second program now has to be told about your hardware, and
that WIFILT is pointed at it instead of at a radio.
You need, physically: the PC's sound card wired to the rig's audio in and out, a CAT adapter on its control port, and a second serial adapter whose DTR and RTS lines go to the rig's KEY and PTT jacks. Two separate adapters — CAT and keying are never the same port.
-
Start both.
/opt/wifilt/start-wifilt.shon Linux,start-wifilt.baton Windows. Both web pages open by themselves. (Runninglocal-trxon its own works too; it is just one more thing to remember.) -
Set up local-trx, on http://localhost:8765. It ships doing nothing at all. Its page asks for three things, each with a test button beside it so you can prove the wiring before going on the air:
- Audio — capture and playback device, with a live input meter and a test tone.
- CAT — serial port, baud rate and which rig it is, from hamlib's full model list; Test read freq reads the dial back.
- Keying — the other serial port, the CW speed, and which of DTR/RTS is the key line and which is PTT; Test KEY and Test PTT assert each one on its own.
Switch it from Configure to Run and press Save. Saving restarts
local-trxitself — nothing is applied while it runs. -
Point WIFILT at it. On http://wifilt.local, go to SETUP → Radio, set TRX1 to ICOM-LAN and tick LOCAL-TRX. On a PC install that fills in
127.0.0.1and the rest; if WIFILT is on the ESP32 box instead, type the PC's LAN address by hand. A local-trx detected link appears when it answers.
What you give up is only what is reached by model-specific Icom commands — the network MOD-level TX-gain calibration, GPS position, the radio's own waterfall. Everything else, including the transmit-gain calibration through the ordinary audio path, works. SOFTWARE.md § 1.6 has the detail.
SETUP's first-run guide works out on its own what is already done and asks only for what is missing: your callsign and locator, the transmit check, the DX cluster, this browser's own settings. Start at SOFTWARE.md § 2.
- SOFTWARE.md — the web interface: first run, QRPLog, DXC, JS8Call, RTTY-ICOM, the WSPR beacon, Mercury file transfer, SETUP, LOGSYNC and the band decoder.
- HARDWARE.md — the ESP32 and the RemoteQTH interface board: which radios work, flashing, connectors, Status LED, schematic and 3D-printed case — and, for the Linux/Raspberry Pi/Windows route that needs none of it, § 11.
Building from source: BUILD.md — the firmware in § 1, the native builds in § 4,
local-trx in § 5.
WIFILT is free software, distributed under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later — see LICENSE. This repository is the corresponding source for every binary the project distributes, including the images served by the web installer. The licences of the individual third-party components are listed in SOFTWARE.md § 13 and in data/THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt.
Icom is a registered trademark of Icom Incorporated. WIFILT is an independent software project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Icom Incorporated.