HamShackDeck is a Stream Deck plugin that controls FlexRadio FLEX 6000 and 8000 series transceivers directly over the SmartSDR TCP/IP API. No FlexLib, no separate SmartSDR process required on the same machine — the plugin opens one shared TCP connection per radio host (port 4992) and reuses it across every key and dial. Plays nicely with SmartSDR and AetherSDR connected at the same time (MultiFLEX).
Works on Stream Deck, Stream Deck XL, and Stream Deck+ (with full dial and LCD strip support for level and tune controls).
Previously released as FlexDeck; renamed at FlexRadio's request. "FlexRadio", "SmartSDR", and the FLEX-6400 / 6500 / 6600 / 6700 / 8400 / 8600 model names are trademarks of FlexRadio Systems. HamShackDeck is an independent third-party plugin and is not affiliated with or endorsed by FlexRadio.
FLEX-6400, 6500, 6600, 6700, 8400, 8600, and other 6000/8000-series radios running SmartSDR firmware that exposes the standard TCP/IP API on port 4992. Tested on a FLEX-8600 with SmartSDR 4.2.18 on Windows 11.
| Action | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | key | Tune a slice to a specific MHz (and optionally set mode). |
| Frequency Dial | key + dial | Rotate to tune in step-size increments; press for preset. |
| Band | key + dial | Jump the active slice 160m–6m; rotate to step through bands. |
| Mode | key + dial | Set demod mode: USB, LSB, CW, DIGU, DIGL, AM, FM, ... |
| Filter | key + dial | Adjust slice filter width. |
| Antenna | key + dial | Select RX/TX antenna port. |
| RIT | key + dial | Receiver incremental tuning. |
| XIT | key + dial | Transmitter incremental tuning. |
| Memory Recall | key | Apply a stored memory channel by index. |
| Action | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| AF Volume | key + dial | Slice audio level. Rotate to adjust, press to mute. |
| AF Mute | key | Toggle slice RX audio mute with one press. Reflects radio state in real time. |
| AGC Threshold | key + dial | AGC-T. Rotate to adjust, press to cycle off/fast/med/slow. |
| Sidetone | key + dial | CW monitor gain. Rotate to adjust, press to toggle monitor. |
| Headphone | key + dial | Front-panel headphone gain. Rotate to adjust, press to mute. |
| System Volume | key + dial | Master system audio. |
| Mic Gain | key + dial | Microphone gain. |
| Noise Reduction | key + dial | Toggle, set, or cycle NR / NB / ANF / NRF / NRL / NRS / RNN. |
| Action | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| TX / MOX | key | Manual key/unkey (MOX). |
| TUNE | key | Toggle tune carrier. |
| RF Power | key + dial | Adjust TX RF power. |
| Tune Power | key + dial | Adjust tune carrier power. |
| DAX TX | key + dial | Toggle TX DAX routing / adjust TX DAX gain. |
| CW Speed | key + dial | Set CW WPM. |
| ON AIR Indicator | key (read-only) | Lights up red whenever the radio transmits, regardless of source. |
| Action | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | key | Load a global / mic / TX profile by name. |
| Profile Cycle | key | Cycle through a list of profile names. |
| Voice Macro | key | Play a WAV through DAX TX, or trigger the radio's quick-record buffer. |
| CW Macro | key | Send a CW message via CWX with {call} substitution and per-button WPM. |
| Smart Macro | key | Higher-level macro with conditionals. |
| Macro | key | Run an arbitrary list of SmartSDR API commands. |
| Raw Command | key | Send a single raw API command for debugging. |
| Action | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Meter | key + dial | Display S-meter, SWR, power, ALC, etc. on the key or LCD. |
Every slice-aware action uses a consistent A / B / C / D dropdown in its Property Inspector (mapping to slice indices 0–3). All 15 slice-aware actions use the same picker — no more textbox-vs-dropdown mix.
Actions with both Keypad and Encoder controllers can be placed on either a key or a dial. On a dial:
- Rotate — adjusts within
[min, max]bystepper tick. Writes to the radio are debounced (~30ms) so a fast spin doesn't flood the TCP bus; the LCD updates immediately for a snappy feel. - Press — context-sensitive: mute on AF/headphone/system volume, AGC mode cycle on AGC, CW monitor toggle on sidetone, etc.
- LCD strip — custom layouts show label, value, and a bar indicator on a HamShackDeck-branded background.
On a regular key, pressing sets the value to a configurable preset.
A read-only status display that lights up red whenever the radio is on the air, regardless of what caused the transmit (DVK, MOX button, CW iambic, foot switch, RCA PTT, an API command from another app). The key press is intentionally a no-op so it can't accidentally key the radio.
Sends via SmartSDR's cwx send command (the radio's built-in keyer).
Spaces are auto-encoded to 0x7F per the API spec. Each button can:
- Have its own WPM override (
cwx wpm) - Set a break-in delay (
cwx delay) - Use
{call}substitution so you store your callsign once globally - Optionally force CW mode on the active slice before sending
Common templates:
CQ CQ CQ DE {call} {call} K
{call} TU 73 EE
R R UR 599 599 BK
Two playback routes:
DAX TX (most common) — route your computer's audio output to
"DAX RESERVED AUDIO TX 1" (Windows: Listen tab on the recording device;
macOS: Loopback or BlackHole; etc.). HamShackDeck enables TX DAX, keys
MOX, plays the WAV via the OS audio engine (afplay on macOS, PowerShell
SoundPlayer on Windows, aplay on Linux), then unkeys and disables DAX.
Errors are caught in a finally so the radio always unkeys.
Quick-record — triggers the radio's internal playback start for
buffers recorded with the front-panel quick-record button. No file needed.
Three flavors, loaded by name with auto-quoting (so spaces are fine):
| Kind | API command | Use for |
|---|---|---|
global |
profile global load "<name>" |
Full radio state snapshot |
mic |
profile mic load "<name>" |
Mic gain, EQ, processor, DEXP, VOX, DAX |
tx |
profile tx load "<name>" |
Power level, tune power, transmit delays |
- Toggle one feature — button keeps its own on/off state and flips it.
- Set one feature on/off — useful for dedicated "NRF on" / "NRF off" keys.
- Cycle through states — comma-separated list, each press advances.
Each entry is
offor features joined with+, e.g.off,nr,nrf,nr+nrforoff,nrs(AI denoise on/off).
When an entry is applied, every NR feature is explicitly written so the radio reflects the entry exactly with no leftover flags.
Download the latest hamshackdeck-vXX.X.X.zip from
Releases, unzip to get
com.k0otc.hamshackdeck.streamDeckPlugin, and double-click it. Stream
Deck will install and prompt to launch.
Requires Stream Deck 7.1 or later. Windows is fully supported; macOS support is on the roadmap.
HamShackDeck installs alongside FlexDeck under a new plugin UUID. After
verifying your new buttons work, uninstall the old FlexDeck plugin from
Stream Deck's plugin manager. See MIGRATION.md for the full playbook.
Each button has a Property Inspector with at minimum a Radio host/IP
field (the radio's LAN IP, e.g. 192.168.1.50). Slice (A/B/C/D) defaults
to A. Frequencies are in MHz with . decimal separator.
# 20m FT8 with NR + NRF
slice tune 0 14.074
slice set 0 mode=DIGU
slice set 0 nr=1
slice set 0 nrf=1
# CW contest setup
profile global load "CW Contest"
slice tune 0 14.030
slice set 0 mode=CW
transmit set mon_gain_cw=20
cw mon=1
| Feature | Command |
|---|---|
| Tune slice | slice tune <n> <MHz> |
| Set mode | slice set <n> mode=<mode> |
| Slice volume | audio client 0 slice <n> gain <0-100> |
| Slice mute | audio client 0 slice <n> mute <0|1> |
| AGC mode | slice set <n> agc_mode=<off|fast|med|slow> |
| AGC threshold | slice set <n> agc_threshold=<0-100> |
| Filter | filt <n> <low> <high> |
| Antenna | slice set <n> rxant=<port> txant=<port> |
| RIT / XIT | slice set <n> rit_on=<0|1> rit_freq=<Hz> (and xit_*) |
| Sidetone gain | transmit set mon_gain_cw=<0-100> |
| CW monitor | cw mon=<0|1> |
| Headphone gain | mixer headphone gain <0-100> |
| Headphone mute | mixer headphone mute <0|1> |
| Load profile | profile <global|mic|tx> load "<name>" |
| Recall memory | memory apply <n> |
| NR features | slice set <n> <nr|nb|anf|nrf|nrl|nrs|rnn>=<0|1> |
| MOX | xmit <0|1> |
| TUNE | transmit tune <on|off> |
| RF / Tune power | transmit set rfpower=<n> / tunepower=<n> |
| TX DAX | transmit set dax=<0|1> |
| CW send | cwx send <text> (spaces as 0x7F) |
| CW WPM | cwx wpm <n> |
| CW delay | cwx delay <ms> |
| Quick playback | playback start |
| Subscribe | sub <slice|interlock|meter|profiles|client> all |
hamshackdeck/
├── com.k0otc.hamshackdeck.sdPlugin/
│ ├── manifest.json
│ ├── bin/plugin.js ← bundled output
│ ├── imgs/
│ │ ├── actions/ ← per-action icon sets
│ │ └── plugin/ ← marketplace, category, touchscreen bg
│ ├── layouts/ ← Stream Deck+ LCD layouts
│ └── ui/ ← Property Inspector HTMLs
├── src/
│ ├── plugin.ts ← entry point
│ ├── flex/ ← protocol layer
│ │ ├── FlexClient.ts ← TCP protocol client
│ │ ├── pool.ts ← shared connection per host
│ │ ├── status.ts ← status subscription dispatch
│ │ ├── meters.ts ← meter stream
│ │ ├── bands.ts ← band plan, mode list, NR keys
│ │ ├── discovery.ts ← VITA-49 UDP discovery
│ │ ├── probe.ts ← capability probe
│ │ └── LevelControl.ts ← shared base for key+dial level actions
│ └── actions/ ← 31 action implementations
├── package.json
├── rollup.config.mjs
└── tsconfig.json
Requires Node.js 24+ and Stream Deck 7.1+.
npm install -g @elgato/cli
npm install
streamdeck link com.k0otc.hamshackdeck.sdPlugin
npm run watchThe plugin appears in the Stream Deck app under "HamShackDeck".
Shipped: status subscriptions (slice / interlock / meter / profiles), ON AIR indicator, frequency dial, TUNE / MOX, slice select via A/B/C/D dropdown, meter readout.
Considering for future releases:
- Squelch
- EQ presets
- Panadapter zoom
- macOS support
- Hamlib backend
- Stream Deck marketplace submission
See CHANGELOG.md.
MIT.
Maintained by K0OTC.