The whole station, in a tab
Spectrum and waterfall
Live band display over the radio's own network port, at rates USB CAT can't reach. Tap or drag to tune; everything lands on your chosen step.
Voice from any device
Push to talk with your phone's microphone, behind a transmit watchdog that drops the key if your device ever goes quiet mid-over.
Keyer and decoder
Macros for a whole exchange, a decoder tuned on real off-air signals, and warnings before the radio silently ignores a message.
QSO log with ADIF export
Type the callsign and reports; frequency, mode and UTC time come from the radio. Exports straight into LoTW, QRZ or your logger.
Digital modes that just work
A built-in rigctld bridge, so WSJT-X, JS8Call and fldigi drive the radio by pointing at one port. Data mode is one toggle.
Know you're getting out
Call CQ on CW and see who heard you worldwide within seconds, with signal reports, straight from the Reverse Beacon Network.
Remote, done properly
Password sign-in, HTTPS with one click over Tailscale, and a session watchdog. Operate from anywhere your tailnet reaches.
One small program
A single binary for Windows, macOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi. No installer, no runtime, no database server. It sits in your tray.
Network or USB
Talks to the radio over Ethernet using the same protocol as Icom's own software, or over plain USB CI-V when that's what you have.
The protocol, written down
Icom never published how the network port works. We did.
Building ShackNerd meant working out the radio's undocumented UDP protocol: the handshake, the login, the audio streams, the retransmission layer, and the corrections that only come from running against real hardware. Those notes are published here under CC BY 4.0, free for anyone to build on, in any project, under any licence.
Download and run
One file, no installer. Unzip it, run it, and open the address it prints in any browser on your network. Your radio's network details go in under Settings. Early software from one developer: expect rough edges, and expect fast fixes.
Windows will warn about an unrecognised program, because these builds are not yet code-signed: choose "More info", then "Run anyway". On macOS, right-click and Open the first time.
Own a radio we haven't tested? You're the whole plan.
Run ShackNerd against your radio, then in Settings choose Download a radio report. It is a read-only snapshot of how your radio describes itself: what it answers, what it refuses, and its exact scope geometry. It changes nothing, keys nothing, and carries no passwords or addresses. Send it to [email protected] and it becomes the support for your model. If ShackNerd cannot even connect, the button still works, and that report is the most valuable kind.
What works today
ShackNerd is early software, built and tested by one operator against one radio, on the air. Here is exactly where it stands.
| IC-7300 MK2 | Fully working and verified on the air: control, waterfall, receive and transmit audio, CW, FT8 through WSJT-X, remote operation over a tailnet. |
| Other network Icoms | The IC-705, IC-7610 and IC-9700 speak the same protocol and are expected to be close. Untested, because we don't own them. If you do, ShackNerd has a one-click radio report: a read-only snapshot of how your radio describes itself, safe to run and small enough to email. One report is most of what a new model needs. |
| Other makers | Not yet. The CI-V layer is Icom's. Yaesu and Kenwood would each be their own project. |
| Pricing | Not settled. The protocol notes stay free either way. |