RigPlane
Ham radio software · Windows (beta)

Ham radio control software for Windows.

Open the app, see your radio, operate. RigPlane Pro is a Windows desktop app for IP-connected ham transceivers — Icom, Yaesu, Xiegu, Lab599 — with the same multi-vendor control surface, audio bridge, and CW console you run on macOS and Linux. The Windows build is in public beta today.

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What runs on Windows today

The RigPlane Pro Windows build is in public beta. The downloads page is the source of truth for whether a given release stream is stable or beta on Windows — start there, not here. Underneath the desktop client, the open-core rigplane Python library is pip install rigplane on Windows too, so if you prefer the headless engine plus a browser tab, that path works.

Windows is the most crowded platform in the ham-radio software market. Ham Radio Deluxe, SDR-Console, N1MM Logger, fldigi, WSJT-X, JS8Call, and wfview all run natively on Windows. RS-BA1 — Icom's official remote-control app — is Windows-only. RigPlane Pro on Windows is not trying to displace the logger or the contest software; it is the radio-control surface and the audio bridge, designed to be the same app you also run on macOS and Linux.

Supported radios

RigPlane talks to your transceiver directly — UDP for IP-connected radios, USB / serial where applicable — with no third-party daemon, no vendor app, and no hamlib bridge in the loop. Production-grade backends today include the Icom IC-7610, IC-7300, IC-705, and IC-9700, plus Yaesu FTX-1, Xiegu X6100, and Lab599 TX-500. Profile-based support extends to additional Icom and Yaesu rigs that share the same control surface.

Per-radio setup notes live on the downloads page today. Dedicated per-rig pages are landing alongside the rest of the SEO build-out.

Audio, CW, and digital-mode integration on Windows

On Windows today, RigPlane Pro uses VB-Cable from VB-Audio as the loopback bridge between the radio audio and digital-mode apps. This is the same component WSJT-X, JS8Call, JTDX, and most established Windows ham workflows already use, so the install is a familiar step rather than a new dependency. The desktop readiness check on first run walks you through installing VB-Cable and pointing the audio bridge at it; future Windows builds plan to bundle a loopback driver automatically, the way the macOS build already bundles BlackHole.

  • VB-Cable as the loopback bridge. Install once from VB-Audio, then RigPlane and WSJT-X / JS8Call / fldigi share it as a normal soundcard. If you already use VB-Cable for other ham apps, RigPlane coexists with that setup.
  • CW console. Local keyer, decoder, and CW tools live inside the Pro app — paddle and straight-key input handled in the desktop, not over a roundtrip to the browser tab.
  • WSJT-X, JS8Call, fldigi. These see VB-Cable as a normal soundcard. FT8 and FT4 work through WSJT-X exactly the way they do with any conventional soundcard interface.
  • Latency. Opus over UDP, tight buffers, no resampling round-trips. Tuned for headphone monitoring and CW operation.
  • Open-core engine on Windows. The MIT-licensed library is pip install rigplane on Windows too, so the headless engine plus a browser UI is a supported path if you would rather avoid the desktop installer.

Install in 5 minutes

Grab the Windows beta installer from the downloads page. Windows 10 or newer (64-bit) is the supported target. Run the installer, follow the first-run readiness check (which points you at VB-Cable for the audio bridge if you do not already have it), and point the app at your radio's IP. Setup walk-throughs for each supported backend live in the rigplane.dev guide. If you would rather start from the open-core Python library, pip install rigplane works on Windows and gives you the headless engine plus the browser UI.

Why a cross-platform Windows app matters

Windows has plenty of native ham-radio software already, and RigPlane Pro is not trying to be a Ham Radio Deluxe replacement or an N1MM substitute. The differentiation is narrower and more honest: it is the same multi-vendor IP control surface and audio bridge that runs on macOS and Linux, available on Windows too — so a multi-OS shack does not have to keep two different operator UIs in their head.

Icom's RS-BA1 is the obvious comparison point for IP-connected remote operation. RS-BA1 is Windows-only and Icom-only. RigPlane is cross-platform, multi-vendor (Icom, Yaesu, Xiegu, Lab599), and the engine underneath is MIT-licensed open core. If you operate from a Windows laptop today and a MacBook on the road, or have a Linux box at the remote site and a Windows machine at home, the same RigPlane configuration runs on all of them.

What to do next

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Last reviewed 2026-05-19.