rosterRF — User Guide
"your RF roster" — a live per-mic dashboard for Shure and Sennheiser wireless systems, with RF coordination, local-TV awareness, and headphone monitoring.
Version 0.9.14 · Windows 10/11 and macOS (Apple Silicon)
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1. What it is
Run rosterRF on one computer (the host) that is on the same network as your wireless gear. It shows a live card for every mic and IEM — RF, audio, battery, quality — and lets phones and tablets watch along by scanning a QR code (nothing to install on them). Plug in a tinySA Ultra or RF Explorer and it adds a live RF spectrum, interference detection, and clear-frequency suggestions.
Supported systems: Shure Axient Digital, ULX-D, QLX-D, SLX-D and PSM1000 (P10T IEM); Sennheiser EW-DX, Digital 6000 and EW G3 (300/500 series).
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2. Install and run
Windows: run the setup file from the download page. Windows SmartScreen may show "unrecognized app" the first time — choose More info ▸ Run anyway — and then asks once for admin approval, like any installer. Setup adds the Start-menu entry, an optional desktop shortcut, and the Windows Firewall rule that lets phones reach the app, so the first launch asks nothing.
macOS: open the DMG, drag rosterRF to Applications and launch it. When macOS asks to allow incoming network connections, click Allow.
There is nothing else to install. Only one copy runs at a time — it owns the network port and the analyzer.
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3. The window
- Menu bar — File (New / Open / Save / Save As, Export timeline CSV, Print channel sheet), View (card size, sort, device type, hidden cards) and About (this guide, privacy, shortcuts).
- Top bar — the status strip (which backends are connected, how many devices), and the buttons Line Check, Device list, Pair a phone and Live scan.
- Edge tabs (right edge) — Scenes, Chat and Settings open as a drawer over the cards. Click the tab again, or press Esc, to close it.
At first launch, if the host computer is on more than one network, rosterRF asks you to pick which adapter your gear is on, and — if your phones will connect over a different network — which adapter *that* is. This makes the Pair-a-phone QR correct the first time. You can change it later in Settings.
Esc closes whatever is on top: a dialog, then an open menu, then the drawer, then the Live scan panel.
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4. Cards
Each online mic/IEM is a card showing its name, RF %, audio % and battery. The battery is a small battery-shaped gauge that fills green, turns amber as it drops, and red when low, with the estimated runtime beside it. For Axient, purple dots show the receiver's link quality (0–5) — the same idea as the purple dots in Wireless Workbench, kept purple so they never read as battery or RF. A card flashes and shows a badge when something is wrong: low RF, clipping, low battery, RF interference, or an occupied TV channel. Settings ▸ Steady alert swaps the pulse for a steady red.
Card size (View menu or Z): Small = photo + name, Medium = adds the meters, Large = adds the RF/audio history timelines.
Sort (View menu or S): by name, device, RF, battery or alerts, or drag cards into your own order. Device type (T) filters mics / IEMs / battery.
Hidden cards — Hide this card in a card's detail dialog takes it off the grid but keeps monitoring it; the Hidden chip in the top bar brings it back.
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5. Card details (click any card)
- Name — a friendly name, saved when you press Close. Blank = the device's own name.
- Tape color — resistor-code palette plus grey/white/black/gold/silver. The card tints to match and a colored dot appears by the name.
- Audio input — which capture channel this card monitors (see Headphone monitoring).
- Signal & audio — a boxed timeline of the last ~10 minutes with a 0–100 % scale; red bands mark moments the card was alerting.
- Problem timeline — the alert log for that window.
Names, colors and photos follow the device even if its IP changes.
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6. Photos
Tap the camera in the photo area to add a face to a card. Once set, a small change-photo button and a remove (✕) appear in the corner (they fade in on hover on a computer). Photos are resized and framed on the face automatically. An optional portrait effect softens the background (toggle in the Pair a phone dialog).
> HEIC photos: use a JPG, or add the photo from a phone — Chrome on a computer > can't read HEIC.
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7. Show files
A show is your names, photos, colors, patches, thresholds, ZIP, backups and scenes. File ▸ Save writes it as an .rrf file you can open later or on another host (Ctrl/⌘ + N / O / S / Shift+S). Changes autosave in the background; a dot beside the file name in the top bar means unsaved edits.
At startup the host asks whether to reload the last show or start blank. The prompt appears a moment after the dashboard is on screen. Settings ▸ Ask to reload last show at startup turns it off, in which case the last show reloads silently.
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8. Scenes
Scenes drawer ▸ type a name ▸ Save captures the current names, colors, photos and layout. Previous / Next step through them (Next ▶ also sits in the top bar). Update on a scene overwrites it with what's on screen now. Scenes are numbered, and the order you drag them into is the number a Stream Deck key or a console recalls. A Stream Deck or a console can recall scenes only when the Enable remote scene recall switch at the top of the drawer is on (see §20 and §21). rosterRF remembers which scene is active across a restart.
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9. Chat
The Chat drawer is a small team channel between the host and every paired phone (for "mic 3 is hot", "swapping 7's pack"). Messages are kept with the show, so they travel in the .rrf file. Press C to open it.
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10. Settings
- This computer's name — how the host shows up on phones and in chat.
- Demo mode — fake mics that move and trip every alert (also D).
- Enable remote scene recall / Native OS alerts / Ask to reload last show at startup / Steady alert / Low-latency audio (wired headphones).
- Check for updates on launch — the host checks muffstuff.net for a newer rosterRF when it starts (and Check now any time). It only reads a version file and sends nothing about your show; phones never check; offline venues skip it silently.
- Alert thresholds — Low RF, Clipping and Low battery trip points, saved on the host and shared to every device.
- Set up Sennheiser / G3… — opens a dialog for Sennheiser receivers (found automatically; only an EW-DX with 3rd-party access enforced needs its password), extra receiver IPs and API user under Advanced, and G3 meter calibration (set the 100 % points from observed peaks).
- Report a problem — Copy diagnostics puts a plain-text report on the clipboard (version, gear summary, scene state, recent log lines — no photos, no names, no pairing key). Email a report opens a prefilled mail to info@muffstuff.net; paste the diagnostics in.
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11. Phones and tablets
Pair a phone (P) ▸ scan the QR code with the phone's camera. The phone must be on the same network as the host. If the host is on more than one network, the launch network picker (also in Settings) lets you choose which adapter your phones connect over, so the QR always points at the right address. Remote viewers see the cards, scenes and chat; the host's settings stay on the host.
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12. Live RF (the Scan panel)
Plug a tinySA Ultra or RF Explorer into USB — the app detects it and the Scan button turns green. Live scan (L) opens a panel with:
- A live spectrum that sweeps whether or not any mics are online. The band it covers follows your Country (below) — 470–608 MHz for the US, 520–694 for Australia, and so on. Green lines mark online mics (red if at risk), amber dashed lines mark backup frequencies, shaded blocks show occupied local TV channels.
- Country · ZIP · TV search — one row of controls (see *Countries* below).
- Needs attention — only the frequencies with a problem. Suggest clear frequencies proposes new ones your receiver can tune to — using each system's real coordination profile (channel spacing and 2- and 3-transmitter intermod), ranked by measured quiet, never inside a live TV channel or one of your backups. Dismiss snoozes a warning for 30 minutes.
- Backup frequencies — paste coordinated spares from Wireless Workbench (a list or a WWB CSV). They are watched live and suggestions stay clear of them.
Suggestions are built from each system's Standard compatibility profile — for a critical show, confirm in Wireless Workbench. The analyzer is configured automatically and reconnects on its own.
### Countries
The Country dropdown sets the legal spectrum *and* how rosterRF coordinates, because the rules differ by region:
- Open regions (United States, Canada, Australia) — end-user coordination is allowed, so rosterRF suggests and reserves frequencies. In the US it also avoids local TV: enter your Venue ZIP, and set the TV search distance (default 50 miles, like Wireless Workbench) with a mi/km toggle and an *include low-power / translators* option (off = high-power only, WWB's default). Canada and Australia coordinate among your own systems (their local-TV data isn't bundled yet).
- Licensed regions (UK / Europe, Japan) — wireless-mic frequencies are assigned by the regulator per event. rosterRF does not invent or reserve frequencies here: it hides suggestions and backups and instead monitors and cross-checks the frequencies you were assigned. (Autonomous use is limited to the small licence-exempt band.)
A US operator is only ever offered US-legal frequencies — a non-US band can't leak into a US suggestion.
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13. Headphone monitoring
With an audio interface or Dante Virtual Soundcard on the host:
1. Open a card ▸ Audio input ▸ pick the input device and channel carrying that mic. The list shows one entry per real input device. 2. On the card, tap the headphones button to listen (on the host or a phone).
Headphones only — never monitor a live mic through speakers. The first time, the OS asks for microphone permission — allow it.
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14. Line Check
Line Check (Alt/Option + L, or View ▸ Line Check) is the start-of-day pass: every online mic fades on the grid until it has shown healthy RF and audio at or above the level you set — have someone talk into each one. It ends by itself when every mic has passed, or end it from the same dialog.
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15. Identify, device list, exports
- Identify — the target button on a card flashes that receiver's front panel.
- Device list (top-bar button, or W) — every receiver by brand, type, model and IP, hidden cards included.
- File ▸ Export timeline (CSV) — the RF/audio history of every card.
- File ▸ Print channel sheet (Ctrl/⌘ + P) — a one-page frequency list.
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16. Keyboard shortcuts
Single keys work when you are not typing in a field and no dialog is open. About ▸ Keyboard shortcuts lists them: L scan, P pair, S sort, C chat, Z size, T type, D demo, W workspace, Alt+L Line Check.
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17. Stopping the app
Close the window, or File ▸ Exit. If the show has unsaved edits the app asks first. Nothing is left running.
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18. Where your data lives
Everything stays on the host, outside the app, so updates never lose it:
- Windows:
%APPDATA%\WWATU Monitorin - macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/WWATU Monitorin
Delete that folder to start fresh. See PRIVACY.md for the full data story — nothing personal leaves your computer.
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19. Troubleshooting
- A phone can't load the dashboard (Windows) — open Pair a phone. If Windows Firewall is blocking the app a red notice appears there with an Allow rosterRF button; approve the admin prompt and scan again. This happens when the first-launch firewall prompt was cancelled or left at Private-only while the Wi-Fi counts as Public.
- A phone can't load the dashboard — same Wi-Fi as the host? If the host is on several networks, use the address that matches your gear (under Pair a phone).
- The analyzer isn't detected — replug it; the app re-detects. An RF Explorer needs the Silicon Labs CP210x driver. Quit any stray copy of the app first.
- No audio when listening — check the input device is running and a channel is routed to it, and that microphone permission is granted.
- Suggestions say "set your ZIP" — clear-frequency suggestions need your venue ZIP to avoid local TV channels.
- The page won't load at all — another copy is holding the port; quit it and relaunch.
- Windows SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC" — More info ▸ Run anyway. The installer is code-signed; SmartScreen just hasn't seen enough installs of a brand-new app yet.
- Something else — Settings ▸ Report a problem ▸ Copy diagnostics, and send them to info@muffstuff.net with what you saw.
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20. Stream Deck
Install the rosterRF plugin from the download page (double-click the .streamDeckPlugin file; the Stream Deck app imports it). A deck on the same computer as rosterRF needs no setup beyond the host address, which the key settings detect. A deck on another computer also needs the pairing token — the k= value in the link the Pair-a-phone QR opens.
Seven keys, each configured in the Stream Deck app's key settings:
- Recall Scene — one key per scene number; the title shows the scene name and a ▶ while it is active. Needs Enable remote scene recall on.
- Scene Prev / Next — step from the active scene.
- Store Scene — by default saves what's on screen as a new scene every press, named "Scene 4", "Scene 5", … (change the prefix in the key settings). Or set it to update the active scene, or to save under one fixed name.
- Line Check — press to start, press again to stop; the key counts down the mics still to go.
- Clear Alerts — snoozes every RF warning showing on the host screen for 30 minutes, the same as pressing Dismiss on each.
- Card Status — the person's photo with RF / audio / battery dots; press to pop the card on the host screen, or to identify (flash) the receiver.
- Toggle Live RF — opens or closes the Live RF panel on the host screen.
When a key refuses a press it flashes ✗ and says why on the key for a moment ("Recall a scene first", "Turn on remote recall in rosterRF", "Not paired").
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21. Console scene follow (Behringer X32 / Midas M32)
The Console button opens scene follow: rosterRF watches the desk's current scene and recalls its own scene with the same number when the desk changes — read-only, it never sends anything to the desk. Tick Follow this console, pick the desk (it is found on the network, or type its IP), and turn on Enable remote scene recall. The status line reads "Following …" only while the desk is actually answering; if it goes quiet or moves to a new address it says so, and a desk picked by name is found again automatically. Lockstep additionally lets the desk create scenes: storing a new scene on the desk creates the matching rosterRF scene. Other desk families are in beta.
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