Connect to a station

Looking at a station is free: click any station in the list and you can see its description, who is using it and what it costs. Airtime starts only when you press Connect, and stops when you press Disconnect.

Reading the station's status

The badge at the top right of the station header (and the small icon beside each name in the station list) tells you whether you can connect:

Click the info button next to the station name to show its details, including its sunrise and sunset in UTC. Click the star to add the station to your Favorites, which puts it at the top of the station list.

If a station is not included in your plan, a notice says This station is not available on your current plan, with links to learn more and to upgrade. See Membership and pricing.

Choosing a rate and connecting

The green button reads Connect followed by the station's per-minute rate, for example Connect - $0.59/min. Its wording changes with how you are connecting:

• Connect — a normal connection with your microphone.
• Connect (No Mic) — a receive-only connection, offered when your microphone is disabled (see Audio setup).

If the station offers more than one rate or more than one radio, the button opens a Select a Rate menu instead. Each rate shows its name, its cost per minute, and one of these notes:

• TX connections have priority — this is a standby rate: someone connecting at a transmit rate can take the station from you.
• Receive only — you can listen but not transmit.
• Amplifier is enabled or Amplifier is disabled — whether the rate includes the amplifier. See Amplifiers.

If your membership allows more than one simultaneous connection, the menu also shows how many Connections Remaining you have.

The rate you pick is fixed for the whole connection, whether you transmit or only listen. See Airtime and rates.

While the connection comes up the button reads Authorizing…, Connecting… and Configuring… in turn. Please wait… means the station is reconfiguring its hardware, which takes a few seconds.

While you are connected

The station header shows a connection timer and a red Disconnect button. On wide screens a latency label appears beside them: the round-trip time to the station in milliseconds, green under 250 ms, yellow under 500 ms and red above that. Hover over it to see whether your audio is Direct (P2P) or Relayed (TURN) through RHR's relay servers. See Connection problems if the number is high.

If the console loses its link to RHR it shows Reconnecting... and picks up where it left off when the link returns.

Being bumped from a standby connection

If you connected at a receive-only or standby rate and another member takes the station with a transmit connection, your connection ends and a dialog appears: Someone else connected to station. It asks Would you like to connect to another station at the frequency and mode you were on, and lists the stations currently available, each with its own Connect button. Choose one or Close.

Watching a station you aren't connected to

Selecting a station without connecting shows you what's happening there: the operator's VFO A and VFO B with their frequencies and modes, and the output power. The Station tab in the toolbox has the description.

One tab at a time

If you open the console in a second browser tab or window while connected in the first, the second one shows This is not the tab you're looking for! and reminds you that you can control the station from the tab where you connected. Click OK and go back to that tab.