RFutils user guide

RFutils is a browser-based toolkit for radio-mic frequency coordination. It replaces three separate tools with one app: file conversion between Shure and Sennheiser ecosystems, Ofcom PMSE licence import, live receiver monitoring, intermodulation-clean coordination, allocation, and programming receivers.

Before you rely on this for a show: most of the file formats RFutils reads and writes are reverse-engineered from real exports, because neither Shure nor Sennheiser publishes full specifications for them. Open every export in your own copy of Wireless Workbench or WSM and check it before the show. Treat anything marked experimental as exactly that.

The tabs

Tab	What it’s for	Needs the local app
Convert › Coordination files	Move coordination data between Shure Wireless Workbench (WWB) and Sennheiser Wireless Systems Manager (WSM), or in and out of plain CSV	no
Convert › Ofcom PMSE licence	Turn an Ofcom PMSE licence schedule PDF into importable frequency data	no
Inventory	Keep a list of the receivers and transmitters you own	no
Coordination	Calculate an intermodulation-clean set of frequencies	no
Allocation	Work out which frequencies go to which channel	no
Monitor	Discover Shure/Sennheiser/AES67 receivers and watch audio, battery and RF	yes
Deployment	Push assignments out to real receivers	yes

Monitor and Deployment need sockets a browser tab cannot open, so they only appear in the desktop/self-hosted build. The hosted version at rfutils.stoatworks-labs.com runs everything else entirely on your own machine — nothing you load is uploaded anywhere.

Running it

As a desktop app

RFutils ships as a tray application (built on av-launcher, with a Node runtime embedded). Start it, pick a network interface and port, press Start, then Open.

On macOS, if the app opens but the server never starts: this is almost always Gatekeeper. For an unsigned app bundling helper binaries, approving the app does not unquarantine the helpers — they are terminated silently, with no error shown. See the release notes for the unquarantine step.

From source

npm install
npm run dev

Then open http://localhost:8420.

No hardware? Use demo mode:

npm run dev:demo

This runs with simulated receivers, so you can explore discovery, monitoring and the whole UI without a single real device on the network. It is also the fastest way to tell an app problem from a network problem.

Converting a coordination file

Go to Convert › Coordination files.
Drop in your .wwb, WSM export or CSV. The format is detected automatically.
For a plain CSV, RFutils reads the header and suggests which column is which. Check the suggested mapping — it is a best guess from the column names.
Choose your export format and download.
Open the result in WWB or WSM and confirm it looks right before using it.

The Convert tab with a coordination file loaded.

Importing an Ofcom PMSE licence

Go to Convert › Ofcom PMSE licence.
Upload the licence schedule PDF exactly as Ofcom issued it.
If you get “not a recognisable PMSE licence schedule”, the file was readable but isn’t the expected document — check you have uploaded the schedule itself rather than a covering letter or a re-saved copy.
Export to your coordination software.

The PMSE licence converter, with the parsed assignments from a licence schedule.

This parser has been validated against a real Ofcom licence, which is more than can be said for most of the formats here.

Coordination

Computes a set of mutually-compatible frequencies — spaced, clear of excluded spectrum, and free of third and fifth-order intermodulation products.

The Coordination tab: equipment profile, band preset, tuning ranges, spacing and guard settings, and the IM order checkboxes.

Pick an equipment profile and a band preset and the spacing defaults follow from the profile — the note under the selector states the occupied bandwidth and recommended spacing it is assuming, and tells you to verify it against your own unit.

Locked / existing is the field that matters on a site where somebody else is already on air: frequencies you put there are treated as immovable and everything else is coordinated around them.

Inventory

The receivers and transmitters you own, so coordination and allocation have something real to work against.

The Inventory tab.

Saving inventory replaces the whole list rather than merging into it — the app always writes the complete set.

Monitor

Discovers Shure, Sennheiser and AES67/Dante receivers on the local network and meters audio, battery and RF per channel in real time.

The Monitor tab: receivers grouped by vendor, with audio and RF meters, battery percentage and runtime per channel, and the Dante routing panel underneath.

Captured against npm run dev:demo, so the receivers are simulated.

If nothing appears: RFutils and the receivers must be on the same subnet, discovery must not be blocked by a firewall, and the wireless network must not be isolating clients from each other.

Dante routing is off unless you set it up. RFutils only monitors by default; routing channels from here needs your own Bitfocus Companion with a “Make Crosspoint” button and a companion-routes.json in ~/.rfutils/. The panel says so when it is not configured.

Deployment — read this before you press it

Deployment sends commands to real receivers, which may be in use.

The Deployment tab: allocated frequencies mapped to device channels, with the dry-run output showing the exact command strings that would be sent.

Dry-run shows exactly what would be transmitted — the address, the literal command string, and “would send” against each one — without transmitting anything. Program devices is the separate, deliberately distinct button that actually sends.

Live Shure programming is experimental and untested against hardware. The dry-run output exists so you can check the exact command strings against your receiver’s own Command Strings PDF before sending. Do that.

Supported control transports today are Shure command strings and the Lectrosonics network protocol. Devices matching neither are listed with no transport and will not be programmed. The same screen also exports files for offline programming, which is the safe route.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause
Nothing is discovered in Monitor	Same subnet, firewall, or client isolation on wireless. Run `npm run dev:demo` — if simulated devices appear, the app is fine and the problem is the network.
Monitor and Deployment tabs are missing	You are on the hosted build. Those two need the local app.
A CSV imports with the wrong values in the wrong fields	The column mapping guessed wrong. Re-import and set it by hand.
An export doesn’t look right in WWB/WSM	Expected occasionally — these formats are reverse-engineered. Please report it with a sample file.
Coordination returns fewer frequencies than asked for	The constraints are unsatisfiable in that range. Widen the tuning ranges, reduce spacing, or drop 5th-order avoidance.
Frequencies clash with someone already on air	Put theirs in Locked / existing and coordinate again.
The port is already in use	Set `RFUTILS_SERVER_PORT` to something else.
I just want the converters	Set `RFUTILS_DISABLE_MONITOR=1`, or run `npm run dev:verify`.

Where your data lives, and who can reach it

Inventory is stored server-side in the local app.

There is no authentication, and the server listens on all interfaces by default. On a shared or untrusted network, bind it to 127.0.0.1 or firewall the port — otherwise anyone who can reach it can read your inventory and send commands to your receivers.