Send a typed CW buffer live¶

Use the CWX panel to type a CW message and transmit it immediately. This is the fastest way to send free-text CW without pre-writing a macro.

Before you start¶

Connect to a FLEX-8600 radio. The CWX panel requires an active radio connection.
Set the active slice to CW, CWL, or CWU mode. The CWX panel appears in the main window when a CW mode slice is active.
Set the Speed step (how much pressing + or - changes speed) by right-clicking the Speed: spinbox and choosing a value from 1 to 20 WPM. The default is 3 WPM. This setting is saved per-panel and persists across restarts.

Steps¶

In the CWX panel, make sure Live is off. If Live is active (button checked), click it to toggle it off before typing a buffered message.
Click inside the Send text area — the text field at the bottom of the send view. The placeholder text reads "Type CW message...".
Type your message. Use standard ASCII characters. Refer to the prosign legend displayed in the panel for prosign shortcuts (=, +, (, &, $). You can embed speed modifiers: [20] sets speed to 20 WPM, [15] to 15 WPM, and so on. The modifier prefix is stripped from the displayed bubble text automatically.
Click Send or press Enter to transmit the buffer. The radio begins sending immediately.
To abort transmission at any time, press Escape. This clears the buffer and stops the send. When aborted, the history bubble shows sent characters in normal text and unsent characters with strikeout formatting.

After transmission, the sent text appears in the Send history scroll area above the text field as a timestamped bubble. The bubble shows the actual transmitted text with speed modifier prefixes stripped.

Resend or clear history¶

Right-click any history bubble to open a context menu with two options:

Resend — Transmits the same text again. The text appears as a new timestamped bubble in the history.
Clear History — Removes all history bubbles from the scroll area.

How Send behaves depending on Live mode¶

The Send button behaves differently depending on whether Live is currently on:

Live is off — Clicking Send submits the contents of the text field as a buffer and transmits it.
Live is on — Clicking Send first turns Live off and returns the panel to the send view. The buffer is not retransmitted; this prevents text that was already keyed character-by-character in live mode from being sent a second time. After clicking Send in this state, type your message and click Send again to transmit.

Aborted transmission visual indicators¶

When you press Escape during transmission, the history bubble shows which characters were sent and which were not:

Sent characters — Appear in normal text.
Unsent characters — Appear with strikeout formatting (crossed out). This provides clear visual feedback about exactly what was transmitted and what was aborted.

The strikeout formatting works correctly for single-line messages (callsigns, RST, serial numbers). For multi-line wrapped messages, the strikeout may not align perfectly on continuation lines.

What each control does¶

Control	What it does	Setting key
Send (view)	Shows the live send area with history and text field.	—
Live (view)	Shows the live send view.	—
Setup (view)	Shows the macro editor and QSK setup.	—
Speed:	Sets CW send speed in WPM.	`CwxSpeedWpm`
Speed step (right-click Speed:)	Sets how much pressing + or - changes the speed in WPM. Range 1-20, default 3.	`CwxPanel` → `speedStep` (per-panel)
Send text area	Type your CW message here. Press Enter to send.	—
Send history scroll	Displays previous sent buffers with character highlighting. Read-only. Right-click a bubble for Resend or Clear History.	—
F1 … F12 (macros)	Sends the pre-written macro for that function key.	`CwxMacro_F1..F12`
F1 … F12 macro editors	Setup view editors for each macro.	`CwxMacro_F1..F12`
Delay:	Sets inter-macro delay in milliseconds. Available in Setup view.	`CwxDelay`
QSK	Enables QSK (full break-in). Available in Setup view.	`CwxQsk`
Prosigns legend	Shows character shortcuts for common CW prosigns (=, +, (, &, $). Read-only.	—

Keyboard shortcuts¶

F1–F12 and Escape shortcuts fire when the TX slice is in a CW mode (CW or CWL). This lets you trigger macros even when another panel is focused.

F1–F12 — Send the pre-written macro for that function key while the TX slice is in a CW mode.
Escape — Clears the buffer unconditionally and aborts any ongoing transmission. On an idle CWX panel it is a harmless no-op, so pressing it is always safe.
+ and - — Adjust the CW speed up or down by the configured speed step value (right-click the Speed: spinbox to change the step). Works in any view.

Tips¶

F1–F12 send pre-written macros while the TX slice is in a CW mode. See Trigger a CW macro with F1–F12.
Pressing Escape clears the buffer unconditionally. On an idle CWX panel it is a harmless no-op, so pressing it is always safe.
Adjust Speed: in the bottom bar without switching views. The spinbox is visible in both the send and setup views.
Use + and - to quickly adjust speed in 3 WPM increments (or your configured step) without clicking the spinbox.
When you reconnect to a radio, the Live button reflects the radio's current live state automatically.
Right-click a history bubble to resend past text or clear the entire history.
Speed modifiers embedded in typed text (e.g., [20]CQ [15]TEST) are stripped from the history bubble display. Only the actual transmitted text appears.
The Send button in the CWX panel is marked to indicate it keys the transmitter. The label "Send" itself does not match any reserved keyword, avoiding conflicts with other TX keying controls.

Troubleshooting¶

CWX panel does not appear — Confirm the active slice is set to CW, CWL, or CWU mode. The panel requires a CW mode slice and an active radio connection.
Clicking Send does not transmit — If Live was on, the first click on Send only turns Live off. Click Send a second time (or press Enter) to transmit the buffer.
Pressing Enter does nothing — Click inside the Send text area first to give it focus, then press Enter.
Escape does not stop transmission — Escape fires an application-wide shortcut. If a dialog or text widget captures the key first, click away from it and press Escape again.
F1–F12 macros do not trigger — Ensure the TX slice is in CW, CWL, or CWU mode. The shortcuts are controlled by the TX slice mode, not by panel visibility.
Aborted bubble shows no strikeout — Verify you pressed Escape during active transmission. The strikeout only appears for text that was not yet sent when abort occurred.
Speed step adjustment does nothing — Right-click the Speed: spinbox and select a value from the context menu. The setting is saved per-panel.