Phone/CW Applet¶

The Phone/CW applet displays transmit controls that are automatically selected based on the active slice mode. When the active slice is in a phone mode (AM, FM, SSB), the applet shows microphone and speech processor controls. When the active slice is in a CW mode, it automatically switches to CW controls (delay, speed, sidetone, iambic, pitch).

Opening the Phone/CW applet¶

Click the P/CW tray button in the right sidebar.

The applet panel opens and displays the appropriate controls for the current slice mode.

Phone panel controls¶

Mic Level Meter¶

Shows the microphone input peak level in dBFS (-40 to +10 dBFS, red above 0 dBFS). Hover over the gauge to see the exact value in dB with one decimal place.

The meter is suppressed to -150 when met_in_rx is off and the radio is not transmitting. In v26.5.3, the application immediately applies the receive gate whenever the transmit state or MOX state changes, preventing stale level readings from appearing during receive.

Compression Meter¶

Shows speech compression amount in dB. The meter face is reversed: 0 dB = no compression, -25 dB = full compression. Hover over the gauge to see the exact compression amount in dB with one decimal place (displayed as a positive value).

The gauge reads from the radio's COMPPEAK meter, which reports compression as a positive 0–25 dB value. The gauge internally negates this to display as -25 to 0 dB (reversed fill). The gauge only shows a compression reading while the radio is actively transmitting with the speech processor enabled. During receive, or when the speech processor is disabled, the gauge reads 0 dB regardless of any residual meter data from the TX chain.

ALC Meter (Phone panel)¶

Shows automatic level control reading from the software ALC meter (MeterModel::swAlcChanged). The gauge reads the post-software-ALC SSB peak in dBFS, replacing the previous HWALC (RCA voltage) path that produced meaningless readings. Hover over the gauge to see the exact value in dBFS with one decimal place.

Range: -20 to 0 dBFS
Red zone: above -3 dBFS
Fill direction: right-to-left (empty at -20 dBFS, full at 0 dBFS)

In v26.5.3, the gauge initializes to -20 dBFS immediately on construction, and the floor constant is shared between the Phone and CW panel gauges. The previous behavior allowed the gauge to remain at 0 dBFS momentarily before receiving the first meter update.

The Phone panel ALC gauge is mirrored by an identical gauge on the CW panel. Both gauges read from the same source, so SSB operators watching mic gain see the same indicator CW operators use to verify clean keying envelope shape.

Mic Profile¶

Select the microphone processing profile. Click the combo box and choose a profile from the list, which is populated from the radio's available mic profiles.

Mic Source¶

Select the microphone input source. Click the combo box and choose from MIC, BAL, LINE, ACC, PC, or any additional sources provided by the radio.

When host modulation is active (the radio is modulated by AetherSDR), the mic source control is disabled and shows only "PC". A tooltip explains that the other sources are FlexRadio jacks that are not available in this mode.

Mic Gain¶

Adjust the microphone input level. Drag the slider to set the level from 0 to 100.

For the "PC" source, the value is stored locally in the PcMicGain setting. The radio always reports mic_level=0 when the source is PC.

+ACC¶

Enable or disable the accessory microphone input mix. Click +ACC to toggle.

PROC¶

Enable or disable the speech processor. Click PROC to toggle.

NOR/DX/DX+ Processor Level¶

Set the speech processor level. Drag the slider to one of three positions: 0 (NOR), 1 (DX), or 2 (DX+).

DAX¶

Enable or disable DAX as the TX audio source. Click DAX to toggle.

MON¶

Enable or disable the TX sidetone monitor. Click MON to toggle.

Monitor Volume¶

Adjust the sideband monitor volume. Drag the slider to set the volume from 0 to 100.

RADE mode and the mic level slider (v0.9.7)¶

When RADE mode is active, the Mic gain slider acts as a client-side RADE gain control rather than sending mic_level to the radio. The slider value is stored in PcMicGain — the same setting used when the mic source is PC — and is not forwarded to the radio while RADE is active. This prevents the RADE gain adjustment from silently overwriting the hardware mic level setting on the radio.

The Level meter remains active during RX when RADE is in use, allowing you to monitor your input level before transmitting ("Level Meter During Receive" behavior). When RADE mode is deactivated, the Level gauge is suppressed and the slider reverts to showing the radio's reported mic level.

CW panel controls¶

ALC Meter (CW panel)¶

Shows automatic level control reading from the software ALC meter (MeterModel::swAlcChanged). This gauge is a mirror of the Phone-panel ALC gauge, identically scaled and reading from the same source. Hover over the gauge to see the exact value in dBFS with one decimal place.

Range: -20 to 0 dBFS
Red zone: above -3 dBFS
Fill direction: right-to-left (empty at -20 dBFS, full at 0 dBFS)

In v26.5.3, the gauge initializes to -20 dBFS immediately on construction, preventing a momentary 0 dBFS reading before the first meter update arrives.

Delay¶

Set the CW break-in delay. Drag the slider or type a value directly in the adjacent text field:

Slider range: 0 to 2000 ms (step 10)
Text field range: 0 to 2000 ms (type a number and press Enter)
Default: 500 ms

Click the text field, type the desired delay value, and press Enter. The slider updates to match the typed value.

v0.9.8: The delay value field is now a QLineEdit with a QIntValidator (0–2000). The setCwDelay call was fixed to cache the value immediately so the radio emission doesn't snap the slider back (#2428).

Speed¶

Set the CW keying speed. Drag the slider or type a value directly in the adjacent text field:

Slider range: 5 to 100 WPM
Text field range: 5 to 100 WPM (type a number and press Enter)
Default: 20 WPM

Click the text field, type the desired speed value, and press Enter. The slider updates to match the typed value.

v0.9.8: The speed value field is now a QLineEdit with a QIntValidator (5–100).

Sidetone¶

Enable or disable the CW sidetone monitor. Click Sidetone to toggle.

This single button controls both the radio's DAX-fed monitor and the client-side low-latency CwSidetoneGenerator (~10 ms latency) in lockstep. Pitch and pan always follow the radio's cw_pitch and mon_pan_cw settings automatically.

In v26.5.3, the CW sidetone routes to the user-selected audio output instead of the default output (#2899).

Sidetone Volume¶

Adjust the CW monitor volume. Drag the slider or type a value directly in the adjacent text field:

Slider range: 0 to 100
Text field range: 0 to 100 (type a number and press Enter)
Default: 50

Click the text field, type the desired volume value, and press Enter. The slider updates to match the typed value.

One slider controls both the radio-side (mon_gain_cw) and client-side sidetone volumes in lockstep.

v0.9.8: The sidetone volume value field is now a QLineEdit with a QIntValidator (0–100).

L / R pan (CW)¶

Pan the CW sidetone left or right in the stereo field. Drag the slider to adjust panning:

Range: 0 (full left) to 100 (full right)
Default: 50 (centre)
Double-click the slider to recenter to 50.

The pan setting applies to both the radio's DAX-fed monitor and the client-side low-latency sidetone simultaneously. The pan position always follows the radio's mon_pan_cw setting. If another client or the radio itself changes mon_pan_cw, the slider updates automatically.

Steps to adjust pan¶

Open the Phone/CW applet if it is not already visible.
Confirm the applet shows the CW panel — the Sidetone, Delay, Speed, Breakin, Iambic, and Pitch controls must be visible. If the Phone panel is showing instead, switch the active slice to a CW mode.
Locate the L / R pan (CW) slider.
Drag the slider left to pan toward the left channel, or right to pan toward the right channel.
To return to centre, double-click the slider.

Breakin¶

Toggle full break-in (QSK). Click Breakin to toggle.

The toggle now fully honors the radio's break_in setting:

Breakin ON (QSK): key edges immediately trigger TX; the break_in_delay holds the relay open between elements and drops TX after the set delay.
Breakin OFF: keyed characters are queued and sent only while PTT is held manually. The radio does not switch to TX automatically.

The previous auto-PTT envelope that forced TX regardless of the Breakin state and suppressed QSK hang time has been removed (v0.9.7).

Iambic¶

Toggle iambic paddle keyer mode. Click Iambic to toggle.

Pitch¶

Set the CW sidetone pitch. Type a value directly in the text field, or use the < and > buttons to adjust:

Text field range: 100 to 6000 Hz (type a number and press Enter)
Step buttons: Click < or > to decrease or increase by 10 Hz per click
Default: 600 Hz

v0.9.8: The pitch value field is now a QLineEdit with a QIntValidator (100–6000), with adjacent < and > buttons (CwTriBtn).

Indicator reference¶

Indicator	Reading range	Meaning
Level gauge	-40 to +10 dBFS	Microphone peak level (hover for exact value)
Compression gauge	-25 to 0 dB reversed fill	Speech compression amount (hover for exact positive dB value)
ALC gauge (Phone panel)	-20 to 0 dBFS (fill from right)	Automatic level control — post-software-ALC SSB peak, read from MeterModel::swAlcChanged (hover for exact dBFS value)
ALC gauge (CW panel)	-20 to 0 dBFS (fill from right)	Mirror of the Phone-panel ALC gauge, identically scaled (hover for exact dBFS value)

What each control does¶

Control	Default	Valid range
Level meter	—	-40 to +10 dBFS (red > 0)
Compression meter	—	-25 to 0 dB (reversed fill)
ALC meter (Phone panel)	—	-20 to 0 dBFS (red > -3)
Mic profile	—	populated from radio micProfileList()
Mic source	—	MIC, BAL, LINE, ACC, PC (disabled to "PC" only when host modulation active)
Mic gain	50	0–100
+ACC	—	toggle
PROC	—	toggle
NOR/DX/DX+	0	0 (NOR), 1 (DX), 2 (DX+)
DAX	—	toggle
MON	—	toggle
Monitor volume	—	0–100
ALC meter (CW panel)	—	-20 to 0 dBFS (red > -3)
Delay (CW)	500	0–2000 ms (step 10)
Speed (CW)	20	5–100 WPM
Sidetone	—	toggle
Sidetone volume	50	0–100
L / R pan (CW)	50	0–100
Breakin	—	toggle
Iambic	—	toggle
Pitch < / >	600	100–6000 Hz (step 10)

Hover readouts (v26.7.4)¶

In v26.7.4, all gauges in the Phone/CW applet display an exact numeric readout when you hover the mouse cursor over them:

Level gauge: Shows the exact microphone peak level in dB with one decimal place (e.g., "-12.3 dB").
Compression gauge: Shows the exact compression amount as a positive dB value with one decimal place (e.g., "8.5 dB" of compression).
ALC gauge (Phone panel): Shows the exact post-software-ALC SSB peak in dBFS with one decimal place (e.g., "-15