Phone/CW (P/CW) Applet

The Phone/CW applet provides mode-aware transmit controls. When the active slice is in a phone mode (USB, LSB, AM, FM), the applet shows microphone and processor controls. When the active slice is in CW or CWL mode, it automatically switches to CW controls (delay, speed, sidetone, iambic, pitch).

Before you start

• AetherSDR must be connected to a FLEX-8600 radio.
• The active slice must be in a phone mode or CW mode for the respective controls to appear.

Opening the applet

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

Phone sub-panel

The Phone sub-panel contains microphone input selection, gain, processing, and monitoring controls.

Mic source

Select which physical or virtual input the radio uses as the microphone source for voice transmissions. The choice determines where the FLEX-8600 takes its TX audio from.

1. Locate the Mic source drop-down box in the Phone sub-panel.
2. Click Mic source and select one of the available sources: MIC, BAL, LINE, ACC, or PC.

The selection takes effect immediately on the radio.

Source descriptions:

• MIC — Front-panel microphone connector.
• BAL — Balanced microphone input.
• LINE — Line-level input.
• ACC — Accessory port microphone input.
• PC — Computer audio system. The radio does not report mic level for this source; AetherSDR stores the gain value locally in PcMicGain.

When the radio is being modulated by AetherSDR (host modulation active), the Mic source drop-down is forced to PC only and disabled. A tooltip explains: "This radio is modulated by AetherSDR, so the PC microphone is the only input. The other sources are FlexRadio jacks."

Phone controls

Control	Description	Default
Mic source	Selects the microphone input source sent to the radio.	—
Mic gain	Adjusts the microphone input level. When the source is PC, the value is stored client-side in PcMicGain because the radio does not manage gain in that path.	50
+ACC	Enables the accessory microphone input mix alongside the primary source.	—
PROC	Toggles the speech processor on or off.	—
NOR/DX/DX+	Three-position processor level: 0 (NOR), 1 (DX), 2 (DX+).	0
DAX	Enables DAX as the TX audio source.	—
MON	Enables TX sidetone monitor for phone modes.	—
Monitor volume	Sets sideband monitor volume.	—

Metering gauges (Phone panel)

Level gauge

Shows microphone input peak level in dBFS from -40 to +10 dBFS. Values above 0 dBFS appear red, indicating clipping.

• Suppressed to -150 dBFS when the radio is receiving and met_in_rx is off.
• Hover the cursor over the gauge to see the exact peak level in dB with one decimal place.

Compression gauge

Shows speech compression amount in dB from -25 to 0 dB, with reversed fill. The gauge reads 0 dB during receive — it is gated on the radio's interlock TRANSMITTING state and the speech processor enable.

• Hover the cursor over the gauge to see the exact compression amount in dB with one decimal place. The value is displayed as a positive number (e.g., "12.5 dB" for 12.5 dB of compression).

ALC gauge (Phone panel)

Shows automatic level control reading from the software ALC meter (post-software-ALC SSB peak in dBFS). Fills right-to-left: empty at -20 dBFS, full at 0 dBFS. The red zone (> -3 dBFS) indicates excessive ALC.

• Hover the cursor over the gauge to see the exact ALC level in dBFS with one decimal place.

Gauge	Range	Red zone	Fill direction	Source
Level	-40 to +10 dBFS	> 0 dBFS	Bottom-up	Microphone input peak
Compression	-25 to 0 dB	—	Right-to-left	Radio COMPPEAK value (0–25 dB positive, displayed as negative)
ALC	-20 to 0 dBFS	> -3 dBFS	Right-to-left	MeterModel::swAlcChanged (post-software-ALC SSB peak)

CW sub-panel

When the active slice is in a CW or CWL mode, the applet automatically switches to the CW sub-panel.

CW controls

Control	Description	Default	Valid range	Notes
Delay	CW break-in delay in milliseconds. Type a value directly in the text field or use the adjacent slider.	500 ms	0–2000 ms (step 10)	Value cached immediately to prevent slider snap-back (#2428).
Speed	CW keying speed in words per minute. Type a value directly or use the slider.	20 WPM	5–100 WPM	—
Sidetone	Enables or disables CW sidetone. Controls both the radio's DAX-fed monitor and the client-side sidetone generator simultaneously.	—	On / Off	—
Sidetone volume	CW monitor volume. Type a value directly or use the slider. Controls both the radio side (mon_gain_cw) and client-side sidetone generator in lockstep.	50	0–100	One slider governs both paths.
L / R pan (CW)	Sets stereo pan for the CW monitor and applies constant-power pan to the local sidetone generator. Double-click to recentre at 50.	50	0–100	—
Breakin	Toggles full break-in (QSK). With Breakin ON, key edges trigger TX and the break-in delay holds the relay. With Breakin OFF, keys are queued and PTT must be engaged manually.	—	On / Off	Fully honors the radio's break_in setting as of v0.9.7.
Iambic	Toggles iambic paddle keyer mode.	—	On / Off	—
Pitch < / >	CW sidetone and decode pitch. Type a value (100–6000) or click the < / > buttons to step by 10 Hz.	600 Hz	100–6000 Hz (step 10)	Pitch always follows the radio's cw_pitch setting automatically.

How typing works

1. Click on any value text field (e.g., the Delay field showing "500").
2. Type a new number using your keyboard.
3. Press Enter or Tab to commit the value. The slider updates to match immediately.
4. If you type a value outside the valid range, it is clamped to the nearest valid value when you press Enter.

Sidetone behavior

The Sidetone toggle and Sidetone volume slider control both the radio's DAX-fed monitor and the client-side low-latency sidetone generator (~10 ms latency) in lockstep. There are no separate local sidetone controls; a single set of controls governs both paths.

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

Pitch and pan always follow the radio's cw_pitch and mon_pan_cw settings automatically. There is no separate "Follow" toggle or manual pitch override slider.

ALC gauge (CW panel)

An identical ALC gauge appears on the CW sub-panel, reading from the same MeterModel::swAlcChanged source as the Phone panel ALC gauge. This ensures consistent ALC readings across voice and CW operation.

• Hover the cursor over the gauge to see the exact ALC level in dBFS with one decimal place.

Gauge	Range	Red zone	Fill direction	Source
ALC (CW)	-20 to 0 dBFS	> -3 dBFS	Right-to-left	MeterModel::swAlcChanged (post-software-ALC SSB peak)

CWX panel integration

The embedded CWX panel's F1–F12 shortcuts are driven by the active slice's mode via MainWindow::CwxPanel::setShortcutsEnabled instead of panel visibility. The shortcuts fire when the slice is in CW/CWL mode regardless of whether the CWX panel is visible (#2582). These shortcuts are mutually exclusive with DVK panel F-key bindings. CWX macros also release TX automatically when the queue drains (#2450, #2507).

Theme support (v26.6.1)

The Phone/CW applet supports the active theme. The following visual elements respect the selected theme:

• Applet container — Uses theme styling for consistent background.
• Slider handles and grooves — All sliders use applyPrimarySliderStyle() for theme colors.
• Label colors — Labels such as "Delay:", "Speed:", "L", and "R" pan labels use theme secondary text color.
• Step buttons — The < and > buttons for CW Pitch use theme background and accent colors for normal, hover, and pressed states.

Hover readouts (v26.7.4)

In v26.7.4 (#3936), all three Phone panel meters (Level, Compression, ALC) and the CW panel ALC gauge gained hover readout popups. Hover the cursor over any gauge to see the exact numerical value:

• Level gauge: Shows "X.X dB" (one decimal place).
• Compression gauge: Shows the compression amount as a positive value in dB (e.g., "12.5 dB").
• ALC gauges (Phone and CW): Shows "X.X dBFS" (one decimal place).

Tips

• When using PC as the source, the Level meter appears immediately when AetherSDR connects to the radio, because PC mic metering runs client-side independently of the radio's met_in_rx setting.
• To mix in the accessory port alongside your primary source, enable the +ACC toggle button after selecting your main source.
• At higher CW speeds, the client-side sidetone path (~10 ms latency) is more usable than the radio's DAX-fed monitor. Because the Sidetone toggle controls both paths together, enabling sidetone always activates the low-latency path automatically.
• The Compression gauge reads 0 dB during receive. This is intentional: the gauge is gated on the radio's interlock TRANSMITTING state.
• The Breakin button fully honors the radio's break_in setting. With Breakin on (QSK), key edges trigger TX and the break-in delay holds the relay. With Breakin off, you must engage PTT manually.