CWX Panel¶
The CWX panel is the CW operating view for a FLEX-8600 radio. It lets you send typed CW text, store and trigger up to 12 F-key macros, control keying speed, and enable QSK (full break-in).
Open the CWX panel¶
The CWX panel appears in the main window area when the active slice is in CW, CWL, or CWU mode. It requires an active radio connection.
Change CW Send Speed in WPM¶
Adjust the CW keying speed so the radio sends at the WPM rate you need. The speed setting is available at all times from the bottom bar of the CWX panel.
Steps¶
- Locate the Speed: spinbox in the bottom bar of the CWX panel.
- Click the spinbox and type a value, or use the up/down arrows to adjust the speed.
- The new speed takes effect immediately. The value is saved as
CwxSpeedWpm.
What each control does¶
| Control | Kind | Default | Valid range | Setting key | Behavior |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Send (view) | Push button | – | – | – | Shows the live send area with history and text field. |
| Live (view) | Push button | – | – | – | Shows the live send view. |
| Setup (view) | Push button | – | – | – | Shows the macro editor and QSK setup. |
| Speed: | Spinbox | 20 | 5–100 WPM | CwxSpeedWpm |
Sets the CW keying speed in words per minute. |
| Send history scroll | Indicator | – | – | – | Shows previous send buffers with character highlighting. |
| Send text area | Text field | – | – | – | Type CW characters; Enter sends the buffer. |
| F1 … F12 (macros) | Push button | – | – | CwxMacro_F1..F12 |
Sends the pre-written macro for that function key. |
| F1 … F12 macro editors | Text field | – | – | CwxMacro_F1..F12 |
Setup view editors for each macro. |
| Delay: | Spinbox | 0 | 0–10000 ms | CwxDelay |
Sets the inter-macro delay in milliseconds. |
| QSK | Toggle button | Off | – | CwxQsk |
Toggles QSK (full break-in) on or off. |
| Prosigns legend | Indicator | – | – | – | Shows shortcuts for common CW prosigns (=, +, (, &, $). |
How the Send, Live, and Setup buttons behave¶
The three view buttons in the top bar of the CWX panel changed behavior in v0.9.2.1.
| Button | Kind | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Send (view) | Push button | If Live mode is currently off, clicking Send submits the typed buffer immediately and stays in the Send view. If Live mode is currently on, clicking Send first turns Live mode off and returns the panel to the normal typing view without retransmitting any text that was already keyed character-by-character. |
| Live (view) | Push button | Shows the live send view. When toggled on, the panel switches to the Send view and the radio begins keying characters as you type them. Turning Live off does not clear the buffer. Navigating to Setup while Live is on automatically turns Live off. |
| Setup (view) | Push button | Shows the macro editor and QSK setup. Opening Setup always turns Live mode off before displaying the Setup view. |
Note: Prior to v0.9.2.1, Send was a checkable button that acted as part of a mutually exclusive toggle group with Live and Setup. It is now a plain push button whose action depends on whether Live mode is active when you click it.
Live mode state is preserved on reconnect¶
When a model is attached to the CWX panel (for example, after connecting to the radio), the Live button is updated to reflect the current Live state reported by the radio. This means if Live mode was active before a disconnect, the button will show the correct state when the connection is restored.
Send history context menu¶
Each entry in the send history scroll area supports a right-click context menu with two actions:
- Resend – Re-sends the selected text buffer. A new history entry is added to the scroll.
- Clear History – Removes all history entries from the scroll area. Does not affect the radio.
Aborted transmissions shown with strikeout¶
If you press Escape while the radio is sending a CW buffer, the transmission is aborted. In the send history scroll area, the history bubble for that transmission shows the sent portion in normal text and the unsent portion with strikeout formatting. This makes it clear which characters were actually transmitted before the abort.
History bubbles display expanded speed modifier text¶
When macros or typed text contain speed modifier prefixes (e.g., {10}...{20}...), the history bubble shows the text as actually keyed, with speed-change markers stripped and segments joined together. This gives a clean readable display of what was transmitted, without the overhead of inline speed change indicators.
Keyboard shortcuts¶
The CWX panel registers global application shortcuts for the F1–F12 keys and the Escape key. These shortcuts activate when the TX slice is in CW or CWL mode, regardless of whether the CWX panel is visible. The enable state is managed by the MainWindow based on the TX slice's mode, preventing shortcut conflicts with other panels such as the DVK macro panel which uses the same F1–F12 keys for its own purposes.
| Shortcut | Behavior |
|---|---|
| F1–F12 | Sends the corresponding macro (F1–F12) when the TX slice is in CW or CWL mode. |
| Escape | Clears the current text buffer (aborts any transmission in progress). |
Setup view layout¶
The Setup view contains the 12 F-key macro editors, the Delay: spinbox, the QSK toggle, and the prosigns legend. The macro editors are arranged in a scrollable grid so that you can access all 12 even when the panel is short. If the panel height is constrained, use the scroll bar to reach macros that are not visible.
Tips¶
- The Speed: spinbox is visible in all three views (Send, Live, and Setup). You do not need to switch views to change speed.
- Press Escape at any time to abort a transmission in progress without changing the speed setting.
- If you are in Live mode and want to type ahead without transmitting, click Send to exit Live mode before continuing to type. The panel will not re-send any characters that were already transmitted.
- The Prosigns legend shows shortcuts for common CW prosigns: = (BT), + (AR), ( (KN), & (AS), $ (SK).
- Right-click any history bubble to resend that text or clear the entire history.
- After aborting a transmission, inspect the history bubble to see which characters were sent (normal text) and which were not (strikeout text).