Phone/CW applet¶
The Phone/CW applet is a mode-aware transmit panel. In voice modes (SSB, AM, FM) it shows microphone, processor, and monitor controls. When the active slice is in 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.
Phone panel controls (voice modes)¶
| Control | Kind | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Level | Meter | Shows microphone input peak level in dBFS (-40 to +10 dBFS; red above 0). Suppressed to -150 dBFS when met_in_rx is off and not transmitting, except when the mic source is PC or RADE is active. Hover over the gauge to see the exact level in dB with one decimal place (v26.7.4+). |
| Compression | Meter | Shows speech compression amount in dB (-25 to 0 dB, reversed fill). Gated on the radio's interlock TRANSMITTING state and speech processor enable: reads 0 dB during RX (v0.9.7+). Hover over the gauge to see the exact compression amount in dB with one decimal place (v26.7.4+). |
| ALC (Phone panel) | Meter | Shows automatic level control reading from MeterModel::swAlcChanged (post-software-ALC SSB peak in dBFS). Fills right-to-left: empty at -20 dBFS, full at 0 dBFS. Red threshold at -3 dBFS. Initializes to -20 dBFS on startup. Rewired from HWALC (RCA voltage) to SW ALC meter in v26.5.1 (#2552). Mirrored by an identical gauge on the CW sub-panel. Hover over the gauge to see the exact dBFS value with one decimal place (v26.7.4+). |
| Mic profile | Combo box | Loads a named microphone processing profile from the radio. Click to select a profile; it loads immediately. |
| Mic source | Combo box | Selects the microphone input source: MIC, BAL, LINE, ACC, or PC. Calls TransmitModel::setMicSelection. The available sources depend on the radio's capabilities: on radios whose transmit audio cannot be selected from the client (the radio takes audio from this computer), the combo box shows only "PC" and is disabled (v26.8.4+). |
| Mic gain | Slider (0-100) | Adjusts microphone input level. For the "PC" source, uses local PcMicGain persistence (the radio always reports mic_level=0 when source=PC). |
| +ACC | Toggle | Enables the accessory microphone input mix. Calls TransmitModel::setMicAcc. |
| PROC | Toggle | Toggles the speech processor. Calls TransmitModel::setSpeechProcessorEnable. |
| NOR/DX/DX+ | Slider (0=NOR, 1=DX, 2=DX+) | Three-position processor level. Calls TransmitModel::setSpeechProcessorLevel. |
| DAX | Toggle | Enables DAX as the TX audio source. Calls TransmitModel::setDax. Hidden when the radio does not support DAX as a TX source (v26.8.4+). |
| MON | Toggle | Enables TX sidetone monitor. Calls TransmitModel::setSbMonitor. |
| Monitor volume | Slider (0-100) | Sets sideband monitor volume. Calls TransmitModel::setMonGainSb. |
Level gauge — PC mic source and RADE exceptions¶
When the mic source is PC or RADE mode is active, the Level gauge remains active during receive (RX) even when met_in_rx is off and the radio is not transmitting. For hardware mic sources (MIC, BAL, LINE, ACC), the gauge is suppressed to -150 dBFS during RX unless met_in_rx is on.
Level gauge — hover readout (v26.7.4+)¶
Hover your mouse cursor over the Level gauge to see a popup showing the exact microphone peak level in dB with one decimal place (#3936).
Compression gauge behavior (v0.9.7+)¶
The Compression gauge only shows a live value while the radio is actually transmitting and the speech processor is enabled. During receive it reads 0 dB. This prevents confusing stale readings from the TX chain.
Compression gauge — hover readout (v26.7.4+)¶
Hover your mouse cursor over the Compression gauge to see a popup showing the exact compression amount in dB with one decimal place (#3936).
ALC gauge (Phone panel)¶
The ALC gauge shows the post-software-ALC SSB peak in dBFS, read from MeterModel::swAlcChanged. It fills from right to left: empty at -20 dBFS, full at 0 dBFS. The red threshold is at -3 dBFS. The gauge initializes to -20 dBFS on startup. This gauge mirrors the one on the CW panel — both read from the same source for consistent readings across voice and CW modes.
ALC gauge — hover readout (v26.7.4+)¶
Hover your mouse cursor over the ALC gauge to see a popup showing the exact dBFS value with one decimal place (#3936).
RADE mode behavior (v0.9.7+)¶
When RADE mode is active:
- The Mic gain slider acts as a client-side RADE gain control using the PcMicGain setting. Slider changes are not sent to the radio as mic_level commands.
- The Level gauge remains active during RX.
- When RADE deactivates, the slider reverts to showing the radio's mic_level value and the Level gauge resets to -150 dBFS.
Host modulation and client-side mic input behavior (v26.8.4+)¶
When the radio takes transmit audio from this computer (that is, the client cannot select the radio's hardware mic input): - The Mic source combo box shows only "PC" and is disabled. The previous behavior of presenting all FlexRadio connector names (MIC, BAL, LINE, ACC) with a greyed-out non-PC selection is removed, because a disabled "MIC" entry wrongly implied the radio had a usable hardware mic input. - A tooltip on the disabled combo box explains: "This radio takes transmit audio from this computer. Its own input selection is made on the radio." - The client immediately applies the PC mic selection to the model when the mode is engaged, so downstream tools that read the model see the correct source. - The Level gauge is hidden when the radio has no client-feedable mic input, so it cannot show a misleading always-silent reading. - The DAX toggle is hidden on radios that do not support DAX as a TX source. - These states are managed automatically and update immediately when the radio's capabilities change.
CW panel controls¶
| Control | Kind | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| ALC (CW panel) | Meter | Mirrors the Phone-panel ALC gauge. Shows post-software-ALC SSB peak in dBFS (-20 to 0 dBFS; red above -3). Fills right-to-left. Initializes to -20 dBFS on startup. Added in v26.5.1 (#2552) as part of the SW ALC meter split. Hover over the gauge to see the exact dBFS value with one decimal place (v26.7.4+). |
| Delay (CW) | Slider (0-2000 ms, step 10) + QLineEdit | Sets CW break-in delay. Drag the slider or click the value and type a number directly (0-2000). Calls TransmitModel::setCwDelay. Default: 500. In v0.9.8, value caching was fixed to prevent the slider from snapping back when the radio emits (#2428). |
| Speed (CW) | Slider (5-100 WPM) + QLineEdit | Sets CW keying speed. Drag the slider or click the value and type a number directly (5-100). Calls TransmitModel::setCwSpeed. Default: 20. |
| Sidetone | Toggle | Toggles CW sidetone monitor. Controls both the radio's DAX-fed monitor and the client-side low-latency sidetone generator (CwSidetoneGenerator, ~10 ms latency) in lockstep. Calls TransmitModel::setCwSidetone. In v26.5.3, the CW sidetone routes to the user-selected audio output instead of the default output (#2899). |
| Sidetone volume | Slider (0-100) + QLineEdit | Sets CW monitor volume for both the radio (mon_gain_cw) and the local sidetone generator. Drag the slider or click the value and type a number directly (0-100). Default: 50. |
| L / R pan (CW) | Slider (0-100) | Sets CW monitor stereo pan. Applies constant-power pan to both the radio side and the local sidetone generator. Double-click recenters to 50 (centre). Default: 50. |
| Breakin | Toggle | Toggles full break-in (QSK). Calls TransmitModel::setCwBreakIn. Fully honors the radio's break_in setting (v0.9.7+): with Breakin ON (QSK) key edges trigger TX immediately; with Breakin OFF keys are queued and the operator engages PTT manually. |
| Iambic | Toggle | Toggles iambic paddle keyer. Calls TransmitModel::setCwIambic. |
| Pitch < / > | QLineEdit with < / > buttons | Sets CW sidetone pitch. Type a value (100-6000 Hz) or click the buttons to step by 10 Hz. Calls TransmitModel::setCwPitch. Default: 600. |
ALC gauge (CW panel)¶
The ALC gauge on the CW panel is identical to the one on the Phone panel. It shows the post-software-ALC SSB peak in dBFS (-20 to 0 dBFS), filling from right to left with red threshold at -3 dBFS. The gauge initializes to -20 dBFS on startup. Both gauges read from the same MeterModel::swAlcChanged source so operators see the same ALC indication regardless of which panel is active for the current mode.
ALC gauge — hover readout (v26.7.4+)¶
Hover your mouse cursor over the ALC gauge to see a popup showing the exact dBFS value with one decimal place (#3936).
Direct value entry (v0.9.8)¶
In v0.9.8, the four CW value labels were replaced with QLineEdit widgets that accept typed numeric input:
- Delay (CW): accepts 0-2000 (milliseconds)
- Speed (CW): accepts 5-100 (WPM)
- Sidetone volume: accepts 0-100
- Pitch < / >: accepts 100-6000 (Hz)
Click any value, type a number, and press Enter. The corresponding slider updates immediately. The slider continues to work as before; the edit field updates from the slider except while you are editing it.
Sidetone behavior (v0.9.1+)¶
The single Sidetone toggle and Sidetone volume slider control both the radio's DAX-fed monitor and the client-side low-latency sidetone generator (CwSidetoneGenerator, ~10 ms latency) in lockstep. There are no separate local-sidtone controls.
Pitch and pan always follow the radio's cw_pitch and mon_pan_cw settings automatically; no manual override is needed or available.
Sidetone routing (v26.5.3)¶
In v26.5.3, the CW sidetone now routes to the user-selected audio output instead of the default audio output (#2899). Configure the audio output in File > Settings > Audio to choose where sidetone plays.
Sidetone bus sharing with Quindar tones (v0.9.7+)¶
The sidetone audio bus is shared with Quindar tones. The two are mutually exclusive at the mode level: Quindar tones are active only outside CW mode, and the CW sidetone generator is active only in CW mode. The applet manages the switch automatically when the active slice mode changes.
Breakin behavior (v0.9.7+)¶
- Breakin ON (QSK): key edges trigger TX immediately; the break-in delay set by the Delay (CW) slider holds the relay after the last element.
- Breakin OFF: keyed characters are queued; the operator engages PTT manually to transmit.
CW mode detection (v26.8.4+)¶
The CW panel activates for any of the CW variants a radio may report: a FlexRadio reports bare "CW", while other radios report "CWU" for the same mode and "CWL" for the reverse-sideband variant. All three spellings drive the CW sub-panel. No user action is needed.
Mic profile management¶
To select a mic profile:
- Open the Phone/CW applet.
- Confirm the active slice is in a voice mode (SSB, AM,