Enable speech-to-text transcription on a slice

Real-time speech-to-text transcribes received voice audio from the active slice using the whisper.cpp engine. The transcript appears in the Copy Assist panel with color-coded confidence levels.

Before you start

• Connect to a FLEX-8600 radio and have at least one slice active
• Ensure the radio is receiving audio (a signal should be present on the slice)

Steps

1. Open the Copy Assist panel: View > Copy Assist or press Ctrl+Shift+T.
2. Click Enable / Disable to start the whisper.cpp speech-to-text engine.
3. The engine status indicator changes from "Idle" to "Downloading model" (if needed), then "Loading model", then "Listening".
4. If no model is available, the engine automatically downloads the selected model tier (default: tiny).
5. Speak into the radio's microphone or receive a transmission on the active slice.
6. Decoded text appears in the Transcript field, color-coded by confidence (green = high, yellow = medium, red = low).
7. The Backlog indicator shows seconds of audio not yet transcribed; stays near 0.0s under normal operation.

To stop transcription, click Enable / Disable again. The engine status returns to "Idle".

What each control does

Control	Default	Behavior	Setting key
Enable / Disable	Disabled	Starts or stops the whisper.cpp speech-to-text engine on the active slice's audio	None
Model tier	tiny	Selects whisper model size: tiny, base, small, or medium. Larger models are more accurate but slower	None
Compute device	GPU (CUDA/Metal)	Chooses GPU (faster, needs VRAM) or CPU (slower, works everywhere)	None
Settings button	—	Opens the modeless Copy Assist settings dialog for model tier, compute device, and engine configuration	None
Clear	—	Clears the current transcript buffer	None
Transcript	—	Scrolling, read-only transcript with confidence-colored text (green/yellow/red)	None
Backlog indicator	0.0s	Seconds of unattended audio; colours amber→red as backlog grows	None
Engine status	Idle	States: Idle, Downloading model, Loading model, Listening, Error	None

Tips

• The transcript scrolls automatically as new text appears. Use the Clear button to empty the buffer at any time.
• If the compute device is set to GPU but there isn't enough VRAM, the engine may fail to load. Switch to CPU in the settings dialog or choose a smaller model tier.

Related

• Copy Assist — Speech to Text overview
• Change the whisper model tier for accuracy vs speed
• Choose GPU or CPU for speech recognition
• Clear the transcript buffer
• Read the live transcript with confidence-colored text