Enable QSK Full Break-in¶
QSK (full break-in) lets the radio receive between each dit and dah while transmitting CW. Enable it in the CWX Setup view so the radio switches to receive during the gaps in your sending.
Before you start¶
- Connect to a FLEX-8600 radio. The CWX panel requires an active radio connection.
- Set the active slice to CW, CWL, or CWU mode so the CWX panel is available.
Steps¶
- Open the CWX panel in the main window.
- Click Setup at the bottom of the panel to switch to the Setup view.
- Click QSK to toggle it on. The button highlights when active.
To turn QSK off, click QSK again.
What each control does¶
| Control | Behavior | Default | Setting key |
|---|---|---|---|
| QSK | Toggles QSK (full break-in) on or off. | Off | CwxQsk |
| Delay: | Inter-macro delay in milliseconds. | 5 | CwxDelay |
| Speed: | CW speed in WPM. | 20 | CwxSpeedWpm |
| Send (view) | Switches to the live send area with history and text field. | – | – |
| Live (view) | Switches to the live send view. | – | – |
| Setup (view) | Switches to the macro editor and QSK setup. | – | – |
| Send history scroll | Shows previous send buffers with character highlighting. | – | – |
| Send text area | Type CW characters; Enter sends the buffer. | – | – |
| F1 … F12 (macros) | Sends the pre-written macro for that function key. | – | CwxMacro_F1..F12 |
| F1 … F12 macro editors | Setup view editors for each macro. | – | CwxMacro_F1..F12 |
| Prosigns legend | Shows shortcuts for common CW prosigns (=, +, (, &, $). | – | – |
How Send and Live interact¶
In v26.6.1 the Send and Live buttons no longer act as a simple mutually exclusive group. Their behavior depends on the current state of the panel:
- Live is a toggle. Click it once to enable live character-by-character keying; click it again to disable it. The button's checked state always reflects the model's live state, even if the state was changed externally.
- Send behaves differently depending on whether Live is active when you click it:
- If Live is currently off, clicking Send submits the typed buffer immediately.
- If Live is currently on, clicking Send first turns live mode off and returns the panel to the normal send view. The buffer is not retransmitted, because some characters may already have been keyed character-by-character.
- Clicking Setup always turns live mode off before switching to the Setup view.
History bubble behavior¶
Each sent message appears as a history bubble in the Send history scroll area. Bubbles display the CW text and a timestamp. As characters are sent, the bubble updates to show which characters have been transmitted.
Aborted bubbles (Escape key)¶
Press Escape during transmission to abort the current buffer. The bubble for the aborted message shows: - Characters that were already sent appear normally. - Characters that were not yet sent appear with strikeout formatting (a line through the text).
This visual distinction helps you see what made it to the air and what was cut off.
History bubble context menu¶
Right-click any bubble to open a context menu with the following actions:
- Resend — Sends the selected message again and adds a new history bubble with the current timestamp.
- Clear History — Removes all history bubbles from the scroll area.
F1–F12 and Escape shortcut behavior¶
The F1–F12 function keys and the Escape key are available as application-wide shortcuts. The shortcuts are enabled or disabled by the active slice's mode, not by panel visibility. This ensures the keys fire whether the CWX panel is visible or not, while preventing conflicts with the DVK (Digital Voice Keyer) panel.
- When the active slice is in CW, CWL, or CWU mode: F1–F12 trigger the corresponding CW macros, and Escape aborts the current send buffer.
- When the active slice is in a voice mode: F1–F12 trigger DVK macros instead.
- The shortcuts are automatically managed by the MainWindow based on the active slice's mode.