Turn on the CW decoder to read Morse off-air¶
The CW decode panel appears beneath the panadapter and displays incoming Morse code as readable text in real time. Use it to copy off-air CW without a separate decoding program. In v26.5.2.1, the decoder also renders your own transmitted keying in a distinct cyan color so you can visually separate your sending from incoming CW when both directions feed the same panel (#2417).
Before you start¶
- AetherSDR must be connected to a FLEX-8600 radio.
- PC audio must be routed to AetherSDR. The panel itself shows the reminder "(requires PC Audio)" — decoding will not work without it.
- Tune to a CW signal and set the mode to CW on the active slice.
Steps¶
- In the panadapter title bar, confirm the correct slice is shown in the "Slice" title label (for example, "Slice A").
- Open the CW decode panel. The panel appears below the spectrum/waterfall area and is hidden by default — look for a CW control or mode button that exposes it for the active slice. Once visible, the panel shows the label CW in blue alongside the hint (requires PC Audio).
- Watch the CW decode text area at the bottom of the panel. As the decoder tracks the signal, decoded characters roll in and are coloured by confidence: green (high), yellow, orange, or red (low). Characters decoded from your own transmitted keying appear in cyan (#5fc8ff) and are separated from incoming text by a space.
- Check the CW stats label above the text area. It shows the detected pitch and speed in the format
<Hz> <WPM>, for example600 Hz 20 WPM. Confirm these match the signal you are listening to before relying on the decode.
What each control does¶
| Control | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Sens slider | Filters low-confidence characters. Higher values reject more uncertain decodes. | 30 |
| 🔒P (Lock Pitch) toggle | Locks the decoder to the current detected pitch so it stops searching. | Off |
| 🔒S (Lock Speed) toggle | Locks the decoder to the current detected speed (WPM). | Off |
| Pitch range slider | Sets the minimum and maximum pitch the decoder searches. A single double-handle slider replaces the previous separate Lo/Hi sliders. Range: 300–1200 Hz. | 500–700 Hz |
| WPM range slider | Sets the minimum and maximum speed the decoder searches. A single double-handle slider. Range: 5–60 WPM. | 15–40 WPM |
| CPY ALL | Copies the entire decoded text buffer to the clipboard. | — |
| CPY VIS | Copies only the text currently visible in the scroll area to the clipboard. | — |
| CLR | Clears the CW decode buffer. | — |
| × (close CW) | Hides the CW decode panel. | — |
| CW stats label | Indicator showing detected pitch and speed. Read-only. | — |
| CW decode text | Rolling read-only display of decoded characters, coloured by confidence. Right-click opens a context menu with a Clear option in addition to the standard text actions. | — |
How TX decode appears¶
When you transmit CW, the decoder captures your keying and displays it in cyan text. This lets you verify your own sending alongside incoming signals. The decoder applies the same confidence filter as the RX path — low-confidence characters are suppressed. A space is inserted when switching between TX and RX decode to prevent the coloured runs from visually merging.
Waterfall freeze during transmit¶
In v26.6.1, the waterfall now freezes when any client (not just this radio) starts transmitting. The freeze is driven by the radio's interlock TRANSMITTING state instead of the local MOX edge, eliminating the 10–23 second TX-trail artifact that previously appeared after unkeying.
When the radio reconnects, the desired panadapter FPS and waterfall line duration are reasserted (via internal reconciliation) to prevent silently dropping to the radio's 10 Hz default.
Tips¶
- If the text area fills with low-confidence (orange or red) characters, increase Sens to filter them out. Start around 50 and raise until noise characters disappear.
- Narrow the pitch search range with the Pitch slider to match the sidetone of the station you are copying. This reduces false triggers from nearby signals.
- Narrow the speed range with the WPM slider to match the sending speed of the station you are copying. This improves decoding accuracy.
- Once the CW stats label settles on a stable pitch and speed, enable 🔒P (Lock Pitch) and 🔒S (Lock Speed) to prevent the decoder from drifting to another signal.
- Use CLR before a new QSO to keep the text area readable. You can also right-click the CW decode text area and choose Clear from the context menu.
Troubleshooting¶
- No text appears in the decode area — Verify PC audio is routed to AetherSDR. The panel shows "(requires PC Audio)" as a reminder. Without it the decoder receives no audio and produces no output.
- Decode text is mostly red or orange — The signal confidence is low. Increase Sens, or narrow the Pitch range to match the actual sidetone frequency shown in the CW stats label. Also narrow the WPM range to match the sending speed.
- Wrong pitch or speed shown in CW stats label — Do not engage 🔒P (Lock Pitch) or 🔒S (Lock Speed) until the stats label has stabilised on the target signal.
- Waterfall has long TX trail after unkeying — In v26.6.1, this is fixed. If you still see artifact trails, ensure you are running the latest version. A radio reconnect reasserts the correct FPS and waterfall line duration.