Guide Touch interface

Guide: the Touch interface

What it is. A layout mode for tablets, touch screens and small laptops. It does not replace the panels: it makes the existing screens bigger and gives them a thumb-friendly shell. Hit targets are at least 48 px, there is a bottom dock with the main controls, an on-screen keypad for the frequency, and a full-screen mode picker. Off, nothing changes how OnAir looks or works.

Turning it on and off

• Classic interface: press the Touch button in the top bar ("Switch to the touch interface (big buttons, on-screen keypad). You can switch back at any time.").
• New interface: tick Touch interface in the side panel settings ("For tablets and touch screens: big buttons, an on-screen keypad for the frequency, a full-screen mode picker.").
• Command line: start OnAir with --touch (this does not save the setting). --touchscale 1.5 makes everything larger (between 1 and 2).
• Back to the desktop layout: open More > Menu and press Desktop interface.

The screen

• Top bar: the menu, a chip showing the current mode (tap it to change mode) and the status.
• Body: the usual tabs of the interface. Drag to scroll (with kinetic scrolling); swipe sideways on the background to move between tabs. A swipe that starts on a slider or a plot does not count as a swipe, so you do not change tab by accident.
• Bottom dock: Start / Stop (and Running / Stopped status), Step, Gain, Volume, Tuner, More, and Mute.

Entering a frequency

1. Tap Tuner or the frequency. A keypad opens with Cancel, OK and the current frequency ("now x MHz").
2. Type the number. Use the Tuning step picker for the +/- buttons, which repeat while held.
3. Press OK. A Keyboard button is also offered on the sheet (check the panel for what it does on your system).

Choosing a mode

Tap the mode chip. The full-screen picker has a search box ("search (FT8, LoRa, APRS...)") and the same 15 groups (the last one is Plugins) as the desktop list. The mode can only change while the receiver is stopped: "Stop the receiver to change the mode."

More

The More sheet offers pages: Status, List (the results), Analysis, Tour, Text size, a Receive view / Transmit view switch and Desktop interface. Back returns to the menu of pages.

Gestures

• Long press acts as a right click; holding on an item shows its tooltip.
• Pinch and two-finger pan are recognised where the screen has multi-touch (check that your system passes them on); a single finger drags to scroll.
• A swipe from the screen edge is an operating-system gesture, not an OnAir one.

Tips

• The touch layout works with a mouse too; use it for presentations on a projector.
• On a tablet, combine it with a network radio so the SDR can stay at the antenna: see Network radios.
• The guided tour works in the touch layout with centred notes instead of pointing at parts: Guided tour.

Troubleshooting

• Everything too large or small: use Text size in the menu sheet or --touchscale.
• A tap does nothing: a press that starts on a slider or plot is not a swipe; release and tap again.
• Cannot change mode: stop the receiver first.

Related

Guided tour | Main window | Android | Getting started