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Front Panel Operation

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jj edited this page Sep 16, 2026 · 2 revisions

Front Panel Operation

The front panel is the 3.5″ touchscreen and the encoder knob on the radio itself. This page is your tour of the main screen and how to drive it. Two menu areas — the Setup menu and the Options/controls — have their own detailed pages linked at the end.

The main screen at a glance

The main screen shows everything you need for day‑to‑day operating:

  • Frequency — the large VFO readout. This is what you tune.
  • Mode — USB, LSB, CW, CWR, FT8, AM, and DIGI.
  • VFO A / VFO B — the two tuning memories, with a SPLIT and RIT option.
  • Spectrum & waterfall — a live view of the band, so you can see activity and click near a signal.
  • S‑meter (on receive) and Watts / SWR meters (on transmit).
  • Battery voltage — shown at the top right so you can keep an eye on your supply.
  • A row of quick controls: SPAN, STEP, AGC, BW, and audio level.

Tuning with the knob

The encoder knob is your primary tuning control.

  • Turn the knob to change frequency.
  • The size of each step is set by the STEP control (see below). Pick a big step to move across a band quickly, then a small step to zero in on a signal.

The tuning step (STEP)

Tap STEP to cycle through the available step sizes:

STEP Moves per click Good for
10K 10 kHz Jumping across a band
1K 1 kHz Getting into the right neighborhood
500H 500 Hz Coarse zeroing
100H 100 Hz Fine tuning SSB
10H 10 Hz Precise CW / digital zero‑beat

Changing bands

The band buttons cover the radio's range: 80, 60, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 meters. Tap a band and the radio jumps to it, restoring the last frequency and mode you used there (this is the band stack — see below).

The band stack remembers each band. Each band keeps its own last frequency, mode, and settings. Switch to 20 m, tune around, switch to 40 m, and when you come back to 20 m you'll be right where you left off. These memories are saved and survive a power cycle.

Choosing a mode

Tap MODE to cycle through the operating modes:

  • USB / LSB — single‑sideband voice (USB on 20 m and up, LSB on 40 m and down, by convention).
  • CW / CWR — Morse code (CWR is the reverse‑sideband variant).
  • FT8 — the popular weak‑signal digital mode, decoded right on the radio. See FT8 Operation.
  • AM, DIGI, 2TONE — AM, general digital, and a two‑tone test signal.

Each mode is covered in its own page under Operating Modes in the sidebar.

Receive controls

SPAN — how wide a slice of the band the spectrum/waterfall shows. Tap to cycle 25 K / 10 K / 6 K / 2.5 K. A wide span shows more of the band; a narrow span zooms in.

AGC — automatic gain control, which keeps loud and soft signals at a comfortable level. Tap to cycle:

  • OFF — no AGC (manual gain; rarely needed)
  • SLOW — best for SSB and steady signals
  • MED — a good general‑purpose default
  • FAST — best for CW and fast‑changing signals

BW (bandwidth) — the receive filter. Narrowing the bandwidth cuts out adjacent‑signal noise; widening it lets more audio through. BW control adjusts a range from 50 to 5000 Hz

Audio level — your receive volume.

The spectrum and waterfall

The spectrum (top) shows signal strength across the band right now; the waterfall (below) scrolls downward, painting a history of activity so you can spot intermittent signals like FT8 bursts or CW calls.

You can tap near a signal on the display to move toward it — handy for pouncing on activity you can see but haven't tuned to yet.

Transmitting

When you key up (via PTT, a CW key, or a digital transmission), the panel switches to transmit and shows the Watts and SWR meters in place of the S‑meter.

  • Watts — your forward power, up to the radio's 5‑watt maximum.
  • SWR — how well your antenna is matched. Lower is better; keep it under about 2:1. A high SWR means the antenna isn't a good match on this frequency — retune the antenna or move frequency, and reduce power if it stays high.

DRIVE sets your transmit power level. Start low and bring it up while watching the SWR and watts meters.

Never disconnect power while transmitting, and always transmit into a real antenna or dummy load.

Split and RIT

  • SPLIT — transmit on one VFO and receive on the other. Used when working a station (often a DX station or a pileup) that listens on a different frequency than they transmit.
  • RIT (Receiver Incremental Tuning) — nudge your receive frequency slightly without moving your transmit frequency. Useful when someone is slightly off your frequency and you want to fine‑tune them in without moving your own signal.

The Menu button

The Menu (or the menu control) opens the Radio menu — a list that includes the band buttons, VFO/SPLIT/RIT, the 1‑TAP FT8 toggle, SETUP, CW input options, SIDETONE, MACRO, USB mode, OPTIONS, WIFI, and SHUTDOWN.

The most important menu items each have their own page:

Shutting down safely

Always shut the radio down cleanly rather than just pulling power — this makes sure your settings and logbook are saved.

  1. Menu → SHUTDOWN.
  2. A confirmation screen appears: "Shutdown zBitx OS?" with a reminder to close remote sessions and wait for the LED.
  3. Tap OK to power down, or CANCEL to back out.
  4. Wait for the green LED on the Pi to turn off before disconnecting power. The Pi needs a few seconds to finish writing and shut down cleanly.

Pulling power before the LED goes out risks corrupting the SD card and losing recent setting changes.

On‑screen keyboard tips

When you tap a text field (like your callsign), an on‑screen keyboard appears:

  • Tap the case/symbol key to cycle between ABC (uppercase), abc (lowercase), and #@! (symbols).
  • Use space and del as expected, and the [x] key to close the keyboard.

Related: Setup Menu » · Options & Controls »

zBitx Operator Manual

Getting Started

Using the Radio

Operating Modes

Connectivity & Features

Miscellaneous

Reference

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