Front Panel Options and Controls

Front Panel — Options & Controls

Beyond the everyday controls on the main screen, the Radio menu holds a set of additional controls for CW, tuning, DSP, and the special features. This page describes what each does. Open the menu with Menu, then pick the item you want.

The full Radio menu contains: the band buttons, VFO / SPLIT / RIT, 1‑TAP, SETUP, CW_INPUT, CW_DELAY, SIDETONE, MACRO, USB, OPTIONS, WIFI, SHUTDOWN, and CLOSE.

Items with their own pages: SETUP · USB · WIFI.

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CW controls

These shape how the radio sends Morse. They're covered in depth on the CW Operation page; here's the quick reference.

CW_INPUT — keyer type

Tap CW_INPUT to cycle through the keyer modes, which determine how the radio turns your key/paddle inputs into Morse:

Setting	Keyer type
IAMBIC	Iambic mode A
IAMBICB	Iambic mode B
STRAIGHT	Straight key / hand key
ULTIMAT	Ultimatic keyer
BUG	Semi‑automatic "bug" emulation

Pick the one that matches your key and sending style. If you're not sure, most paddle users want IAMBICA; straight‑key users want STRAIGHT.

CW_DELAY — break‑in delay

How long the radio stays in transmit after your last element before dropping back to receive. A longer delay keeps you in transmit between words; a shorter delay lets you hear between characters. Adjust to taste.

SIDETONE — CW pitch/volume

The tone you hear when sending CW. Set it to a pitch that's comfortable for you — many operators like something around 600–700 Hz.

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1‑TAP — FT8 one‑tap QSO toggle

1‑TAP turns the FT8 tap‑to‑call convenience on or off. It's covered fully on the FT8 Operation page.

• ON — tapping a decoded station in FT8 immediately starts calling them.
• OFF — tapping a station just highlights it; you then confirm with the knob before it calls.

Turn it OFF if you find yourself calling stations by accident, or ON for the fastest possible operating.

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MACRO — CW/FT8 message macros

MACRO selects a preset message sequence — for example a CQ call, a contest exchange, or a run/search‑and‑pounce set. Macros save you from sending the same thing by hand every time. Available sets include options like FT8, CW1, a contest "run" set, and a search‑and‑pounce set.

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OPTIONS — DSP and advanced controls

The OPTIONS menu holds the digital‑signal‑processing and advanced tuning controls. Depending on your firmware these include:

Control	What it does
NOTCH / BNDWTH	An automatic notch filter to null out a steady interfering tone (like a carrier), and its width
ANR	Automatic noise reduction, to pull voices out of background hiss
DSP	The main DSP noise/processing toggle
BFO	Beat‑frequency oscillator offset (fine audio‑pitch control)
TXMON	Transmit monitor — hear your own transmitted audio
TNPWR	Tune power — the power level used when running the antenna tuner / tune carrier
TNDUR	Tune duration — how long the tune carrier lasts before it auto‑stops
COMP	Speech compressor, to increase your average voice power

TNPWR and TNDUR matter for antenna tuning. When you send a tune carrier to adjust an antenna tuner, TNPWR sets how much power it uses and TNDUR sets how long it lasts before shutting off automatically. Keep TNPWR modest and TNDUR short — just long enough to peak your tuner.

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Noise reduction and filtering — practical tips

• Steady tone / carrier interference → use the NOTCH.
• Background hiss on voice → try ANR and/or DSP.
• Adjacent‑channel signal bleeding in → narrow your bandwidth (BW) on the main screen.
• Everything too loud or too soft → adjust AGC (SLOW for SSB, FAST for CW) before reaching for other controls.

Start with the simplest control that addresses your problem, and only stack DSP features if you need to — over‑processing can make audio sound worse.

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Related: CW Operation » · FT8 Operation » · Voice & Digital Modes »