Main Screen¶

This page covers what you see on the radio's main (VFO) screen while sending or receiving CW, and the button shortcuts that are specific to CW mode.

CW decode display¶

While in CW mode, the firmware decodes what's being keyed — your own sending, or whatever Morse it hears on the receive audio — and prints the decoded text across the middle line of the screen.

• Shows up to ~19 characters at a time; once the line fills, older text scrolls off the left as new characters are decoded.
• A small play-arrow glyph appears at the far left of the line while a recorded message is being played back.
• On the UV-K5 v3 / UV-K1, zeros are drawn dotted so they can't be mistaken for the letter O.
• On the UV-K5 v3 / UV-K1, the prosigns SK, BK, KA, SN, UR (U and R run together) and SOS show as their letters, underlined. Prosigns that share a pattern with punctuation show the symbol instead: BT =, AR +, KN ( and AS &.

Button shortcuts¶

These long-press shortcuts are active on the main screen.

Filter width and CPO are the only two of these that need the F prefix on the UV-K5 v3 / UV-K1 — on the original UV-K5 (v1) both are plain long presses, same as the other three shortcuts. Modulation cycling, break-in, and cross-mode are plain long presses (no F prefix) on every model.

On the UV-K5 v3 / UV-K1, a short press of * in CW mode opens RIT/XIT adjust. In other modes * works as before.

Modulation cycling — long press 0/FM¶

Cycle between the modulation modes: FM → AM → USB → CW → (back to FM)

The firmware automatically opens squelch full-time whenever switching to USB and CW modes. Use side button 1 (or map a different button to the monitor action) to close squelch.

Filter width — long press 4/FC¶

Code Practice Oscillator — long press 5/NOAA¶

Launches CPO, a standalone practice buzzer mode that doesn't receive or transmit. On the UV-K5 v3 / UV-K1 the radio's current VFO must already be in CW mode or you'll get an error beep instead — see the CPO page for the exact entry steps per model.

Break-in toggle — long press 7/VOX¶

Toggles the same CWbkin setting found in the menu, without having to go into the menu. A BKIN indicator appears at the top of the screen, in the status bar, whenever break-in is enabled while in CW mode; it disappears when break-in is turned off.

SSB cross-mode — long press 8/R¶

Cross-mode shifts your transmitted CW signal's frequency up by the sidetone tone frequency (CWfreq), putting it inside the passband an SSB operator will hear when listening at the given frequency. That lets you work an SSB station in "cross-mode": they hear your keyed CW tone (at your programmed sidetone frequency), and your own receive hears their voice without having to retune. For example, if the op is listening at 144.200 USB, and your sidetone is programmed to 600Hz, they will hear a 600Hz tone when you transmit on 144.200 with cross-mode enabled - your radio is actually transmitting at 144.200.6 and then jumping back to .200 to listen to them.

Without cross-mode, your CW signal will be at 0hz from their VFO frequency, and the SSB AF bandpass prevent them from hearing you without dropping their VFO or changing to CW mode themselves.

While cross-mode is on, the modulation indicator on the main screen shows CWx instead of plain CW.

Default: off. The toggle reverts to off on every power cycle.

RIT/XIT (UV-K5 v3 / UV-K1 only)¶

RIT shifts your receive frequency and XIT your transmit frequency by the same offset, up to ±9.99 kHz in 10 Hz steps, without moving the dial. You can turn either or both on. The offset and switches live in memory only, so the radio always powers on with both off and the offset at zero.

In CW mode, press * to open the adjust screen. If RIT and XIT are both off when you open it, RIT turns on. The screen shows the received signal (S-units or S9+dB, plus dBm) for peaking the offset on a station, the offset in kHz, RIT and XIT (highlighted when on), the frequency the offset puts you on, and a key legend.

The screen also closes when you start keying, or after 5 seconds without a key press. While an offset is applied, the VFO's info line shows a tag such as R+0.12 (RIT), X-0.05 (XIT) or RX+0.12 (both), in kHz, in place of the MONI / SQL label.

The radio's error beep can't sound in CW, so a key the screen can't act on plays a short, low 500 Hz dit through the sidetone instead. That's a step past ±9.99 kHz (the offset stops at the limit), 0 when it can't move the dial, and M or F.

CW side-key actions (UV-K5 v3 / UV-K1 only)¶

You can assign these actions to the side keys and to a long press of M, in the F1Shrt, F1Long, F2Shrt, F2Long and M Long menus or from CHIRP. The CW message play and repeat actions are in the same list.

The keyer mode, speed and key input popups sit over the middle of the main screen. Their arrows follow SetNav: left/right with LEFT/RIGHT, up/down with UP/DOWN.

• Keyer mode and key input work like a menu: nothing changes until you press M. The popup's title has M and a ✓ at its left end, above the M key, as a reminder. EXIT, keying, transmitting, or 20 seconds without a key press (the same as the menu) closes it without changing anything.
• Speed changes as soon as you press an arrow and stays however the popup closes, including when you start keying. The popup closes by itself after 2 seconds without a key press.
• Any other key closes a popup and then does its normal job, so you can start typing a frequency straight away. An unapplied keyer mode or key input is dropped.
• Pressing the same side key again steps keyer mode or key input, and closes the speed popup. A side key with a different action closes the popup and runs that action.

Running an action once¶

Press F, then long press a side key, to pick any action from the list and run it once without changing what the key is assigned to. The arrow keys step through the actions, M runs the one shown, and EXIT or F closes the list. It also closes after 5 seconds without a key press, when you press PTT, or when a signal comes in. Each side key remembers its last pick until the radio is turned off.

Default key layout¶

On a new radio, or after a Reset ALL, the keys start with this layout:

These defaults only fill keys that have never been set. Once you assign an action, from the menu or from CHIRP, the radio keeps it, and a radio upgraded from earlier firmware keeps the actions it already had.

Transmit timeout (UV-K5 v3 / UV-K1 only)¶

If keying runs for 7 seconds without a gap of at least two dit lengths, the radio stops keying, drops transmit, and shows TX TIMEOUT / RELEASE KEY. Normal sending always pauses between characters, so this catches a stuck key or a shorted paddle, including one that sends an endless string of dits. Holding the key down for a long tuning carrier trips it too. Keying stays locked out until the key has been released for 1 second. A message that's playing back stops too.

Next¶

• Menus and settings
• Code Practice Oscillator