Help › Operating

Listening and transmitting

Receive audio

Receive audio starts by itself when the console connects. Browsers only let a page play sound after you've touched it, so after opening or reloading the console you may see Click anywhere to hear the radio across the top, and Tap for audio at the bottom left. Click or tap anywhere on the page and audio starts.

While audio is playing, the button shows a level bar and Audio on.

The Latency meter at the top, next to the radio's name, shows how far behind the radio you're hearing it: Low (green, under a quarter of a second), Med (amber, up to half a second) or High (red, more than that). It adds up the network between your device and the station, the audio your device holds in its buffer, and the link from the agent to a network radio. Hover over it to see each part in milliseconds.

• Mute: tap the audio button. It changes to 🔇 Muted. Tap it again to unmute. The console remembers your choice on that device.
• Volume: use Volume in the levels panel. It goes above 100% for quiet devices. The radio's own speaker is turned down (AF gain 0) when the agent connects, so the shack stays quiet; that doesn't change what you hear.
• On phones, audio may stop while the console is in the background or the screen is off. It picks up again when you come back to the page.

Transmitting

1. Press Hold to talk once. The first time, your browser asks to use the microphone. Allow it. The console says Microphone ready. Press and hold to talk. This first press doesn't transmit, so the radio is never keyed while the permission prompt is up.
2. Press and hold Hold to talk while you speak. The button shows how long you've been transmitting and the limit, for example TX 12s / 180s, and the console is outlined in red.
3. Let go to stop transmitting.

On a computer, you can hold the space bar instead. It doesn't key while you're typing in a box.

Latching

For longer overs without holding the button, tap 🔒 next to Hold to talk. The transmitter stays keyed and the button says tap to stop. Tap Hold to talk to unkey.

Built-in safety

The transmitter is unkeyed automatically when:

• The time limit is reached. Each transmission is limited to 3 minutes (180 seconds) by default; the button shows the limit.
• Your connection drops. The console checks in with the station four times a second while you transmit. If the station hears nothing for 1.2 seconds, it unkeys.
• You leave the page. Switching to another app or tab, locking your phone, or closing the page all unkey at once, even when latched. Clicking into another window unkeys a held PTT, but a latched transmission carries on, and so does RTTY or an SSTV picture being sent.
• The radio is turned off from the console.

When the station unkeys for you, the console shows TX stopped: and the reason, such as TX time limit (180s) or lost contact with console.

One transmitter at a time

Only one console can transmit on a radio at a time. If another console of yours (another tab or device) is transmitting, your button says In use by another console and is disabled until it unkeys.

Receivers are listen-only

On a receiver (marked Receiver in the supported radios list), the console shows Receiver · listen only instead of Hold to talk, and there's no TX power slider. Everything else, including audio and tuning, works the same.

A transmitter can be made listen-only too, with Disable TX on the setup page (see Multiple radios).

Choosing the microphone and speakers

Open Microphone and speakers under Volume in the levels panel:

• Microphone: the one the radio hears when you transmit. Until the page may use the microphone, the list has no names; press Allow the microphone. The bar under the list moves when you speak, so you can check you have the right one without transmitting. A new choice takes effect straight away.
• Speakers: where the radio plays, for example a headset instead of the computer's speakers. Chrome and Edge can do this; in Safari and Firefox the console uses the computer's default output, which you change in the computer's sound settings.

Your choices are remembered on that computer and browser. If a chosen device is unplugged, the console goes back to the default and says so.

Microphone tips

• The microphone only works on a secure (HTTPS) page. Your station address is always HTTPS.
• If you blocked the microphone by mistake, allow it again in your browser's site settings for your station address, then reload the page.
• Watch the ALC meter while you talk. If it's high, speak a little further from the microphone.

Every transmission is recorded in the transmit log.