2. Display elements
The kit uses a 2 row, 16 character LCD module. In the QCX and QCX+ models, this has a blue
backlight. The QCX-mini has a yellow/green LCD module with backlight that can be switched off to
lower current consumption.
The main display layout during ordinary operation (which will be called “main operating mode”) is
shown in the above photograph. The display during beacon or message transmission modes,
menu editing, alignment etc. differs. The main display elements are as follows:
The receive VFO frequency is always displayed, to 10Hz resolution, at the top left. This
may be VFO A or VFO B. The nominally 700Hz CW offset is automatically applied.
Ordinarily this frequency is also used for transmission.
Tuning rate cursor: the underline appears under the digit which is currently tuned by the
rotary encoder. In this example, the tuning rate is 100Hz per click, because the cursor is
under the 100Hz digit.
S-meter: these 4 characters display a basic (and not calibrated) S-meter. The scale is
configurable (see later description). The S-meter may be shown or hidden.
Battery voltage: a battery icon appears to indicate the battery voltage in 7 user-definable
steps: from full to empty and 5 steps in between. It may also be shown or hidden.
Transmit VFO: in SPLIT mode, the transmit VFO is displayed on the bottom row of the
display.
RIT (Receiver Incremental Tuning): when not in SPLIT mode, and when the RIT is non-
zero, the RIT value is displayed in the bottom left (where the photo shows the VFO B
frequency). When RIT is non-zero, and when not in SPLIT mode, the reception frequency is
the transmit VFO frequency (which may be VFO A or B) plus the RIT (which may be a
negative offset).
Decoded CW: The remaining space on the bottom row is used for displaying the decoded
CW text. When RIT is zero, and you are not operating SPLIT, the whole 16 characters of
the bottom row are used for the CW decoder display. When adjusting RIT or keyer speed,
only the right section of the screen is used for decoded CW. The CW decoder may be
disabled in the Decoder configuration menu.
Practice mode: when in CW practice mode (actual transmitting disabled), a ‘P’ is displayed
to the right of the frequency on the top row
. I
f the practice mode was caused automatically
as a self-protection, by plugging in the GPS, a ‘G’ is displayed.
The bottom right 5 characters can also be used as a real time clock in HH:MM format,
which is set either manually in the beacon menu “Set time” or via GPS serial data stream
parsing. The clock is enabled by the “Clock” item in the “Other” menu.
QCX operating manual, firmware 1.07, manual edit 0.03
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