Gestures & Controls¶
The entire app is controlled via one-finger swipes from screen edges and taps on the top bar.
Edge Swipes¶
| Gesture | From | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Swipe → | Left edge | Cycle Panadapter -> FT8/FT4/JS8 -> WSPR |
| Swipe ← | Right edge | Open settings drawer |
| Swipe ↑ | Bottom edge | Open memory channel picker |
Slim breathing grip handles on these three edges show where to swipe.
!!! note "There is no top-edge swipe any more" Earlier versions opened the spot map with a swipe down from the top edge. Removed — it collided with the top bar's own Band/Mode/BW/Zoom taps and was easy to trigger by accident. The spot map now opens from a SelfSpotter button in the settings drawer, right below Need guidance? — see the Settings Drawer section below.
Top Bar Taps¶
Tap any item on the top bar to open its selector:
| Item | Selector |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Numeric keypad (MHz format) |
| Mode | USB / LSB / CW / DiGi buttons |
| Bandwidth | Filter width (SSB) or CW passband |
| Band | Band list (160 m – 10 m + custom) |
| S-meter | Peak-hold toggle |
| Zoom | x1 / x2 / x4 / x8 / x16 / x24 presets; pinch for anything between |
Spectrum / Waterfall¶
| Gesture | Effect |
|---|---|
| Tap | Tune to that frequency |
| Drag (1 finger) | Pan left/right |
| Hold ~250 ms, then drag | Precise tune: a cyan cursor appears and snaps grid-to-grid as you move, and the radio follows when you lift. The hold is what separates it from a pan - a quick drag pans, a held drag tunes |
| Pinch (2 fingers) | Zoom in/out |
| Tap a spot callsign | Tune to that station and set the mode — see Live Spots |
Tap an off-screen count (<3 / 5>) |
Jump to the nearest spot outside the window, on this band |
Taps snap to a grid set by the mode, not the zoom level: 10 Hz in CW, 250 Hz in USB/LSB, 500 Hz in the digital modes, 1 kHz in AM.
Band-Plan Strip (Panadapter)¶
The thin coloured strip just above the bottom status bar shows where you are within the band. The framed visible-span block on it is a slider handle you can drag to retune.
| Gesture | Effect |
|---|---|
| Tap the strip | Jump to that frequency in the band |
| Drag the visible-span block sideways | Move the window along the band. Block, VFO marker and passband travel together and stay where you let go; the radio follows |
| Touch just above the strip | Counts as the strip — about 8 mm of the waterfall above it is a grab area, so the handle is catchable first time |
| Drag from the bottom bar (sideways) | Same band scrub, grabbed on/under the slider handle anywhere along the bottom status bar — a taller, easier target |
| Swipe ↑ from the bottom bar | Still opens the memory picker (vertical = memory, sideways = band-plan — the two share the row) |
Display Sleep¶
| Gesture | Effect |
|---|---|
| Tap (screen asleep) | Wake the display — the wake tap is swallowed, so it can't tune or press anything |
| Two-finger double-tap | Blank the display immediately |
The idle timeout is set via the Display sleep dropdown in the settings drawer (see Settings).
Memory Channels¶
Swipe ↑ from bottom edge -> open memory picker.
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Tap channel | Recall frequency, mode, and name |
| Long-press channel | Edit name/frequency/mode |
| Long-press + drag | Move the channel to a different empty slot (data follows your finger) |
| Drag onto the wastebin | Delete the channel — the bottom-right cell (channel 32) is a wastebin; drop a channel on it to remove it |
| Tap empty slot + Save | Store current frequency to that slot |
| Tap occupied slot + Save | Overwrite that channel |
A new device ships with a few example channels, and the first time you open the picker a one-time (~10 s) tour demonstrates the drag-to-move and drag-to-delete gestures.
Frequency Keypad¶
Tap the frequency label to open the keypad:
- Digits:
0–9,.(decimal point) - Delete: Remove last character
- Clear: Clear the entire entry
- Layout toggle: Switch between 10-Key (phone dial) and Phone (QWERTY)
Enter frequency as MHz.kHz.Hz (e.g., 14.074 for 14.074 MHz).
FT8 Decode List¶
| Gesture | Effect |
|---|---|
| Tap row | Reply to that CQ |
| Long-press row | (reserved for future use) |
| Scroll | List is scrollable; swipe up/down |
ADIF Log Viewer¶
| Gesture | Effect |
|---|---|
| Long-press row | Highlight the QSO red and lock list scrolling |
| Drag up/down (while highlighted) | Move the highlight to another row |
| Release | A Delete/Cancel bar appears — Delete removes that one record |
| Delete all (tap twice) | First tap arms it ("ALL N?"), second tap within 5 s erases the whole log — no undo |
Filter Modal¶
In FT8 view, tap Filter to open:
| Control | Effect |
|---|---|
| Include/Exclude checkboxes | Toggle filters on/off |
| Text fields | Edit filter criteria |
| Dropdown | Change auto-reply priority |
| Save | Apply changes |
| Cancel | Discard changes |
Settings Drawer¶
Swipe ← from right edge. The drawer is a single scrolling list of sections (they don't collapse — just scroll). It contains:
- User Manual (top button) — opens this documentation on the Tab5 itself, at the chapter covering the screen you were on (see below)
- Need guidance? (directly below it) — a list of symptoms and questions in plain words; picking one opens the manual at the answer. See Getting Help
- SelfSpotter (directly below that) — opens the spot map, who is hearing your signal. All three of these top buttons go somewhere else in the app rather than tuning a setting, which is why they sit together above everything else.
- Text fields — tap to edit (opens keyboard if needed)
- Toggles — tap to on/off
- Buttons — tap to open modals (Config, Time, etc.)
- Close — swipe ← again or tap outside
All changes are saved automatically.
User Manual (on-device docs)¶
The User Manual button at the top of the settings drawer opens this whole guide right on the Tab5 — no phone or laptop needed.
It is built into the firmware (since v1.3.2), so it works immediately and always: no WiFi, no microSD card, no download, no waiting, on the very first boot. It also can never describe a different version than the one you are running, because it ships inside it.
- It opens in context — the panadapter chapter, the FT8 receive chapter, or the FT8 transmit chapter when a transmission is armed or running. Not a contents page you have to search.
- Contents — a two-column list of every page. Press and slide your finger down it: a highlight bar tracks your finger, and lifting opens the highlighted page.
- Back — returns to the previous page you viewed (shown only when there is somewhere to go back to). Exit — leaves the manual (back to the panadapter/FT8 screen).
- Edge swipes and top-bar taps are stood down while the manual is open, so a stray touch cannot retune or switch view behind it.
- Hold the drawer's User Manual button for 3 s to reset the reader. The manual itself is untouched — it is part of the firmware and cannot be lost or go stale.
- If a newer firmware version is available, a banner appears at the top — informational only; flashing is always your choice.
The other two ways into the same manual — the Need guidance? panel and the tappable warning banners — are covered in Getting Help.
Earlier firmware downloaded the manual over WiFi and could copy it to a microSD card with a green "Save offline" button. That button is gone in v1.3.2 and none of it is needed any more. An old copy left on a card is simply ignored — delete
/qmx-panadapter/manual/if you want the space back.
Modals (Pop-up Dialogs)¶
Standard modal controls:
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Save / Apply | Confirm and close |
| Cancel | Discard and close |
| Tap outside | (varies — some close, some don't) |
Each modal is self-contained — no stacking (you can't open two modals at once).
On-Screen Keyboard¶
Appears when you tap a text field:
| Key | Effect |
|---|---|
| Shift | Toggle case (abc -> ABC) |
| Backspace | Delete last character |
| Space | Insert space |
| Numbers | Tap to switch to number row |
| Done / OK | Close keyboard and apply |
Web UI (Browser)¶
- Click spectrum -> tune to that frequency
- Scroll or pinch -> zoom
- Number fields -> click to edit, press Enter
- Buttons -> click to toggle settings
All web controls mirror the Tab5 display.
Next: See Troubleshooting for common issues.