Send C(Continue) to add to or edit the message. The keyer will play the current message, then
enter Record mode. You can backspace over existing words if needed.
You can use the R, P and Ccommands to listen and change your message until you're satisfied. Each
memory can hold up to 60 characters. If you send something other than 1 - 4, P, R, or C the keyer will
respond with “?” and let you try it again.
Several special embedded commands may be used in messages. All commands start with a slash
followed by one or two characters. When playing back a message in setup mode you will hear the
command itself, not its effect –message chaining, QSO numbers, pause and beacon mode are inactive
while in setup mode. For example, you will hear /Rinstead of the word to be repeated. To store a
slash character in a message, save it as //.
/R will repeat the last word, including the word space after it. This can save a lot of memory space,
since each /R takes up only two character positions in memory. For example, to send a 3x3 CQ,
you can simply store “CQ /R/RDE (callsign) /R/RK”. This can save a lot of memory space.
/1, /2, /3 and /4 can be used to chain the message memories. The indicated message will be played
immediately when one of these commands is encountered. You can chain messages in any order.
/P will insert a pause in the message. This will cause the message to pause while you manually
send information such as manually entered QSO number, RST, etc. The message will
automatically resume after a full word space has passed with no paddle input. Hint: If you use /P,
store it immediately following the preceding characters without a word space. In other words, store
“UR RST/P …” instead of “UR RST /P …”. This prevents you starting to send before the word
space completes, which will terminate memory playback completely.
To have your message automatically repeat at timed intervals, insert the command /B (BEACON)
at the end of your message. This will cause the keyer to delay for the number of seconds set with
the B parameter (see below) and re-send the message. You can terminate beacon operation by
tapping either paddle or the button. This can be especially useful for calling CQ, or to use your
PicoKeyer to control a propagation beacon or “fox” transmitter.
To have Message #1 automatically start whenever power is applied to the PicoKeyer, store the /A
command as the first two characters in message #1. This is useful for automatically starting a keyer
used as part of a beacon station. Remember that you will still need to use /B at the end of the
message if you want it to repeat.
To send the QSO number and increment it by one, send /QI (QSO & Increment).
To send the QSO number and NOT increment it, send /QN (QSO & No increment).
To the last (previous) QSO number, send /QR (QSO Repeat). This is useful during contests if you
need to send a “fill”.
To temporarily increase the keyer speed by one WPM, send /SU (Speed Up). Note that this and
the /SD command will take effect immediately and will remain in effect only until the message is
finished. You can store multiple /SU or /SD commands to change speed by more than one WPM –
for example, /SU/SU will increase your speed by 2 WPM.
To temporarily decrease keyer speed by one WPM, send /SD (Speed Down).
To temporarily set a specific speed, send /Snn where nn is the speed you want. /S or /S0 will
resume the normal speed. For example, to send a signal report at 30 WPM and return to the normal
speed you would use /S30 599/S.
To alter the letter spacing, send /Fnwhere nis one digit, 0 through 9. This will act the same as
setting the letter spacing in the menu. For example, say you want to add a little extra space between
letters in your call sign in a CW message. You could store, “CQ /R/R DE /F2N0XAS /R/R K
/F0/B”. Remember to set the letter spacing back to your normal setting.
To insert an extra word space in your message, use the special prosign character “1M” (.------).