Buttons & Switches

Look up what each radio button and switch position does in conventional and trunking modes.

Radios look alike and behave differently. This screen lists how the buttons and switches are programmed in the codeplug you opened, with a tab for conventional operation and a tab for trunking, because the same button often does different things in each. Each row names the control and its position, then the feature it triggers along with what a short press and a long press do.

Overview

Control	What it does
Header	Reads Radio Control
CNV tab	Button and switch assignments for conventional operation. This tab is shown first.
TRK tab	Button and switch assignments for trunking operation
Back	Returns to the Communications hub

The active tab's label turns red and gains an underline. You can tap a tab or swipe left and right between the two, and the screen keeps its place when you rotate the device.

What each row shows

Field	What it means
Type	The kind of control — a programmable button, a data button, a switch, and so on
Position	Which button or switch position this row describes, such as a switch position A or B
Feature	The feature assigned to that control in the tab you are viewing
Short Press	What a quick press does
Long Press	What holding the control does

note

The two tabs list the same physical controls. What changes between them is the Feature, Short Press, and Long Press values, because a codeplug can assign a control one job on a conventional channel and a different job on a trunked one.

Getting Here

1. From the Home screen, open References.
2. Select Communications.
3. Choose a codeplug on the Radio Info screen.
4. Tap Buttons / Switches on the hub.

Viewing Conventional Assignments

1. The screen opens on the CNV tab.
2. If you are on the other tab, tap CNV or swipe right.
3. Read down the list. For each control, check the Type and Position to find the physical button or switch position, then read the Feature, Short Press, and Long Press values.

Viewing Trunking Assignments

1. Tap TRK, or swipe left.
2. The trunking assignments load for the same controls.
3. Compare the Feature line with what you read on the CNV tab — this is where most surprises live.

caution

Do not assume a button behaves the same on both tabs. A control that scans on a conventional channel can be assigned to something quite different on a trunked one, and the radio follows the channel you are on.

Reading Switch Positions

Switches are described one position at a time rather than as a single row.

1. Find every row whose Position belongs to the same switch.
2. Read each position's Feature to work out what the switch does as you move it through its detents.
3. A switch with three labeled positions appears as three rows, each with its own assignment.

tip

Before a mutual aid assignment, photograph or note the rows for the controls you actually use — push-to-talk side buttons, the top orange button, and any concentric switch. That is faster than re-reading this screen with gloves on.

Switching Tabs and Loading

Each tab loads its own data.

What you do	What happens
Open the screen	The conventional assignments load
Switch to TRK the first time	The trunking assignments load, with a loading indicator
Switch back and forth afterwards	The lists are already loaded, so the tabs refresh without a visible wait
Rotate the device	The screen keeps the tab you were on

State	What you see
Loading	A loading indicator, shown only while that tab's list is still empty
Empty tab	An empty list — the codeplug holds no control assignments for that mode
Request failed	An alert with the message returned by the server
Codeplug not downloaded, no connection	"This codeplug isn't available offline."

Working Out Which Control Is Which

The rows describe controls in codeplug terms, so the mapping to the plastic in your hand takes a moment.

1. Start from the Type. It tells you whether the row is a button, a data button, or a switch.
2. Then read the Position. For buttons this identifies which programmable button; for switches it identifies which detent.
3. Cross-check with the feature you expect. If your radio's orange top button is the emergency button, find the row whose feature is emergency — that row's position is your top button.
4. Check both press behaviors. Many controls do one thing on a quick press and another when held, and an emergency function is often on the long press.

Row shows	On the radio this is usually
A button type with a low position number	One of the side or front programmable buttons
A data button type	A button dedicated to a data feature
A switch type with lettered positions	A rotary or concentric switch, one row per detent
A feature naming emergency	The dedicated emergency control, often the top button

What This Screen Does Not Do

You might expect	Reality
A picture of the radio	None; controls are listed as type and position
A search field	None; scroll the two tabs
Filtering by feature	None
Any editing	Read-only
Per-channel assignments	Assignments are per mode, conventional or trunking, not per channel
Which control is active right now	Only the radio itself can tell you

note

Because assignments are per mode rather than per channel, every conventional channel in the codeplug shares the CNV assignments and every trunked channel shares the TRK assignments.

How This Connects

• Where the assignments come from. They belong to the codeplug you opened on Radio Info, and each tab is fetched for its own mode — conventional or trunking — as you open it. With no connection the same lists are read from the downloaded copy on the device.
• Why the mode matters. Whether the radio is on a conventional or a trunked channel is part of the channel's own programming, shown as the type badge in Channels and in the channel's sections in Zone & Channel Details. Read the tab that matches the channel you will be using.
• Buttons and the menu overlap. Many features named here are the same features the radio's own menu exposes as short codes — see Menu Items for what those codes mean.
• Tone controls. A control assigned to tone or monitor functions changes which squelch tone the radio uses, which ties back to MPL Configuration and MPL Radio List.
• Used with incidents. When a comms plan tells you to switch to a talkaround or an emergency function, this screen is where you find the physical control that does it — see Incident Comms Tab.
• Offline and reconnect. Both tabs read fully offline for a downloaded codeplug. When the connection returns, leave the screen and reopen it so the current assignments are fetched.

Troubleshooting

If this happens	What to do
A tab is empty	The codeplug holds no assignments for that mode. Check the other tab to confirm the screen loaded.
The two tabs look identical	The codeplug assigns the same features in both modes, which is common for basic controls.
A control on your radio is not listed	It may be a fixed control rather than a programmable one, or this codeplug does not program it.
A feature name means nothing to you	Cross-check it in Menu Items, which gives plain-language descriptions of the radio's features.
The assignments do not match your radio	Confirm you opened the codeplug that matches the radio in your hand — check the hub header.
Switch positions seem incomplete	Each position is its own row; scroll for the rest of that switch's positions.
"This codeplug isn't available offline."	Open this codeplug once while connected so it downloads, then it reads offline.
An alert with a server message appears	The fetch failed. Check your connection and switch tabs again to retry.

Related Pages

• Menu Items
• Voice Options
• MPL Configuration
• Zone & Channel Details

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