docs: add MANUAL.md user guide (OpenGD77 vs FreeTRX features tagged)
New user-facing feature & usage guide covering inherited OpenGD77 features and FreeTRX additions, each marked [FreeTRX] or [OpenGD77]. Documents the spectrum scope (VFO sweep, hold #), channel add/delete, mute, screen dimming, the S-meter and 7-seg font, plus a button reference. Linked from the README. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Marcus Kida
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@ -7,7 +7,10 @@ single running list until the first versioned release.
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## Unreleased
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_Nothing yet._
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- **`MANUAL.md`** — a user-facing feature & usage guide covering both inherited
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OpenGD77 features and FreeTRX additions, each tagged 🟢 [FreeTRX] or ⚪
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[OpenGD77]. Includes the spectrum scope (VFO sweep, hold `#`), channel add/delete,
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mute, dimming, and a button reference.
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## 0.4.0
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MANUAL.md
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MANUAL.md
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@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
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# FreeTRX — User Manual
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Feature and usage guide for **FreeTRX** (a fork of [OpenGD77](https://opengd77.org))
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on the **TYT MD-UV380 / Retevis RT-3S** and **Baofeng DM-1701 / Retevis RT-84**.
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## How to read this manual
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Each feature is tagged so you can tell what is unique to FreeTRX and what is
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inherited from upstream OpenGD77:
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- 🟢 **[FreeTRX]** — new or noticeably changed in FreeTRX.
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- ⚪ **[OpenGD77]** — inherited from upstream OpenGD77, documented here for
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convenience. For exhaustive coverage of upstream behaviour, see the official
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OpenGD77 user guide.
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> Most day-to-day operation (VFO/Channel, FM, DMR, scanning, hotspot, CPS sync) is
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> standard OpenGD77. This manual focuses on **how to reach each feature** and marks
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> clearly what FreeTRX adds or changes.
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---
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## Buttons at a glance
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The MD-UV380 / RT-3S has **PTT**, **SK1** (upper side key), **SK2** (lower side
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key), the **top / orange** button, and a keypad with **green** (✓ / menu), **red**
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(✗ / back), arrows, `0`–`9`, `*` and `#`.
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| Control | Action |
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| --- | --- |
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| **Green** | Menu / confirm |
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| **Red** | Back / exit |
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| **Top / orange** button | Open the **quick menu** (VFO or Channel) — ⚪ [OpenGD77] |
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| **SK1** (hold) | Show frequency / secondary info |
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| **SK2** (hold) | Modifier for other keys |
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| **SK2** (short tap) | **Toggle mute** on VFO/Channel — 🟢 [FreeTRX] |
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| **SK2** (extra-long) | Monitor / open squelch — ⚪ [OpenGD77] |
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| **SK1 + SK2** | Reverse repeater — ⚪ [OpenGD77] |
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| **`#`** (hold, VFO) | Toggle the **spectrum scope** — ⚪ [OpenGD77] |
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| **SK2 + green** (Channel) | Open **Channel Details** editor — ⚪ [OpenGD77] |
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---
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## Display & UI
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### Segmented S-meter — 🟢 [FreeTRX]
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The signal meter under the top status bar is drawn as discrete blocks: **9 green**
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blocks for S1–S9 (4 dB each) and **6 red** blocks for S9+10…+60 (10 dB each), with
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a scale-label row beneath (`S1 S3 S5 S7 S9 / +20 +40 +60`). The leading block fills
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proportionally.
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### 7-segment "LED" frequency font — 🟢 [FreeTRX]
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On the VFO and the SK1-held frequency view, the frequency is rendered in a
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7-segment "LED" style (lit segments only). "MHz" matches the frequency colour
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(green on RX, red on TX).
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### Screen dimming — 🟢 [FreeTRX]
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Optionally dims the backlight after inactivity to **100 / 50 / 30 / 15 %** of the
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configured brightness (only in **Auto** backlight mode). Any activity restores full
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brightness. Set it in **Menu → Options → Display Options → Screen Dim**.
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### Main-menu icons — 🟢 [FreeTRX]
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Each top-level menu entry has a small icon next to it.
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### Mute indicator — 🟢 [FreeTRX]
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While muted, a bold **"M"** appears in the status bar (just left of the battery)
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and the **red LED flashes** (0.5 s every 2 s). See *Mute* below.
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---
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## Audio
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### One-tap mute — 🟢 [FreeTRX]
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- A **short tap of SK2** on the VFO/Channel screen toggles the speaker mute on/off.
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(Exception: while a DMR QSO is on screen, SK2 keeps its "set TX talkgroup to the
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incoming one" role.)
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- Turning the **volume knob fully down** also counts as muted.
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- Mute is shown by the **"M"** indicator and the flashing red LED (above).
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- Mute is also available in the Channel/VFO **quick menu**.
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---
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## Operating
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### VFO & Channel modes — ⚪ [OpenGD77]
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Switch between direct-frequency **VFO** mode and stored **Channel** mode with the
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mode toggle. Most operating happens here.
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### Spectrum scope (VFO sweep) — ⚪ [OpenGD77]
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A real-time signal-strength-vs-frequency graph centred on the VFO frequency.
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- **Enter/exit:** in **VFO mode**, **hold `#`** (long press). Hold `#` again to leave.
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- **Left / Right:** move the centre frequency across the band.
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- **Up / Down:** change the sweep **span / step** (zoom in / out).
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- **SK2 + Up/Down:** adjust **gain**; **SK2 + Left/Right:** adjust the
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**noise-floor** reference (how the trace fills the screen).
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- The gain / noise-floor / step settings are remembered.
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- The scope is **VFO-only** (not available in Channel mode).
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### Scanning — ⚪ [OpenGD77]
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Channel and VFO scanning with hold/pause behaviour, per the upstream OpenGD77
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controls.
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### Quick menu — ⚪ [OpenGD77] (with 🟢 [FreeTRX] additions)
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Press the **top / orange** button to open the quick menu for the current screen
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(VFO or Channel). It holds filters (FM/DMR), Talkaround, Roaming, Mute, VFO↔Channel
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copy, and — on the Channel screen — the FreeTRX **new channel** / **Delete Channel**
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items (see below).
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---
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## Channels & zones
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### Channel Details editor — ⚪ [OpenGD77]
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Edit an existing channel's parameters (name, frequencies, tones, power, bandwidth,
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timeslot, colour code, groups, …). From the Channel screen, press **SK2 + green**.
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Press **green** to save.
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### Create & delete channels on the radio — 🟢 [FreeTRX]
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No PC/CPS required. Open the **Channel quick menu** (top/orange button) and scroll
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to the bottom:
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- **New channel** — creates a blank **145.500 MHz FM** channel in the first free
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slot, adds it to the current zone, and opens **Channel Details** to edit it. The
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new channel is immediately selectable in the zone.
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- **Delete Channel** — deletes the selected channel after a confirmation (**green**
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confirms, **red** cancels). It is also removed from every zone that referenced it.
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The last remaining channel can't be deleted, and read-only/APRS channels are
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protected.
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> **Back up your codeplug** (via the CPS) before bulk edits — changes are written
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> straight to the radio and there is no on-device undo.
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### Zones — ⚪ [OpenGD77]
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Select zones from **Menu → Zone**. The virtual **All Channels** zone lists every
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channel. (On-radio *zone* editing is planned for a future FreeTRX release.)
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---
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## DMR
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### DMR operation — ⚪ [OpenGD77]
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Talkgroups/contacts, timeslots, colour codes, RX groups, and hotspot mode, all per
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upstream OpenGD77. The AMBE voice codec is merged in at flash time (see
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[`TOOLS.md`](TOOLS.md)).
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### DMR reliability fix — 🟢 [FreeTRX]
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FreeTRX resolves a hard-fault (freeze needing a battery pull) on the DMR path that
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affected recent self-built OpenGD77 revisions — the codec is called through C
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function pointers instead of inline assembler that modern GCC miscompiled.
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---
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## About & versioning — 🟢 [FreeTRX]
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**Menu → Firmware info** shows the **FreeTRX version** (semantic versioning, e.g.
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`FreeTRX v0.4.0`) alongside the git commit ID. Pre-1.0 builds are published as
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pre-releases. See [`CHANGELOG.md`](CHANGELOG.md) for the full history.
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---
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*Building, flashing and tools are covered in [`TOOLS.md`](TOOLS.md); the project
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overview is in [`README.md`](README.md).*
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@ -7,7 +7,11 @@ RT-84**.
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It adds a number of UI and quality-of-life changes on top of OpenGD77 (segmented
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S-meter, 7-segment frequency font, screen dimming, an audio-mute function, menu
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icons, and more). See [`CHANGELOG.md`](CHANGELOG.md) for the full list.
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icons, on-radio channel editing, and more).
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📖 **[`MANUAL.md`](MANUAL.md)** is the full feature & usage guide — every feature is
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tagged 🟢 **[FreeTRX]** (new/changed here) or ⚪ **[OpenGD77]** (inherited). See
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[`CHANGELOG.md`](CHANGELOG.md) for the version history.
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## Screenshots
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