WSJT-X/doc/user_guide/en/controls-functions-messages.adoc

// Status=review

Two arrangements of controls are provided for generating and selecting
Tx messages.  Controls familiar to users of program _WSJT_
appear on *Tab 1*, providing six fields for message entry.
Pre-formatted messages for the standard minimal QSO are generated when
you click *Generate Std Msgs* or double-click on an appropriate line
in one of the decoded text windows.

//.Traditional Message Menu
image::traditional-msg-box.png[align="center",alt="Traditional Message Menu"]

* Select the next message to be transmitted (at the start of your next
Tx sequence) by clicking on the circle under *Next*.

* To change to a specified Tx message immediately during a
transmission, click on a rectangular button under the *Now* label.
Changing a Tx message in mid-stream will slightly reduce the chance of
a correct decode, but it is usually OK if done in the first 10-20% of
a transmission.

* All six Tx message fields are editable.  You can modify an
automatically generated message or enter a desired message, keeping in
mind the limits on message content.  See <<PROTOCOLS,Protocol
Specifications>> for details.

* Click on the pull-down arrow for message #5 to select one of the
pre-stored messages entered on the *Settings | Tx Macros* tab.
Pressing *Enter* on a modified message #5 automatically adds that
message to the stored macros.

* In some circumstances it may be desirable to make your QSOs as
shiort as possible.  To configure the program to start contacts with
message #2, disable message #1 by double-clicking on its round
radio-button or rectangular *Tx 1* button.  Similarly, to send RR73
rather than RRR for message #4, double-click on one of its buttons.

The second arrangement of controls for generating and selecting
Tx messages appears on *Tab 2* of the Message Control Panel:

//.New Message Menu
image::new-msg-box.png[align="center",alt="New Message Menu"]

With this setup you normally follow a top-to-bottom sequence of
transmissions from the left column if you are calling CQ, or the right
column if answering a CQ.  

* Clicking a button puts the appropriate message in the *Gen Msg* box.
If you are already transmitting, the Tx message is changed
immediately.

* You can enter and transmit anything (up to 13 characters, including
spaces) in the *Free Msg* box.

* Click on the pull-down arrow in the *Free Msg* box to select a
pre-stored macro.  Pressing *Enter* on a modified message here
automatically adds that message to the table of stored macros.

TIP: During a transmission the actual message being sent always
appears in the first box of the status bar (bottom left of the main
screen).