The center meter and filter-width display, just under the signal meter, is covered on another page.
The busy-status indicators are to the right of the tuning buttons. They indicate whether a signal is present on the tuned frequency, and the state of the IC–PCR1000’s tone and voice squelch detectors.
The top, red indicator is visible whenever a signal is present on the tuned frequency that is sufficient to open the noise or signal-strength squelch.
The middle, blue indicator is visible either when the signal on the tuned frequency carries a CTCSS tone matching the one that has been set for tone squelch, or when no tone squelch has been set at all. In other words, the tone indicator lights up whenever a signal is present, and the tone squelch doesn’t prevent its being heard.
The bottom, green indicator is visible either when the Voice Scanning Control has detected a voice on the selected channel, and has opened squelch; or when Voice Scanning control is not set. In other words, the VSC indicator lights up whenever the VSC doesn’t prevent a signal from being heard.
MacR–1000 shows a signal-strength meter (“S-meter”) immediately below the tuning buttons and the busy-status indicators. This tracks the intensity of the received signal as reported by the PCR1000. Signals below the reference voltage of S-9 are displayed in “S units;” signals stronger than S-9 are shown in dB above S-9. The use of red for signals stronger than S-9 is traditional, and does not represent any error or dangerous condition.
When signal squelch has been selected, the threshold level of the signal squelch is indicated by a green triangle below the signal-strength bar. The IC–PCR1000 reports a steady signal strength of the signal-squelch threshold value when signal squelch is active and no stronger signal is present.
The buttons to the left of the signal-strength meter select the mode in which the meter displays its information. The upper button selects the traditional S-meter display. The lower button displays signal strength as a bar graph over time, with the most recent signal strength shown at the right. The bar graph advances at a rate of two columns every second. This display is not as finely calibrated as the S-meter, but does display values above S-9 in red. No indicator of signal squelch is shown in this mode.
Bar-graph mode is useful if you are tuning an antenna system, or for assessing propagation effects on short wave (HF).