deadkey high

Mine go from green to red its just the radio letting you know its keyed up but and some depending on the radio if the red starts blinking it means your SWRs are too high.

 

Red your SWR is to high

 

Red means your doing all the radio can do (forward swing)

 

On the cobra 29LTD classic that means your keyed up, green recieve, red transmit, there is another led below that one marked ANT if that one comes on while your transmiting it means you have an antena or coax problem like high swr and need to get it fixed.

 

What he ^ said.

 

Unless you are talking the antenna light, this is absolutely not true. Green is receive and red is transmit and completely normal.

 

And how the meter responds (as well as the Antenna Warning Light) are adjustable by a technician using calibrated gear so that the indications mean something valid. Some meters "swing" with modulation, some do not, partially dependent upon *how* the transmitter is metered, and partially on how hot the modulation is set.
Same as receiver S-meter readings; most are only relative. Even if the S9 value is calibrated to the book, different radios may see different readings for the same received signal at the same location.
LED should be green on RX, red on TX. Meter position on deadkey is settable by a tech, and as long as it sounds good, don't worry about whether it moves or not when you talk.