diff --git a/app.go b/app.go
index 00c7b7a..3128b6e 100644
--- a/app.go
+++ b/app.go
@@ -7737,8 +7737,13 @@ func (a *App) QSOAudioPlayOnAir() error {
 		// The recorder needs an INPUT from the radio; playing back needs an
 		// OUTPUT into it, which is a different device and may well be unset on a
 		// station that only ever recorded.
-		applog.Printf("qso-rec: play refused — no output device to the radio configured (Settings → Audio)")
-		return fmt.Errorf("no audio output to the radio is configured — set it in Settings → Audio")
+		// Name the FIELD, not the concept. An operator who had just emptied
+		// "Recording mic" read this as "you cannot play back unless you also
+		// record yourself" — a restriction that does not exist. The mic is an
+		// input; this is about the output that feeds the transmitter.
+		applog.Printf("qso-rec: play refused — Settings → Audio → \"To Radio (TX out)\" is empty (from_radio=%q, mic=%q)",
+			cfgEarly.FromRadio, cfgEarly.RecordingDevice)
+		return fmt.Errorf("Settings → Audio → \"To Radio (TX out)\" is empty — that is the output that feeds the transmitter (the recording mic has nothing to do with playing back)")
 	}
 	// A plain WAV in the data dir, overwritten each time: the player takes a
 	// path, and MP3 encoding would add seconds to something the operator is