Hotkeys for the different radio channels are /, Shift+/, Ctrl+/ and Alt+/. You can then enter the channel in each of these (for instance 1 (open, Grey), 2 in second (friendlies, green), 3 in third (local friendlies, Purple) and 4 (squad, red)
If you hit the key by mistake and want it to disappear press enter when no text is typed.
To enlarge the text buffer you can use the key above Tab (~ I think on english keyboard)
As far as I know the Tab is used for padlock, and not changing channels.