Do you hear the friendly ships when they are out of visual range? I'm not certain about this, but I vaguely remember there being an issue with not hearing ships on sonar while they were in visual range. I think it may have had something to do with certain sensors (radar, sonar, sight) taking precedence over the other and it also may have been a hard-coded issue. Hopefully, someone will come along and clarify this for you.
Sorry, I cannot help with the key-binding. Still, welcome abroad.
