Configuration

The device’s configuration is managed through a web interface. You can access it in two ways:

• Access Point (AP) Mode: When the device cannot connect to a saved WiFi network (or after a factory reset), it creates its own WiFi Access Point (AP). The SSID is your callsign (or N0CALL-9 by default). Connect to this network and open http://192.168.4.1 in your web browser.
• Station (STA) Mode: When the device is connected to your local WiFi network, its IP address will be displayed on the screen. Enter this IP address into your web browser to access the configuration page.
• By hostname (mDNS): When connected to your WiFi network, the device also registers itself via mDNS, so you can reach it at http://<callsign>.local (the callsign in lowercase, e.g. http://sq2cpa-9.local) without looking up the IP address. This requires an mDNS/Bonjour-capable client — it works out of the box on most modern systems, though some Android devices do not support it.

Navigation Bar

At the top of the page, you’ll find the main navigation menu:

• Configuration: The main page with all the settings described below.
• Received Packets: A table showing the most recent LoRa packets received by the device.
• Update: Page for updating the device’s firmware.
• Backup:
  • Create Backup: Downloads a file with all your current settings.
  • Restore Config: Allows you to upload a previously saved backup file to restore your settings.
• Device Reboot: A link to safely restart the device.

Configuration Sections

The settings are grouped into logical sections. After making changes, remember to click the “Save Configuration” button at the bottom of the page.

Station Configuration

This section contains the basic identification settings for your station on the APRS network.

• Callsign: Your amateur radio callsign, including the SSID (e.g., SQ2CPA-9). This is a required field.
• Symbol Overlay: A single character that acts as an overlay on your symbol on APRS maps.
• Symbol Table: The character that defines your station’s symbol on APRS maps (e.g., > for a car).
• Beacon Comment: The text that will be sent with your position beacon.
• Beacon Path: The APRS path for your beacon (e.g., WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1).

WiFi Settings

Here you can configure how the device connects to WiFi and how its own Access Point behaves.

• Connect to WiFi Network:
  • SSID: The name of the WiFi network you want the device to connect to.
  • Password: The password for that WiFi network.
  • Connection Timeout: How many seconds the device should try to connect before giving up.
  • Reconnect interval: How many minutes the device should wait before trying to reconnect if the connection is lost.
• Access Point Settings:
  • Auto AP Password: The password for the device’s own WiFi Access Point.
  • Disable Auto AP after (minutes): The time in minutes after which the device’s Access Point will automatically turn off to save power. 0 means it will stay on indefinitely.

LoRa RF Settings

Configure the radio parameters for LoRa communication. This section allows selecting preset transmission frequencies or defining custom parameters for the transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX).

• Geofence (Auto Frequency):
  • Enable Geofence: When enabled, the device will automatically set the TX/RX frequency and speed based on your current GPS location. This is useful for mobile stations that travel across different regions with different frequency allocations.
  • Current Geofence Frequency: Displays the frequency currently selected by the geofence system based on your GPS position.
  • ⚠️ Important: When Geofence is enabled, all manual frequency settings below (both preset and custom) will be ignored.
  • ➡️ You can read more about Geofence: Geofence
• TX Frequency Selection: Select one or more preset checkboxes to transmit beacons on specific frequencies with predefined speeds.
  • 434.855 MHz (1200bps)
  • 433.775 MHz (300bps)
  • 439.9125 MHz (300bps)
  • Custom (below): Check this to manually set the transmitter parameters in the fields below.
• Transmitter (TX) - Custom Settings:
  • Custom Frequency (MHz): Manually define the frequency for sending LoRa packets if the “Custom” option is selected.
  • Custom Speed: A dropdown list to select the LoRa speed. The presets are BW 125kHz CR 4:5 SF 12 (300bps) and BW 125kHz CR 4:7 SF 9 (1200bps). Selecting Custom reveals additional fields to define the modulation parameters manually:
    • Custom SF: Spreading Factor (SF5 to SF12).
    • Custom CR: Coding Rate (4:5, 4:6, 4:7, 4:8).
    • Custom BW: Bandwidth (62.5 kHz, 125 kHz, 250 kHz, 500 kHz).
  • Power (dBm): The transmission power of the radio module.
  • Preamble Length: The length of the preamble in symbols. Minimum value is 6.
• Receiver (RX):
  • Frequency (MHz): The frequency for listening for LoRa packets.
  • Speed: The LoRa speed setting for reception, which must match the transmitter settings of the stations you want to hear. Like the TX speed, selecting Custom reveals Custom SF, Custom CR, and Custom BW fields to set the reception parameters manually.

Beacon Settings

Control how your position beacons are transmitted.

• Beacon Interval (seconds): How often the device sends its position beacon.
• Smart beacon: Enables an algorithm that adjusts the beacon rate based on speed and direction changes. This is useful for mobile stations to report their position more frequently when turning or changing speed, and less frequently when stationary or moving in a straight line. Options are Disabled, Car, Bike, Runner, or Custom.
  • Selecting Custom reveals additional fields so you can define your own Smart Beacon profile. Speed thresholds are entered in km/h and converted internally to knots before being stored:
    • Slow Rate (seconds): The slowest beacon interval, used when moving slowly or stationary.
    • Slow Speed Threshold (km/h): Below this speed the slow rate is used.
    • Fast Rate (seconds): The fastest beacon interval, used at or above the fast speed threshold.
    • Fast Speed Threshold (km/h): At or above this speed the fast rate is used.
    • Min TX Distance (m): The minimum distance to travel before sending another beacon.
    • Min Turn Beacon Delay (seconds): The minimum time between two turn-triggered beacons.
    • Turn Min Angle (deg): The minimum change of heading required to trigger a turn beacon.
    • Turn Slope: A factor that adjusts turn sensitivity based on speed.
• Send Extra Info: Allows you to include additional data in your position beacon. Options are None, Course + Speed, or Altitude.

• Send Beacon: A button to manually trigger a single beacon transmission immediately.

  • ➡️ You can read more about Smart Beacon vs Beacon Interval: Understanding Smart Beacon

Digipeater Settings

This section allows you to configure the device to act as a simple digital repeater (digipeater).

This feature is designed for personal range extension and is not meant to build a public, wide-area APRS digipeater. For this reason, the options are simplified and do not include standard network paths like WIDE1-1 or WIDE2-2.

• Mode:
  • Disabled: The digipeater function is turned off.
  • Repeat only if own call is addressed: The device will only re-transmit APRS packets that are specifically addressed to its callsign. This is useful when you want to use a second device (e.g., in a car or backpack) as a personal “relay” to extend the range of your primary tracker.

Why are there no WIDE1, WIDE2 Digi modes?

Modes like WIDE1, WIDE2 are used by dedicated, stationary digipeaters to repeat packets for all nearby users in a wide area.

The digipeater function in this tracker is personal and targeted. Its purpose is to relay packets from your own specific device to help it reach another station when direct range is insufficient. This approach prevents a mobile tracker from creating unnecessary network congestion by repeating all local traffic.

Telemetry Settings

• Enable Telemetry: Check this box to enable the transmission of telemetry data.

  • ➡️ You can read more about Telemetry: How Telemetry works

Voltage Monitoring

This section allows you to monitor and report the voltage of the internal battery and/or an external power source.

• Send Internal/External Voltage: Check these boxes to include voltage readings in your beacons.
• Send Voltages As Telemetry: If checked, voltage data will be sent as APRS telemetry packets (requires Telemetry to be enabled).
• External Voltage Pin: The GPIO pin number where the external voltage source is connected.
• Voltage Divider R1 / R2 (Ω): The resistance values of your external voltage divider circuit.
• Internal/External Voltage Calibration: These fields allow you to calibrate the voltage readings by mapping raw ADC input values (Raw Input) to actual measured voltage values (Mapped Output). This helps correct for inaccuracies in the ADC or voltage divider components.

Power Configuration

Manage the device’s power-saving features, especially for battery-powered operation.

• Cut-off Voltage (V): The battery voltage at which the device will power down to protect the battery. This is mainly for boards with an AXP power management chip (like the T-beam).
• Max charging voltage / Max charging current: These charging limits are available only on boards with an AXP power management IC. The available options depend on the detected AXP version.

• Enable sleep on low voltage: For boards without an AXP chip, checking this will put the device into a deep sleep mode at the cut-off voltage instead of shutting it down completely.

  • ➡️ You can read more about how this works: Battery Sleep Management

Bluetooth Settings

• Enable Bluetooth: Activates the Bluetooth module to provide a TNC interface over Bluetooth (either Classic or BLE, depending on the hardware). The Bluetooth device name will be your callsign.

• Bluetooth mode: Selects the TNC protocol used over Bluetooth, either KISS or TNC2. The same mode is used for both Bluetooth Classic and BLE, while the available transport is selected automatically based on hardware support.

  • ➡️ You can read more about Bluetooth: Bluetooth

TNC Settings

Configure the device to act as a Terminal Node Controller (TNC).

• Enable TNC Server: Enables a TNC server over TCP/IP (WiFi).
• TNC Server mode: The protocol used by the TNC server, either KISS or TNC2.
• Enable Serial TNC: Enables a TNC over the device’s serial (USB) port.
• Serial TNC mode: The protocol used by the serial TNC, either KISS or TNC2.

• Accept Own Frames: If checked, the TNC will also process packets sent by the device itself.

  • KISS = AX.25 strict, so addresses longer than 6 characters and SSID outside 0-15 are rejected. TNC2 = raw APRS text frame terminated with \n.

Web Settings

• Web Password: Set a password to protect access to this web configuration interface. Leave it blank for no password.

Display Settings

This new section allows you to manage the settings for the device’s built-in display.

• Enable display: Check this box to activate the display.
• Display timeout: Specify the time in seconds after which the display will automatically turn off to save power. A value of 0 disables this feature, keeping the display on permanently.
• Display OLED type: Select the OLED panel type, either SSD1306 (0.96") or SH1106 (1.3"). This applies to OLED displays only (not TFT).
• Rotate display 180°: Flips the display orientation upside down.
• Remember last screen after reboot: When checked, the device restores the screen that was active before the last reboot.
• Display brightness: A slider to adjust brightness. This applies to TFT displays only.

Advanced Settings

• CPU frequency: Select the operating frequency for the device’s processor. Options include 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 240 MHz.
• PTT GPIO for external PA: The GPIO pin used to key an external power amplifier (PA). Leave empty or set to -1 to disable. When enabled, the pin is driven HIGH 100 ms before TX and returns LOW 100 ms after TX.
• Admins callsigns (station operators): A comma-separated list of callsigns that have administrative privileges (e.g., for remote commands).
• Ignored callsigns (blacklist): A comma-separated list of callsigns from which packets should be ignored.
• Don’t send blacklisted packets via TNC: If checked, packets from blacklisted callsigns will not be forwarded to the TNC interfaces.
• Don’t send initial telemetry frames: If checked, the device will skip sending the initial telemetry setup frames (PARM, UNIT, EQNS) upon startup.
• GPS baudrate: Allows you to override the default serial communication speed for an external GPS module. Select “Use board default” for most built-in modules.
• GPS protocol: The protocol used to communicate with the GPS module, either NMEA or UBX (u-blox binary protocol).

System Status

This section provides a live overview of the device’s operational parameters.

• CPU Speed: Current operating frequency of the processor.
• RAM usage: How much RAM is currently in use.
• Temperature: The internal temperature of the main chip.
• WiFi Strength: The signal strength of the connection to your WiFi network.

Last Received Packets

This table displays the most recent LoRa packets heard by the device. Its columns are Time, Packet, RSSI, SNR, and Freq Error (the measured frequency error of the received signal).

• The Time column shows Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) if available, or the time since the device was last started (uptime) otherwise.
• Packets may be prefixed with indicators:
  • CRC>: Indicates a packet received with a CRC error.
  • INVALID>: Indicates an invalid frame that is not supported (e.g., does not meet AX.25 protocol requirements).