Display

Almost every tracker is equipped with a display that provides real-time information about the device’s status, GPS data, battery level, and network activity. The display automatically updates and can be configured to turn off after a specified period of inactivity to save power.

Supported Display Types

The tracker supports two types of displays, depending on the hardware:

The display type is automatically detected during initialization. For OLED displays, you must manually configure which driver to use in the settings.

⚠️ Warning: If you select the wrong display driver (e.g., SSD1306 when you physically have an SH1106), you may experience display artifacts such as shifted content, white lines, or other visual glitches. Make sure to select the correct driver that matches your hardware.

Display Layout

ℹ️ Note: Starting from firmware version 1.0.5, the Persistent Screen setting has been removed and replaced with a new screen switching system.

The display has two main modes of operation:

  1. Screens - Multiple information screens that you can cycle through by pressing the USER button once
  2. Temporary Messages - Brief messages that appear during specific events and then disappear

Every screen has a header bar at the top that shows:

ℹ️ Note: The order of screens may vary and can be dynamic depending on device state and configuration.

If you are not sure which button is the USER button on your device, see the Button Functions page.

MAIN

Main Screen

The main screen displays:

RECEIVED

Received Screen

A list of received frames (not only beacons - can include messages, etc.) along with the distance from your position.

⚠️ Important: The number displayed next to each callsign represents the DISTANCE (in km or meters) - not time in minutes!

If distance is missing, it may be because the received frame (e.g., a message) does not contain position data. If you are certain that you received a beacon (position packet) and the distance is still missing, please contact us - this may indicate a bug that we would like to investigate.

POSITION

Position Screen

GPS data including:

INFO

Info Screen

Firmware information:

NETWORK

Network Screen

WiFi network information:

LAST RX

Last RX Screen

Information about the last received frame (not station, so distance may be missing if it was a message, etc.):

⚠️ Important: The distance value represents the DISTANCE (in km or meters) - not time in minutes!

If distance is missing, it may be because the received frame (e.g., a message) does not contain position data. If you are certain that you received a beacon (position packet) and the distance is still missing, please contact us - this may indicate a bug that we would like to investigate.

POWER

Power Screen

Power information for your device:

ℹ️ Note: On devices with PMU (e.g., T-Beam), the external voltage shows the USB input voltage.

Temporary Messages

Temporary Message

Example of a temporary message showing OTA update progress.

During operation, the display will briefly show temporary messages for various events. These messages appear for a short time and then the screen returns to the current view.

These temporary messages do not introduce any additional delay to the firmware’s operation. Some messages may appear very briefly - sometimes just a flash - and this is intentional. The display must never slow down packet processing. Diagnostic and important messages are displayed longer to ensure you have time to notice them, while routine informational messages are shown only as long as the operation naturally takes.

Informational Messages

These messages inform you about normal operational events:

  1. Status TX
    • Displayed after 10 seconds from boot when the tracker sends its status packet.
  2. Beacon TX
    • Displayed when your tracker beacon is being transmitted over RF.
  3. BLE TX
    • A frame received from a TNC BLE device is being transmitted over RF.
  4. BT TX
    • A frame received from a TNC Bluetooth Classic device is being transmitted over RF.
  5. Digi TX
    • Displayed when the tracker is digipeating (repeating) a received packet.
  6. WiFi already active / WiFi AP turned on
    • Displayed when toggling WiFi from the menu.
  7. Bluetooth not available / Bluetooth disabled / Bluetooth enabled
    • Displayed when toggling Bluetooth from the menu.
  8. Turned off
    • Displayed when the tracker is being turned off from the menu.
  9. TX Initial Telemetry 1/3 … TX Initial Telemetry 3/3
    • Displayed when the tracker is sending its initial telemetry configuration packets after boot.
  10. OTA Update Local
    • Displayed during a local firmware update (uploading a .bin file via the web interface).
  11. OTA Update --% Remote
    • Shown during a remote firmware update, including the download progress percentage.
  12. Configuration Saved
    • Shown when configuration changes have been saved.
  13. Rebooting
    • Displayed just before the device restarts.

Diagnostic Messages

These messages indicate problems that may require your attention:

  1. Low battery sleeping! + voltage
    • Displayed when low voltage protection is enabled and the battery voltage has dropped below the threshold.
    • The current voltage is shown alongside this message.
    • The device will enter deep sleep to protect the battery.
  2. LoRa init failed! (1 not found
    • The LoRa radio module was not detected.
    • Check your hardware connections and ensure the LoRa module is properly seated.
  3. LoRa init failed! (1 invalid freq
    • The configured frequency is invalid or outside the supported range.
    • Review your LoRa frequency settings in the configuration.
  4. LoRa init failed! (2 invalid power
    • The configured transmission power is invalid.
    • Review your LoRa power settings in the configuration.
  5. GPS failed no data!
    • Displayed when the GPS is not sending data. This can happen due to incorrect baud rate settings, bad connection, or hardware failure.
    • On T-Beam devices, an additional reseting message may appear indicating an automatic repair attempt.
  6. GPS failed please reboot
    • The automatic GPS repair attempt has completed. A reboot is recommended.
  7. BT classic init failed!
    • Bluetooth Classic initialization failed.
    • Check your Bluetooth configuration.
  8. AXP192 failed
    • PMU (Power Management Unit) initialization failed.
    • You may have flashed the wrong firmware version for your T-Beam (e.g., using AXP192 firmware on AXP2101 hardware).
  9. AXP2101 failed
    • PMU (Power Management Unit) initialization failed.
    • You may have flashed the wrong firmware version for your T-Beam (e.g., using AXP2101 firmware on AXP192 hardware).

Setup Screen

Setup Screen

After flashing the firmware for the first time (clean install), the tracker displays a setup screen with the following information:

Connect to the displayed WiFi network and open the IP address in your browser to configure your tracker.

Startup Animation

When the tracker boots up for the first time (not during a fast restart - like after settings save), it displays a welcome animation:

First Screen:

Welcome Screen 1

Second Screen:

Welcome Screen 2

After the animation, the display switches to the main information screen.

Display Timeout Feature

The tracker supports an automatic display timeout to conserve power, especially useful for battery-powered operation:

This feature is particularly useful for devices using TFT displays, as the backlight consumes significant power.

When you enter the menu (double-press the button), the display changes to show the menu interface:

For detailed information about menu navigation, see the Menu page.

For information about button functions and interactions with the display, see the Button Functions page.