MeshCore-Solo/docs/solo/contacts.md

Contacts

Nearby nodes

Tools › Nodes lists the nodes the device has heard: their type, how long ago, and, when they have a position, distance and bearing. Left / Right filters by type (All, Fav, Companions, Repeaters, Rooms, Sensors); the sort, by distance or by last heard, is in the options. A ★ marks a favourite, a ♦ someone sharing their position live.

Note

Wio Tracker L2: the line over the list holds the count and two choices, which nodes to show and in what order; Scan and the map are in the title bar.

Enter shows a node's details. Hold Enter, in the list or the details, for what you can do with it:

Option	Does
Map	Every node with a position on a map (below)
Navigate	Distance and bearing to the node; follows it if it shares its position live
Ping	Sends a ping and shows the round trip time and SNR
Save waypoint, Set as target	Its position as a waypoint, or as the Locator target
Fav, Pin to dial	Favourite, or a place on the Favourites page
Telem	What this contact may ask for: None, Status, Stat+loc, Stat+sens, All. Shown when a Privacy setting is Allowed
Path / trace	The route to the node: edit it, trace it, save it (below)
Reset path	Forgets the learned route; the next message floods and finds a new one. Shown when there is a route
Share nearby	Sends the contact's last advert to the nodes in direct range, so they can add it
Admin	Remote admin, for a repeater or room (below)
Discover scan	Asks the repeaters, rooms and sensors in direct range to answer, with their signal

Map shows the nodes of the current filter that have a position, with you and the target, fitted to the screen, north up, with a scale. Flow in its options draws what the radio hears: each packet as a line from the node that sent it, through the repeaters it passed, to you, for a minute; a packet you send is a ring around you. Only nodes with a position can be placed, so a line may skip a hop. Nodes are dots (a diamond for a live share); the selected one is boxed, and the line under the map gives its name and distance, with +n when others sit on the same spot. Left / Right selects the next node, Up / Down zooms in on it and back out, Enter opens its details and Hold Enter its options.

On e-ink the map also writes the nodes' names beside their dots (where they don't cover each other) and draws your trail, dotted, and your waypoints. On the 4.2" and 4.26" panels the selected node sits beside the map: its distance and direction, type, when it was last heard, its path and a compass pointing at it. Under it, with Flow on, a legend counts each kind of packet heard in the last minute, and the kinds are told apart by their lines: adverts solid, direct messages long dashes, channels short dashes, the rest dash and dot.

Note

Wio Tracker L2: Packet flow is in the map's options (On the map). Every packet heard shows. One that can be placed runs along its line as a dot and fades. One that can't (its sender or repeaters have no position) is a ring around you. Colours by kind: adverts blue, direct messages green, channels amber, requests violet, acks and paths teal, the rest pink, your own white. The pill at the top counts each kind over the last minute. A tap on it opens Recent packets: the last 10 that made a line, with what they were, who sent them, when, and how many hops they took. A tap on one plays it again on the map, every way it came, and moves the map to show it. Play all plays them one after another. The list is kept until a restart.

Note

Wio Tracker L2: the Nodes app. Filter chips at the top, the sort in the header, and a map button that shows every node with a position. A node's card has buttons for the same actions, plus Add for a node that isn't a contact yet and Delete. The telemetry permissions are three switches under Can ask for.

Path and trace

Path / trace in a contact's options shows the repeaters its messages go through, in order, and the node at the end. + Add repeater picks one from the Nodes list, Enter on a hop moves or removes it, and Left / Right moves it up or down.

Trace sends a trace along the route and back the same way. Each node answers with how well it heard the one before it, so every hop shows two numbers in dB: the way out and the way back. Only a node that repeats can answer: repeaters do, companions only with repeat on. To node off traces just the repeaters, which still tells you whether the way to the node is good.

With no reply, Find break traces to the first repeater, then the second, and so on, and shows where it stops. If every repeater answers, the node itself didn't.

Discover finds the route for you. It asks the node by flood, and the reply says which repeaters the flood went through to reach it, and which the reply took back. These come from the mesh itself, not from anyone's position on the map. On the Discover row, Left / Right sets 1, 3 or 5 tries and Enter starts it (or stops it). Each try waits for its reply or its timeout, then 20 seconds more, so the floods don't come all at once. Each route found is listed under it with how many times it came; Enter on one puts it in the list, ready to Trace and save. A repeater you don't have as a contact shows as its hash (?8D). Nothing is saved until you save it.

Only a node that answers requests can be asked: a companion whose Settings › Privacy › Ask status lets you (Everyone, or Allowed with Telem given to you), or a repeater or room you're logged in to (a guest login is enough). Your own Ask status decides the same for others finding a route to you. Not to be confused with Discover scan in the node options, which looks for nodes in direct range.

Save path makes the list the contact's route; saved empty, messages go straight to the node. The route a node sends back usually replaces it again; Keep path stops that, and keeps the route after failed sends too. Reset path forgets it, keep included.

Note

Wio Tracker L2: Route in a node's card. Each repeater and the node take one line, with the link's out / back dB on the right: green when good, amber when fair, red when weak. Tap a repeater to move or remove it, tap the node to trace to it or stop at the last repeater. Keep is in the header, Find where appears next to a "No reply". The repeaters can also be tapped on the map, in order (Map); Undo takes the last one out. Discover is under the route, in Find the route, with the number of tries beside it and where it is (the try waiting for its reply, or the seconds to the next one). Tap a route found to use it; the way back is under it.

Your own contact

Status › System, Enter shows your contact as a QR code: the phone app's scanner adds you from it, with your name and key. On the Wio Tracker L2 it is in Settings › About.

Favourites

The Favourites home page holds six slots for the conversations you open most: a contact, a room or a channel, each with its unread count. Enter on an empty slot picks one from Messages; hold Enter on a filled slot to replace or remove it. Pin to dial in any contact, channel or node menu does the same.

A pinned slot is not the same as a favourite. Fav is the star shared with the phone app: it sorts contacts to the top and drives the "favourites only" filters in Settings › Contacts.

Note

Wio Tracker L2: the first home page. Tap a slot to open it, hold it to change it.

Cleaning up

Settings › Contacts › Expire (7, 30 or 90 days) sets when a contact you haven't heard from counts as inactive, and Prune now removes those after showing how many it will delete. Favourites are always kept, and nothing is removed without Prune now.

Remote admin

Tools › Admin manages a repeater or room server you are an admin on, the same way the phone app does. Pick the node, type its admin password (saved for next time), then choose a field:

• System: name, owner info, admin password.
• Radio: frequency, bandwidth, spreading factor, coding rate, TX power.
• Routing: repeat on/off, advert intervals, max hops.
• Actions: send an advert, sync its clock, reboot, start OTA, or any CLI command.

Name and owner info are read from the node first, so you edit the current value. Reboot and OTA ask before sending.

Warning

Admin commands change the remote node. Check the node and the value before sending.