OUTPOST CONSOLE — Desktop Configuration and Test Bench

#	Name	Role	Key
Connect to read channels.

Identity and Role

Your operator profile and this radio's identity and role live on this one page. The profile is stored on this PC and shared on the mesh only when you choose. The mesh name, Node Role, and status message are written to the radio with the header Save button.

Profile

Operator Handle

Current (from Mesh)—

Long Name

Short Name (max 4)

Saved to the radio with the header Save button; the mesh learns it on the next NodeInfo broadcast. This is the name other nodes see — set it after a flash wipe.

Node Type

Node Type represents who or what this node is used for. It is what this node IS on everyone's map and node cards — a person, a vehicle, a fixed station. It is NOT the radio's Node Role: that's the radio's mesh job (Scout / Sentinel / Drifter / Rover / Homestead), set under Node Role just below on this page. A handheld riding in a vehicle is still a Scout; a radio that lives in the vehicle is a Rover — or a Sentinel if it relays; "Vehicle" lives here. Basecamp is an Outpost set up as a temporary camp — it stores as an Outpost with Temporary permanence, so the wire format is unchanged. Station means fixed sensing gear — a weather station or sensor platform, out there unattended.

Node Activity

Your Activity says what you — the person — are out doing. Activity is the per-kind descriptor (rooms call theirs the Room Category): a Person's Activity is this list, a Vehicle's Activity is its vehicle type, a Tracker's is its tracker type. This picker belongs to Person profiles only: when your Node Type is a vehicle, a station, or a tracker, it switches off — the kind's own Activity field above carries the descriptor instead, and a person's Activity stays off the wire.

Node Role

Current Node Role—

Node Role

Plain names over stock Meshtastic roles. Node Role is the radio's job. A handheld riding in a vehicle is still a Scout; a radio that lives in the vehicle — mounted and vehicle-powered — is a Rover (or a Sentinel if it relays). Either way, mark it as a vehicle under Node Type in its profile. Picking Rover also sets its position: smart position on, broadcasting every 30 seconds. A radio set up at an Outpost or Basecamp that stays put and serves as the group's home base is a Homestead: it relays for favorite nodes and holds a fixed position. Picking Homestead also plants its position — it captures the position the radio last reported as a fixed position and turns smart position off; the role finishes applying after the radio restarts. Favorites-Only Relay is the same CLIENT_BASE wire role without the planted position. The TAK and deprecated router-client roles are never offered as types.

Connect a radio to edit its node role.

Profile Details

Party Size Currently

Vehicle Make

Vehicle Model

Vehicle Color

Modifications Recovery Gear

Winch Straps Jack Can Give a Tug

Medical Notes— Never Included in a Public Broadcast

Profile Audience

Medical Audience

Audiences decide who gets your profile when they ask for it: Public — anyone who asks. Friends — nodes on your friend list. Room — members of your in-scope rooms. Request only — nobody automatically; you approve each request. Invisible — never shared. Medical has its own picker because it's the sensitive part — and it is never included in a public broadcast, whatever either picker says.

Channel Announce After Saving to Radio

Save locally commits your editing copy on this PC. Save to radio also stores it — the FULL profile, medical included, plus both audience settings — inside your connected radio, which then answers profile requests itself, enforcing your audiences, even with this PC off. Wait for the "radio confirmed" status: the radio echoes your profile's fingerprint back as the receipt. Radios on stock or pre-0.9.1 firmware — which have no profile storage — will report "did not confirm". The copy on this PC remains your editing draft, and it's what stock-firmware radios (like a T1000-E) rely on, since they can't store profiles themselves. Broadcast profile sends the whole profile from the form to everyone in earshot on the channel above — medical is never included in a broadcast, and a broadcast has no acknowledgment. Announce profile sends only your profile's Fingerprint (PROFH): devices holding your profile compare it with theirs and re-request only if it changed. With "Announce after saving to radio" ticked, a confirmed save whose fingerprint changed announces itself once, automatically.

Target Node (8 Hex Characters)

Request profile asks the target node for ITS profile. Whether it answers is decided by that node's audience setting: public answers anyone, friends/room answer if you qualify, request-only means its owner decides, off means silence — and a radio with no profile stored on it stays silent by design. The answer is filed onto that node's card here.

Live Encoding Preview

—

Fingerprint (PROFH)—

Encoded Size—

Privacy: medical is included only when you explicitly allow it here — it is never in public broadcasts. The Android app enforces the same rule.

Status Message

One line the node advertises about itself (a module setting — statusmessage), e.g. where it sits or when it is staffed.

Message Text

Saving is not a one-time broadcast. The message becomes part of your profile and your radio’s node record — your radio re-broadcasts it on its normal cadence, and other Outpost nodes pull your updated profile when it changes, so a saved status keeps circulating for as long as it is set.

Connect a radio to edit its status message.

Friend Requests

No pending friend requests.

Requests arrive over the mesh, addressed to this radio. Accepting adds the node to this console's friend list, replies FRND:ACC, and pushes the set to the radio (FRNDSET) so its FRIENDS audience answers them. Declining replies FRND:DEL.

Friends

This console's friend list, stored on this PC — the same list the Nodes tab edits (right-click a node card → Friend).

Device and Behavior

Node Role — now under Identity and Role.

Rebroadcast Mode Node Info Broadcast Interval (Seconds) Buzzer Mode

Turn Off Heartbeat LED Double-Tap Acts as a Button Press Turn Off Triple-Click GPS Toggle

Connect a radio to edit its device settings.

Channels

Channels on This Radio (Read-Only)

#	Name	Role	Key
Connect to read channels.

#

Name

Role

Key

Connect to read channels.

Channel slots are managed from the Chat + Rooms tab. Key shows PSK length only — never the key itself.

Disable a Secondary Channel

Channel Number (From the Table Above)

Position and GPS

Position Broadcast

Seconds Between Position Broadcasts Smart Position — Broadcast on Significant Movement Only

Low-profile quiets position chatter to ~1×/day. It is obfuscation, not invisibility — anyone in RF range can still hear the radio transmit.

Smart Position and GPS

Smart: Minimum Distance (Meters)

Smart: Minimum Interval (Seconds)

GPS Update Interval (Seconds)

GPS Mode

Fixed Position

Plant this node at exact coordinates — a relay on a ridge, a solar node in the field. While fixed position is on, the node reports the planted coordinates instead of chasing a GPS fix. Setting it applies at once (no reboot) and the node broadcasts its new position; removing it returns the node to live GPS.

Fixed position state has not been read from this radio yet.

Latitude (Decimal Degrees)

Longitude (Decimal Degrees)

Altitude (Meters, Optional)

The header Save button writes the rest of this view's position fields in one read-modify-write — the fixed-position state is preserved by that save untouched; it changes only through the buttons above. Pick on Map plants from the Map tab instead: one click on the map, planted through the same Set path, then back here.

Connect a radio to edit its position settings.

GPS Sensitivity — Location Privacy

How precisely this radio shares its own position, per channel. The public default is written to the primary channel (OUTPOST Public) and is what new public rooms start with. The private default is stamped onto every private room that doesn't carry its own override — a room's override lives on the room's card in the Chat tab. Fuzzed positions are snapped by the radio to the center of a fixed grid cell, so the dot sits still in a wrong place inside the radius instead of jumping around your real one.

Public Default

Private Default

Saving re-reads the radio's channel set first, then changes only the precision on each channel it writes — the key, name and every other channel setting are preserved exactly as the radio reported them.

Connect a radio to edit GPS sensitivity.

Connectivity

Bluetooth

On Off

Connect a radio to see current state.

If this radio never appears in phone scans, Bluetooth is off in its config. Changing this writes bluetooth.enabled — the radio reboots to apply; give it ~15 s.

Pairing Mode Fixed PIN

Connect a radio to edit Bluetooth pairing.

Wi-Fi

On Off

Connect a radio to see current state.

Wi-Fi on = the radio starts its own access point (or joins a saved network). Changing this writes network.wifi_enabled; RADIO CONFIG on the Connect tab also reports the state. The radio reboots to apply.

Network Name (SSID) to Join Network Password (PSK) NTP Server

Connect a radio to edit its Wi-Fi network.

Joining a network reboots the radio. If this console is linked to the radio over that same Wi-Fi, reconnect after it comes back.

Power and Battery

The Sentinel and Drifter survival kit. Deep-sleep timing and battery calibration live in Advanced settings → Sleep Timing (Advanced).

Power Saving Mode

Shutdown After Power Loss (Seconds — 0 = Off) Bluetooth Wait Before Sleep (Seconds)

Connect a radio to edit its power settings.

Display and Units

This Console

Distance Units

Applies to node distances and map readouts in this console only. Temperature follows: °F with miles, °C with kilometers.

The Radio's Display

Screen On Time (Seconds)

Auto Screen Carousel (Seconds — 0 = Off)

Radio Display Units

Connect a radio to edit its screen settings.

LoRa and Broadcast

Use a Modem Preset

Modem Preset

Hop Limit (0–7)

TX Power (dBm)

Connect a radio to edit its LoRa settings.

Custom bandwidth / spread factor / coding rate, frequency overrides and the remaining RF internals live in Advanced settings → LoRa deep RF. Region is never edited here — the read-out and the region recovery tool live in Advanced settings → Region recovery.

Sensors and IoT

Telemetry

How often the radio measures and reports itself and its sensors. This firmware finds environment sensors on its own — there is no sensor-type setting to pick.

Connect a radio to edit its telemetry settings.

Detection Sensor

One GPIO pin the radio watches — a door switch, a motion sensor, a float switch. On a trigger it posts “<name> detected” to the mesh.

Detection Sensor Enabled Use Input Pull-Up on the Monitor Pin Send the Bell Character with Alerts

Sensor Name (max 20 characters)

Used in the alert message the radio posts when the sensor triggers.

Monitor Pin (GPIO)

Trigger Type

Minimum Seconds Between Trigger Broadcasts

State Broadcast Interval (Seconds — 0 = Triggers Only)

Connect a radio to edit its detection sensor.

Paxcounter

Counts the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices it can hear — a people-flow sensor for a gate, trailhead or camp entrance. Only radios built with paxcounter support report counts.

Paxcounter Enabled

Count Broadcast Interval (Seconds)

Wi-Fi RSSI Threshold (dBm — Count Devices Stronger Than This)

Bluetooth RSSI Threshold (dBm)

Connect a radio to edit its paxcounter.

Alerts and Outputs

External Notification

Drives pins on the radio when traffic arrives — an LED, a buzzer, a vibration motor — so a headless node can still get your attention.

Connect a radio to edit its external notification.

Canned Messages

Pre-written messages the radio itself can send from a rotary encoder or up/down buttons — no phone needed. The message texts live in a separate store on the device; this page sets the module and its input hardware.

Canned Messages Enabled Send Bell Character with Canned Messages Rotary Encoder 1 Up and Down Input Device

Accepted Input Source

Encoder A Pin (GPIO)

Encoder B Pin (GPIO)

Encoder Press Pin (GPIO)

Rotate Clockwise Generates

Rotate Counter-Clockwise Generates

Press Generates

Connect a radio to edit its canned messages.

Messages and Storage

Store and Forward

Holds messages for nodes that are temporarily out of range and hands them over when they come back. A fleet usually wants ONE server node — the Sentinel on the hill — not every radio storing mail.

Store and Forward Enabled Act as the Store-and-Forward Server Heartbeat

Records to Keep

History Returned per Request (Max Messages)

History Window (Seconds)

Connect a radio to edit store & forward.

Gateway and MQTT

⚠ Credentials live on the radio. The broker username and password below are stored in this radio's config, and anyone with admin access to the radio can read them back out. Use a broker account you can revoke — never a password you reuse elsewhere. The console never prints the stored password anywhere.

MQTT Bridge

Gateways mesh traffic to an MQTT broker wherever the radio can reach the internet. Bridged traffic leaves the mesh — think about which channels are marked to send to the broker before enabling it.

MQTT Gateway Enabled

Broker Address (Leave Blank for the Default Meshtastic Broker)

Username

Root Topic

Password (Write-Only — the Stored Password Is Never Shown)

—

Send Encrypted Packets to the Broker TLS — Secure Broker Connection Proxy Through the Connected CLIENT (No Direct Connection) JSON Output — Current Firmware Ignores This Field; Kept for Compatibility

Map Reporting

Report This Node to the Public Map Via MQTT Include the Node's Location in Map Reports

Map Report Interval (Seconds)

Position Precision (Bits — 32 = Exact)

Connect a radio to edit its MQTT settings.

LoRa-Side MQTT Flags

These two switches live in the radio's LoRa config, not the MQTT module — they decide how this radio treats MQTT-born traffic.

Ignore Packets That Arrived Via MQTT Mark This Node's Packets OK to Gateway to MQTT

Connect a radio to edit its advanced LoRa settings.

Neighbors and Mesh

Neighbor Info

Each radio periodically reports the nodes it hears directly (one hop, with signal strength) — together that's the who-hears-whom map of the mesh, the coverage picture you plan relays from. It costs airtime, so the firmware floor is one report every 4 hours.

Neighbor Info Enabled Also Transmit Neighbor Info over LoRa (Not Available on the Default Public Channel)

Update Interval (Seconds — Firmware Minimum 4 Hours)

Connect a radio to edit neighbor info.

Node Actions and Backup

Node Actions

Reboots in ~5 seconds. The serial link will drop — reconnect after it comes back.

Backup and Firmware

Backup exports your rooms, profile and settings as an encrypted file and can re-provision a wiped radio. Firmware flashes Outpost builds over USB.

Danger Zone

Delete node database wipes every node this radio has learned (stock Meshtastic's node-database reset) — owner, channels, and config are kept; the radio reboots and relearns the mesh from scratch. Factory reset wipes everything, like a fresh flash. Both ask twice: first click arms, second click fires.

About

Console—

Latest ConsoleNot Checked (No Version Manifest Yet)

User ManualThe user manual (PDF) is linked in the footer of every tab.

Advanced Settings

Deeply technical settings, grouped the way stock Meshtastic groups them. Wrong values here can silently break mesh compatibility or RF legality, strand the radio's own controls, or lock you out of it — which is why they live down here. The usual rules still apply: every group stays locked until the console has read that part of the radio's config this session, and every save is a full-section read-modify-write.

LoRa (Deep RF)

The RF internals behind LoRa & broadcast. The modem preset, hop limit and TX power stay in the basic category — nothing here duplicates them. Custom bandwidth / spread factor / coding rate only take effect while Use a modem preset is OFF over there; with a preset on, the firmware ignores them.

Bandwidth Code

31 = 31.25 kHz and 62 = 62.5 kHz; then 125, 250, 500, 800, 1600, or 2000.

Spread Factor (7–12)

Coding Rate Denominator (5–8)

A denominator of 5 means a coding rate of 4/5.

Channel Number (Frequency Slot)

Frequency Offset (Hz, May Be Negative — Crystal Calibration)

Override Frequency (Hz — 0 = the Region Default)

TX Enabled (Turn Off to Hot-Swap Antennas Safely) Override Duty Cycle (Regulatory Limits Off — Your Responsibility) SX126x RX Boosted Gain Turn Off PA Fan Serial HAL Only (Radio Silicon Restricted to the Serial Bridge)

Front-End Amplifier Mode (FEM and LNA) Ignore List (max 3 Nodes)

Connect a radio to edit its advanced LoRa settings.

Region Recovery

Region (Read-Only)—

Region is normally set on the device and is deliberately not offered as a setting. This recovery button exists for one case: a flash that wiped the radio's config, leaving the region UNSET — in that state the radio cannot transmit at all, not even to deliver admin commands to itself. It writes US only, read-modify-write: every other LoRa setting (preset, hop limit, TX power) goes back exactly as the radio reported it.

Security and Keys

⚠ Keys are credentials. This page shows only whether a key is stored on the radio — never the key itself — and nothing here is ever printed to a log. Admin keys are what another node (or this console, later) must hold to administer this radio remotely; treat a pasted key like a password. Turning on managed mode makes the radio refuse all local admin writes, including the ones from this page — it is shown read-only here on purpose; change it from the managing client, not from the managed radio.

Public Key—

Private Key—

Managed Mode—

The node's own key pair is shown as state only. Rotating it changes the node's cryptographic identity and is a device operation, not a settings edit.

Admin Keys (max 3)

Admin Key 1—

Replace Admin Key 1 (Base64, 32 Bytes — Leave Blank to Keep the Stored Key)

Remove Admin Key 1

Admin Key 2—

Replace Admin Key 2 (Base64, 32 Bytes — Leave Blank to Keep the Stored Key)

Remove Admin Key 2

Admin Key 3—

Replace Admin Key 3 (Base64, 32 Bytes — Leave Blank to Keep the Stored Key)

Remove Admin Key 3

Admins of This Radio — Designate from the Node List

A node's public key is what authorizes it to administer THIS radio over the mesh (right-click a node → Administer… is the other end of this list). Pick a heard node to fill a slot's Replace field with its key, then Apply Security — the write above remains the only path that changes the list. A node appears here only after this console has heard its NodeInfo carrying a public key, and picking a node never grants anything until you Apply.

Recovery: if none of this radio's admins can reach it — or the list is saved empty — the radio can only be recovered locally over USB: connect it to a console and edit this list from there. There is no over-the-air recovery, so keep at least one admin you control.

Serial Console Enabled Debug Log over the API Legacy Admin Channel Enabled

Connect a radio to edit its security settings.

Network Infrastructure

Fixed-infrastructure addressing. The Wi-Fi on/off switch, the network it joins and the NTP server live in Connectivity — this page is the rest of the network section.

Ethernet Enabled IPv6 Enabled UDP Broadcast Protocol (Mirrors Mesh Traffic Onto the LAN)

Address Mode

Static IP

Gateway

Subnet

DNS Server

Remote Syslog Server (Blank = None)

Connect a radio to edit its network settings.

Device Hardware and Role Override

Role Override (Full Stock List)

This writes the same device.role field as the friendly Node Role picker in Identity and Role — it just offers the full stock list by name and number, for parity with other clients. The deprecated ROUTER_CLIENT is excluded; the two TAK roles belong to the ATAK ecosystem and pair with the TAK module (Modules — wired integrations). Prefer the friendly picker for everyday use.

Role (Stock)

Connect a radio to edit its device settings.

Hardware Pins

Board-level definitions. A wrong button pin can strand the device's only physical control — check the board's pinout before touching these.

Button GPIO Pin

Buzzer GPIO Pin

Timezone (POSIX Format)

Connect a radio to edit its device settings.

Position Hardware and Flags

GPS wiring overrides and the exact contents of the position packets this node sends. Intervals, smart position and GPS mode live in Position & GPS.

Connect a radio to edit its position settings.

Sleep Timing (Advanced)

The sleep-state machinery behind Power & battery. Bad values here can make a node unreachable for very long stretches — think before stretching the timers on a node you can't physically reach.

Super Deep Sleep (Seconds — Then Only a Reset Wakes It)

Light Sleep (Seconds per Cycle)

Minimum Awake Time (Seconds)

Battery Sense INA I2C Address (Decimal — 64 Is 0x40)

ADC multiplier override (0 = the board's value; e.g. 3.20)

Power-Monitor Enables (Bitmask)

0 = Off. Bits: Deep Sleep 1, Light Sleep 2, Vext 4, LoRa RX 8, LoRa TX 16, RX Active 32, Bluetooth 64, LED 128, Screen 256, Screen Draw 512, Wi-Fi 1024, GPS 2048.

Connect a radio to edit its power settings.

Display (Hardware Fit)

Panel-specific fit. Wrong values garble the radio's own screen; the everyday screen settings (timeout, flip, clock) live in Display & units.

OLED Panel Type Display Mode Compass Orientation

Connect a radio to edit its display settings.

Modules — Wired Integrations

Peripheral and developer modules for wired rigs — the module sections the basic categories don't cover. Same disciplines: locked until read, whole-section read-modify-write on save.

Serial

Serial Module Enabled Echo (Repeat Received Packets Out the Port) Take Over the USB Serial Port for the Module

RX Pin (GPIO)

TX Pin (GPIO)

Baud Rate

Timeout (ms)

Port Mode

Connect a radio to edit its serial module.

Audio (Codec2 Voice)

Codec2 Voice Enabled

PTT Pin (GPIO)

Codec2 Bitrate

I2S Word-Select Pin (GPIO)

I2S Serial-Data Pin (GPIO)

I2S Data-in Pin (GPIO)

I2S Clock Pin (GPIO)

Connect a radio to edit its audio module.

Remote Hardware

Lets other nodes read and drive this radio's GPIO pins over the mesh. Only the pins listed here are exposed — leave the list tight.

Remote Hardware Enabled Allow Access to Pins Not Listed Below (Unsafe)

Pin 1 — GPIO

Pin 1 — Name

Pin 1 — Type

Pin 2 — GPIO

Pin 2 — Name

Pin 2 — Type

Pin 3 — GPIO

Pin 3 — Name

Pin 3 — Type

Pin 4 — GPIO

Pin 4 — Name

Pin 4 — Type

A row with an empty name is not written. Setting a GPIO with an empty name still exposes it under a blank name — name every pin you expose.

Connect a radio to edit its remote-hardware module.

Traffic Management

Mesh-traffic shaping on this node. Mis-set, these can starve or flood the mesh — change one thing at a time and watch the packet log.

Traffic Management Enabled Position De-Duplication Answer Node Info Requests Directly Rate Limiting Drop Unknown Senders over Threshold Exhaust-Hop Telemetry Exhaust-Hop Position Router Preserves Hops

Position Precision (Bits)

Position Minimum Interval (Seconds)

Node Info Direct Response Max Hops

Rate-Limit Window (Seconds)

Rate-Limit Max Packets per Window

Unknown-Sender Drop Threshold (Packets)

Connect a radio to edit its traffic management.

TAK (ATAK Ecosystem)

Team and role this node reports to ATAK. Pairs with the TAK / TAK_TRACKER device roles (role override, in Device hardware & role override). Meaningless outside an ATAK deployment.

Team (Color)

Member Role

Connect a radio to edit its TAK module.

Ambient Lighting

The radio's addressable LED output (NeoPixel-class), when the board has one wired.

LED Output On

Brightness Current (mA Budget)

Red (0–255)

Green (0–255)

Blue (0–255)

Connect a radio to edit its ambient lighting.

Range Test

Periodically broadcasts a numbered test packet so a second node can log where coverage ends. Sender interval 0 = listen only.

Range Test Enabled Save Range-Test Log on the Device Clear the Log on Reboot

Sender Interval (Seconds — 0 = Listen Only)

Connect a radio to edit its range test module.

Connect

Nodes on the Mesh

Chat and Rooms

Manage Rooms

Channels on This Radio

Create Room

Join Room

My Rooms (Stored on This PC)

Map

Site Planner

Receiver

Simulation Options

Test Bench

SOS Beacon

SOS Profile Card

Trail Assist

Waypoint

Breadcrumb

Check-In

Hazard Pin

Overdue Escalation

Raw Text Message

Band Scan

Fleet Setup — Stamp One Setup onto Many Radios

Fleet Templates

Stamp Mode

Packet Log — Decoded Live

Settings

Identity and Role

Profile

Node Role

Profile Details

Status Message

Friend Requests

Friends

Device and Behavior

Channels

Channels on This Radio (Read-Only)

Disable a Secondary Channel

Position and GPS

Position Broadcast

Smart Position and GPS

Fixed Position

GPS Sensitivity — Location Privacy

Connectivity

Bluetooth

Wi-Fi

Power and Battery

Display and Units

This Console

The Radio's Display

LoRa and Broadcast

Sensors and IoT

Telemetry

Detection Sensor

Paxcounter

Alerts and Outputs

External Notification

Canned Messages

Messages and Storage

Store and Forward

Gateway and MQTT

MQTT Bridge

Map Reporting

LoRa-Side MQTT Flags

Neighbors and Mesh

Neighbor Info

Node Actions and Backup

Node Actions

Backup and Firmware

Danger Zone

About

Advanced Settings

LoRa (Deep RF)

Region Recovery

Security and Keys

Admin Keys (max 3)

Admins of This Radio — Designate from the Node List

Network Infrastructure

Device Hardware and Role Override