Chapter 4
The Main Screen
The main screen has three parts: the status bar across the top, the current screen in the middle, and the tab bar along the bottom. Further screens and tools are opened from the main menu.
#Tablets and landscape
Turn on Landscape / tablet layout in Settings → Display (it is off to start with). Then, on a wide screen — a tablet, or a phone turned on its side (720 dp wide or more) — the map stays on the left and the screen you choose (packets, messages, station log, bulletins, settings) appears beside it on the right, so you can watch the map while reading. Choosing Map keeps the last side screen. Turn the phone upright again for the usual one-screen layout. With the setting off, one screen fills the display whichever way round the phone is.
#Status bar
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| ☰ Menu | Opens the main menu. Shows a red dot (☰ ●) when there are unread messages or bulletins. |
| ☽ Night mode | Toggles night mode: forces the dark theme, selects the CARTO map layer and dims the screen to 15% brightness. Tap again to restore brightness and the previous theme. |
| ☀ / ◑ Theme | Switches between the dark and light themes (☀ is shown while dark, ◑ while light). Using it also turns off the automatic sunrise/sunset theme schedule. |
| ● Quality dot | Grey: APRS-IS not connected. Red: connected but no packets arriving. Amber: under 3 packets per minute. Green: 3 or more packets per minute. |
| Status text | Shows the connection state. Tap it to connect or disconnect APRS-IS. |
The status text changes with the connections:
| Text | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Disconnected (grey) | Nothing connected. |
| Connecting to host… (amber) | Opening the APRS-IS connection. |
| Reconnecting in N s… | Waiting before an automatic reconnect after an error. |
| IS Connected, IS + KISS+BT… (green) | APRS-IS logged in, plus any RF interfaces listed. |
| IS · N pkts · X/min | Logged in; packet count and current rate, updated as packets arrive. |
| RF: KISS+BT+BLE+AGW+USB+Audio (cyan) | RF interfaces only, no APRS-IS. |
| Error: message (red) | The last connection attempt failed; the app will retry. |
#Tab bar
| Tab | Opens |
|---|---|
| Map | The live map (chapter 7). |
| Stations | The station log — every station heard, with search, filters and sorting (chapter 8). |
| Messages | Message traffic and your conversations (chapter 9). Shows Msgs (N) when unread. |
| Tools | The main menu (the same as ☰). |
| Settings | All settings (chapter 5). |
The Back button closes an open conversation first, then steps back through the last ten tabs you visited. Pressing Back on the map with nothing left in the history asks whether to exit the app.
#The main menu
The menu is a scrolling list grouped into sections. Items with a count show how many new entries there are since you last looked.
| Section | Items |
|---|---|
| (top) | Map · Station Log (+N new) · Packets · Messages (N unread) · Bulletins · Settings · Debug |
| APRS Connections | APRS-IS · Bluetooth TNC · BLE TNC · AGW Interface · KISS TNC TCP/IP · USB Serial · Audio DSP TNC · Radio Control · TNC Bridge · AX.25 Packet Terminal · Text Terminal |
| Tools | Emergency beacon · Watchlist · WX Stations · Offline Tiles · Objects Manager · Station Profiles · TX History · Stream Logs · Packet Capture · Group Broadcast · Crash Logs · Setup Wizard · Install on Watch |
| Logging & Tracking | Track Log · QSO Log · Packet Rate · Beacon Check · Event Board |
| Messaging | Email Gateway · Message Templates |
| Radio Tools | Propagation · ISS Passes · Sunrise/Sunset · Barometer · UK Repeaters · RepeaterBook · Geo-Fence Alerts · DX Cluster · APRS Services · Map Overlay · Grid Square · Passcode Calc · SSID Reference |
| Export | Station Export · Theme Schedule |
| Backup | Backup All Data · Share Backup Data · Restore Backup |
| (bottom) | About / Help · User Manual · Donate · Reset to Defaults · Exit |
Connection rows
The first six rows of APRS Connections have a status button on the right: ● ON in green when that interface is connected, ○ OFF in grey when it is not.
- Tapping ○ OFF connects APRS-IS directly, or opens the connection dialog for a TNC.
- Tapping ● ON disconnects APRS-IS, BLE, AGW or KISS straight away. For Bluetooth and USB it reopens the connection dialog, where you can change the mode, open the terminal or disconnect.
- Tapping the row name disconnects a connected interface (with a short confirmation message), or opens its dialog if it is not connected.
#Debug screen
Menu → Debug has two tabs. App Log is the application's own log, newest first and coloured by level (errors red, warnings orange, debug cyan). Comms is a live monitor of every line sent and received — transmissions to APRS-IS in red, to RF in orange, RF receptions in cyan, APRS-IS receptions in grey, iGate events in the accent colour and GPS events in green. It keeps the last 1000 lines. Each tab has Clear and Save; Save writes a text file and opens the Android share sheet so you can e-mail it or save it to Drive.
#Exiting
Menu → Exit (or Back on the map) asks Stop the APRS service and exit completely? Choosing Exit saves the station log, disconnects every interface, stops the background service and closes the app. Simply switching to another app or turning the screen off does not stop the service — beaconing, iGating and message reception carry on in the background.