Features

Features

A tab-by-tab tour of what the app does today. For verification status (offline-tested vs. needs RF / CMS / peer), see Roadmap and Parity.

⚠️ Packet (Winlink / BBS / App-TNC beacon) needs the radio's "Digital mode" OFF. Digital mode is only for the radio's built-in beacon and disables the TNC. See Getting Started.

---

Tab by tab

Radio

Live status — battery, channel, RSSI, region, GPS-lock telemetry — plus the raw transport log (BlueZ/GAIA on Linux, IOBluetooth on macOS).

Station

Identity (callsign / Station ID / Winlink password), the Allow-Transmit master switch, the APRS channel picker, and the beacon method selector (Off / Radio built-in / App-TNC) with on-screen guidance on what each needs.

Channels — the channel builder

• Click a memory tile to edit that channel (name, RX/TX, CTCSS, mode, power, scan → write that one channel).
• Drag-and-drop slot programming.
• Import CSV (CHIRP / RepeaterBook / native) and Export CSV.
• Bank selector and Load all banks.
• ⬆ Write to radio — writes channels to the radio's memory.

Contacts

APRS / Winlink / terminal address book. This is where a contact's channel and AX.25 / connection settings live (including the Winlink RMS station to sync with).

APRS

• Receive + decode + station list.
• Send messages with a global routes manager and a destination picker.
• A per-packet decode detail view.
• A "create APRS channel" helper.
• A fixed / manual position (beacon without GPS).
• Beaconing — one selector, two methods (mutually exclusive):
  • Radio's built-in beacon — writes the Beacon/Ident (BSS) settings and points the radio's own beacon at your APRS channel (auto_share_loc_ch). Needs "Digital mode" ON.
  • App beacon via the TNC — Beacon now / Auto-beacon builds a position report and sends it on your APRS channel through the radio's hardware TNC. Needs "Digital mode" OFF.

Map

OpenStreetMap with station markers, per-callsign track polylines, a last-N-minutes time filter, large/small marker toggle, a radio + serial GPS marker, center-to-GPS, and aprs.fi internet lookups (paste a free key in Settings).

Mail (Winlink)

Local SQLite store with six folders + unread counts. Compose with CC + attachments; reply / reply-all / forward; save as draft; move between folders; backup / restore; and a session/traffic log. Sync over the internet (needs a reachable CMS) or over the radio to a Winlink station (needs an RMS gateway). Stored at ~/.config/HTCommander/mail.db (Linux).

Terminal / Packets / BBS

• Terminal — connectionless UI-frame send and connected-mode AX.25 sessions (connect panel: protocol / station / channel).
• Packets — live frame list, decode detail, CSV export, and load capture.
• BBS — connected-mode AX.25 mail drop on the current channel.

Voice / Modem / Clips

• Voice — press-and-hold PTT, mic gain/AGC, speaker volume; RX audio plays automatically.
• Modem — a scrolling FFT waterfall of the RX audio and a soft-modem (AFSK1200 / PSK / G3RUH) with decoded frames routed to Packets.
• Clips — record / name / play / delete WAV clips; plus Morse / DTMF generate + local preview and WAV record/playback.

Settings

Audio input/output devices, mic gain, output volume, GPS serial source (port/baud), and the aprs.fi API key.

---

GPS

Radio position details (lat/lon/alt/speed/heading) + request fresh position; a serial NMEA GPS source config that also pushes position to the radio (a live fix needs GPS hardware on the air).

---

Safety summary

Transmitting is operator-initiated and fail-safe — gated on callsign + Allow-Transmit, press-and-hold PTT only, and the app never transmits on its own. Full details on Transmitting and Safety.