Radio Settings
Once a radio device is connected, Carroted Maps gives you direct control over it, separate from any group. These settings live on the radio hardware itself, they apply no matter which Radio group you're currently in, and switching groups never changes them.
Opening Radio Settings
Radio Settings only opens once a device is paired, see Connecting Your Radio Device → if you haven't yet.
In a Radio group, tap the ⋯ button in the map header.
Tap the RADIO tile. It only opens when a device is connected, if it's greyed out, pair a device first with the Bluetooth icon.
This is different from the Bluetooth icon in the header, that one only pairs or disconnects a device. Radio Settings is where you configure the device once it's connected.
Device
At the top of the screen:
- Device identity card, shows the device's current name, node ID, and firmware version. Tap RENAME to change the name other radios see when this device announces itself on the mesh (max 31 characters).
- Battery & storage, current battery percentage and, on supported firmware, flash storage used.
- DISCONNECT, drops the Bluetooth connection but keeps reconnecting automatically while the device is in range.
- FORGET, clears the pairing entirely. Use this before pairing a different device.
Channels
Every radio has 8 channel slots (0–7), independent of any group.
- Slot 0, Public, always available, no configuration needed. This is what every Radio group uses by default.
- Slots 1–7, optional. Tap a slot and set a passphrase, Carroted Maps derives an encryption key from it, so any device with the same passphrase on the same slot can decrypt your traffic. Tap the slot again to start transmitting on it.
A passphrase can't be viewed once saved, only cleared and replaced. Anyone who knows the passphrase can decrypt everything sent on that slot, share it the same way you'd share a Wi-Fi password.
This is a radio-level setting, not a group setting. It applies to everything you transmit, in any Radio group, until you switch slots again. Your group's invite code only encodes its name, subcode, color, and icon, it no longer carries a channel.
Radio
| Setting | MeshCore | Meshtastic |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency Region | Pick from official regional presets (frequency, bandwidth, spreading factor, coding rate) | , |
| Region | , | Pick a region code (US, EU_868, ANZ, etc.) |
| TX Power | Low / Medium / High preset | Low / Medium / High preset |
Meshtastic radios ship with region UNSET and refuse to transmit anything until you choose one here, the same requirement as the official Meshtastic app. MeshCore radios that have never had a region selected get the same nudge under Frequency Region.
Changing TX power or region on Meshtastic restarts the radio's LoRa stack, Carroted Maps shows a notice while it reconnects. MeshCore applies these changes immediately.
Mesh
- Repeater mode (MeshCore only), turns this radio into a relay that forwards other nodes' packets, extending mesh range. Some MeshCore firmware only allows repeating on specific frequencies, if yours does, Carroted Maps offers to retune and enable it in one step.
- Max hop count (Meshtastic only), choose 3, 5, or 7 hops for how far a flooded packet can travel across the mesh.
- Broadcast presence (MeshCore only), manually re-announce this node to the whole mesh, useful right after joining or reconnecting.
Meshtastic's own dedicated Repeater role isn't offered as a toggle here, on Meshtastic firmware it turns the node into a headless relay that stops acting like a normal client, easy to enable by accident and hard to undo without a factory reset. If a radio is already stuck in that role (set by another app or an older build), Radio Settings shows a Relay Role Active warning with a one-tap way back to a normal client.
Location
Rows here vary by device and firmware, only the ones your hardware supports appear.
- Device GPS, power the onboard GPS module on or off.
- GPS update interval (MeshCore), how often the device refreshes its GPS fix, 1, 5, or 15 minutes.
- Position broadcast (Meshtastic), how often the device transmits its position over the mesh.
- Share position (MeshCore), whether node announcements include GPS/fixed position at all. Turn this off to stay on the mesh without broadcasting your location.
- Fixed position, for base stations or GPS-less radios that never move: tap Use This Phone's Location to store your current position on the radio permanently, or Clear Fixed Position to remove it.
Power
Meshtastic only. Power saving sleeps the radio between transmissions for longer battery life, at the cost of slower response to incoming packets. Off means always listening.
Diagnostics
A radio stats card shows live numbers from the device:
- MeshCore, tap REFRESH to query noise floor, SNR/RSSI, airtime, packet counts, and uptime on demand.
- Meshtastic, the same card fills in passively from the device's own telemetry, voltage, channel utilization, TX airtime, and uptime, as it arrives.
Danger zone
- Reboot device, restarts the radio, useful after a setting doesn't seem to take effect.
- Power off (Meshtastic), shuts the radio down. It must be turned back on physically.
- Factory reset, erases all settings, channel slots, and contacts on the radio. This can't be undone, and it doesn't affect your Carroted Maps groups or map data, only the device itself.