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Companion Radio — Display & Button Guide

How to use the display and button on your Companion Radio node. Applies to all supported hardware — OLED (Heltec V3, V4), color TFT (Heltec T096), and e-ink (Heltec E213, Wireless Paper, E290).

Button basics

One button does everything:

Press	Action
Single click	Next page / next item / scroll down
Double click	Previous page / exit sub-level
Long press	Open message preview (Home) · Enter sub-level (Quick Send / Settings) · Toggle GPS (GPS page) · Cycle RxGain (Radio page)

Heltec E213 and E290 — second button (GPIO21): Press to scroll up in any list, or to go back/exit any menu. Equivalent to double clicking the main button, but faster. The Wireless Paper has a single button only.

Home screen pages

Single click and double click cycle through pages forward and backward.

Page	What it shows
Home	Current time (large), date, connection status, battery
Quick Send	Send a preset message over LoRa
Contacts	List of known contacts for direct messaging
Saved Locations	Preview of saved map locations
Recent Advert	Last 4 nodes heard over LoRa
Radio	LoRa radio parameters and noise floor
GPS	GPS status and coordinates (if GPS hardware present)
Settings	Device settings

Home page

OLED / T096:

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ MyNodeName        5✉ [=]     │
│         · • · · · · ·        │
│                              │
│           14:32              │
│                              │
│         14 Apr 2026          │
│        < Connected >         │
└──────────────────────────────┘

E-ink (E213 / Wireless Paper / E290):

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ MyNodeName                                  5✉  [===]    │
│                · · · • · · · ·                           │
│                                                          │
│                       14:32                              │
│                                                          │
│                                                          │
│ Pin: 477370                             14 Apr 2026      │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Node name at top-left; battery icon at top-right
Header: when messages are stored in memory, shows count + envelope icon (5✉) where the clock used to be; empty when count is zero
Page indicator dots below the header (filled dot = current page)
Large clock (HH:MM) always centered — shows current local time once synced; shows uptime (00:00 counting up) before first sync
OLED / T096: date on the middle-bottom row, connection status at the very bottom
E-ink: connection status / pairing pin at the bottom-left, date at the bottom-right
Long press → open message preview

Connection status values:

< BLE Connected > — app connected via BLE
< USB > — USB transport mode active
< WiFi Connected > — app connected via WiFi TCP
IP:192.168.1.x:5000 — WiFi mode, waiting for TCP connection (shows IP once router connection is up)
WiFi: connecting... — WiFi mode, not yet connected to router
BLE: OFF — Bluetooth disabled
Pin: 123456 — waiting for BLE pairing (BLE mode only)

Time and date show local time once the timezone offset is set. Default is UTC. Configure once via TerminalCLI: set tz.offset 7 (for UTC+7). Time is synced from the app on connect, or from GPS if hardware is present.

Quick Send page

Send a preset message to the public channel without typing.

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ QUICK SEND        14:32 [=]  │
│         · · • · · · ·        │
│ I'm OK                       │
│ On my way                    │
│ I need help                  │
│ GPS:10.7769,106.7009         │
└──────────────────────────────┘

3 presets visible at a time (4 if no GPS); scrolls as you cycle
Bottom line shows current GPS status:
- GPS:lat,lon — valid fix, coordinates will be attached when sending
- ?GPS:lat,lon — no fix / using last known coords from app
- GPS: Private — GPS Privacy mode is ON; coordinates will not be attached
Long press to enter sub-level (active item highlights)

In sub-level:

Press	Action
Single click	Next preset
Double click	Exit sub-level
Long press	Send highlighted preset → alert "Sent!" or "Send failed"

After sending, the display shows how many nodes have relayed your message (e.g. Heard 3 Repeats). The count updates in real time as each relay is heard.

GPS coordinates are appended automatically when sending (e.g. I'm OK @10.7769,106.7009), unless GPS Privacy is enabled in Settings.

Customize presets via TerminalCLI:

get quick                        list all presets
set quick.0 Arrived at camp      change preset at index 0
set quick.reset                  restore all defaults

Contacts page

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ CONTACTS          14:32 [=]  │
│         · · · • · · ·        │
│ Alien                        │
│ Big Boy                      │
│                              │
│                              │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Shows how many chat contacts are known. Long press to open the contact list.

Contact List screen

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ CONTACTS  4                  │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ > Alien                      │
│   Big Boy                    │
│   [R] Base Camp Room         │
│                              │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Chat nodes and room servers are listed. Room servers are tagged [R]. Repeaters and sensors are excluded.

Press	Action
Single click	Move arrow to next contact
Double click	Return to home
Long press	Open action menu for selected contact

Contact Action screen

After selecting a contact and long pressing, an action menu appears:

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Alien                        │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ > Send message               │
│   Request telemetry          │
│                              │
│                              │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Press	Action
Single click	Move arrow to next item
Double click	Return to contact list
Long press	Execute selected item

Send message — opens Quick Reply screen to send a direct message
Request telemetry — sends a telemetry request and opens the Telemetry Result screen

Telemetry Result screen

Displays battery voltage and GPS coordinates returned by the contact.

While waiting:

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Alien                        │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ Requesting...                │
│                              │
│                              │
│                              │
└──────────────────────────────┘

On success:

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Alien                        │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ VBAT: 3.82V                  │
│ GPS:                         │
│ 10.7769  106.7009            │
│ > Trace GPS                  │
└──────────────────────────────┘

On timeout:

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Alien                        │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ No response                  │
│                              │
│                              │
│                              │
└──────────────────────────────┘

State	Press	Action
Waiting	Double click	Cancel request, return to contact list
Result	Long press	Open GPS Trace screen (only shown if GPS data present)
Result / Timeout	Any other button	Return to contact list

GPS coordinates follow the Pos. Format selected in Settings (DD, UTM, or MGRS). > Trace GPS is only shown when GPS data is present in the response.

Reading messages

Long press on the Home page opens message preview. Messages are shown in three levels:

Level 2 — New messages

When there are new messages, you go straight to a linear view of all unread messages across all senders and channels.

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ (2) Alien:         1/3  42s  │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ I need help                  │
│ can you come?                │
│                              │
│                              │
│                              │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Top row: who sent it (left), message number + age (right)
▲ top-right: more text above — double click to scroll up
▼ bottom-right: more text below — single click to scroll down

Press	Action
Single click	Scroll down one page (5 lines); at end of message → next new message
Double click	Scroll up one page; at top → previous new message
At last new message, single click	Return to home (all new messages seen)
Long press	Open popup menu

Level 0 — Group list

After reading all new messages (or double click at the start), you land on the group list — a summary of all senders and channels.

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ MSGS  *3 new                 │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ > Alien                    5 │
│   [G] Public               2 │
│   [R] Dev                  1 │
│   [G] #SOS                 8 │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Groups sorted by most recently active; number on the right = total messages
> marks the selected group; *N new shown when unread messages exist
[G] prefix = group/channel; [R] prefix = room server; no prefix = direct contact

Press	Action
Single click	Move arrow to next group
Double click	Return to home
Long press	Open selected group (Level 1)

Level 1 — Group detail

Shows all messages from one sender or channel, including older history.

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ (2) Alien:         1/5  3h   │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ where are you?               │
│                              │
│                              │
│                           ▼  │
│                              │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Press	Action
Single click	Scroll down / next older message
Double click	Scroll up / next newer message; at newest → group list
Long press	Open popup menu

Long press any message to open the popup:

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ (2) Alien:         1/5  3h   │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ I need help @10.77,106.70    │
│ ┌──────────────────────┐     │
│ │ > Reply              │     │
│ │   Save location      │     │
│ │   Home               │     │
│ └──────────────────────┘     │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Press	Action
Single click	Move to next item
Long press	Confirm selected item
Double click	Dismiss menu (cancel)

Reply — opens Quick Reply screen; sends back to the same contact (DM), the same channel, or the room server ([R]) — room replies are posted to the whole room and visible to all subscribers
Save location — only shown if the message contains GPS coordinates
Home — go home immediately

If neither Reply nor GPS coordinates are present, long press goes directly home.

Quick Reply screen

Choose a preset to send without typing. The preset list is the same one used by the Quick Send page — customize it once and it works everywhere. Used for both direct messages and channel replies.

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ To: Alien                    │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ > I'm on my way              │
│   Meet at base               │
│   Need supplies              │
│                              │
└──────────────────────────────┘

The header shows who the message will go to (To: Alien for a DM, To: [Public] for a channel reply).

Press	Action
Single click	Next preset
Double click	Cancel, return without sending
Long press	Send selected preset

After sending, an alert confirms success or failure and the screen returns to the message preview.

Saving a GPS location

When viewing a message that contains GPS coordinates, long press opens the popup and select Save location:

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Save to slot:                │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ > 1. [empty]                 │
│   2. Base camp               │
│   3. [empty]                 │
│   4. [empty]                 │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Press	Action
Single click	Move to next slot
Long press	Save to selected slot
Double click	Cancel

Saved locations persist in flash memory — they survive reboot.

Tip for SOS situations: save the location immediately. Even if the message is later overwritten by new incoming messages, your saved location remains accessible from the Saved Locs page.

Saved locations

The SAVED LOCS page shows your saved GPS points.

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ SAVED LOCS         ●         │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ Alien: I need help           │
│ Big Boy: Heading home        │
│                              │
│                              │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Long press the SAVED LOCS page to open the full list:

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ SAVED  2/10                  │
│──────────────────────────────│
│ > Alien: I need help         │
│   Big Boy: Heading home      │
│                              │
│                              │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Each entry shows sender name + message snippet so you can tell entries apart.

Press	Action
Single click	Move highlight to next entry
Long press	Open GPS trace screen for highlighted entry
Double click	Return to home

GPS Trace screen

Shows live distance and bearing from your current position to a saved location.

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Alien: I need help     14:32 │
│──────────────────────────────│
│      10.7769  106.7009       │
│                              │
│            1.2km             │
│                              │
│          247°  WSW           │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Top line: location label + current time
Coordinates: the saved GPS point (always shown; format follows Pos. Format in Settings)
Distance: straight-line to the target — requires your own GPS fix
Bearing / cardinal direction: direction to head toward the target

If your node has no GPS fix, only the coordinates are shown.

Press	Action
Any button	Return to Saved Locations list

Shows the last 4 nodes that advertised over LoRa, with time since last heard. Read-only.

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ RECENT ADVERT     14:32 [==] │
│         · · · · • · ·        │
│ Alien                    42s │
│ Base Camp                 5m │
│ Repeater-1               12m │
│ Repeater-2                1h │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Radio page

LoRa radio parameters. Long press cycles RxGain mode.

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ RADIO             14:32 [==] │
│         · · · · · • ·        │
│ FQ: 915.000          SF: 10  │
│ BW: 250.00            CR: 5  │
│ TX: 20dBm          RxG: OFF  │
│ Noise floor: -95             │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Field	Meaning
FQ	Frequency in MHz
SF	Spreading factor
BW	Bandwidth in kHz
CR	Coding rate
TX	Transmit power in dBm
RxG	RX Gain mode: `OFF` / `ON`
Noise floor	Ambient noise level in dBm

Long press — toggle RxGain (OFF / ON); a popup confirms the new mode.

GPS page (optional)

Only shown if GPS hardware is present.

GPS on:

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ GPS               14:32 [==] │
│         · · · · · · •        │
│ gps on                   fix │
│ sat                        8 │
│ pos         10.7769 106.7009 │
│ alt                      12m │
└──────────────────────────────┘

GPS off:

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ GPS               14:32 [==] │
│         · · · · · · •        │
│ gps off                      │
│ intv                  always │
│ mode             GPS+BDS+GLO │
└──────────────────────────────┘

(mode line: Heltec V4 / T096 only)

Long press — toggle GPS module on/off
gps on / gps off — current software state
fix / no fix — whether a valid position is available
sat — number of satellites in view
intv — GPS update interval: always if GPS stays on continuously (gps.interval 0), otherwise interval in seconds; shown only when GPS is off
mode — active GNSS constellation (Heltec V4 / T096 only; see gps.mode in TerminalCLI Commands)
pos — current position (DD by default; UTM or MGRS if selected via Pos. Format in Settings)
alt — altitude

Settings page

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ SETTINGS          14:32 [==] │
│         · · · · · · •        │
| Connection Mode          BLE |
│ BLE                       ON │
│ Repeat                   OFF │
│ RxGain                    ON │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Long press to enter sub-level (active item highlights)