weechat-radio:$ Modes

internet

What it's for. Chat with no radio. This computer talks to the hub.

Chat over RF?	No. The radio stays off.
Chat over hub/LAN from this computer?	Yes. This computer sends chat to the hub and the LAN.
Can a gateway forward my messages to the internet?	This computer already sends them to the hub. It does not key a radio, so a gateway has nothing of yours to hear.
Map data (callsign/grid/tx-rx, never text) sent if [telemetry] url set?	Yes, if the URL is set. Callsign, grid, and tx/rx ids. Never message text.
Receipts from internet stations?	Yes. They come back on the hub. A receipt is the other station's ACK, shown as [ok].
Email?	Yes. This computer posts mail to the hub.
Map colour	Cyan (#00e5ff)

internet-radio

What it's for. Your radio plus the internet. This computer is a gateway: it keys the dial and also talks to the hub, and it can carry other stations' radio-plus traffic onward.

Chat over RF?	Yes. Every chat line is keyed on the radio.
Chat over hub/LAN from this computer?	Yes, when the station you are calling was not heard on this dial. A closed group uses the hub when no member was heard here. #bulletin always goes to the hub and the LAN as well as the radio.
Can a gateway forward my messages to the internet?	You are the gateway. You upload radio-plus frames you hear, and your own chat when the radio will not reach the other station.
Map data (callsign/grid/tx-rx, never text) sent if [telemetry] url set?	Yes, if the URL is set. Callsign, grid, and tx/rx ids. Never message text.
Receipts from internet stations?	Yes. They come back on the hub. Stations you can hear also ACK on the radio.
Email?	Yes. Your own mail goes to the hub. You also post radio-plus mail you hear.
Map colour	Green (#39ff14)

radio

What it's for. Chat on the radio only. A gateway that hears you must leave the message on the radio.

Chat over RF?	Yes.
Chat over hub/LAN from this computer?	No.
Can a gateway forward my messages to the internet?	No. The frame says do not forward. A gateway that hears you leaves it on the radio.
Map data (callsign/grid/tx-rx, never text) sent if [telemetry] url set?	Yes, if the URL is set. Callsign, grid, and tx/rx ids. Never message text.
Receipts from internet stations?	No. Only a station that hears you on the radio can ACK.
Email?	No. Email stays grey.
Map colour	Amber (#ffbf00)

radio-plus

What it's for. Chat on the radio only, from this computer. The one difference from radio is that a gateway that hears you may carry the message, and email, onto the internet.

Chat over RF?	Yes.
Chat over hub/LAN from this computer?	No.
Can a gateway forward my messages to the internet?	Yes, if an internet-radio gateway hears you. It may forward a direct message, a closed group, #bulletin, and email.
Map data (callsign/grid/tx-rx, never text) sent if [telemetry] url set?	Yes, if the URL is set. Callsign, grid, and tx/rx ids. Never message text.
Receipts from internet stations?	Not on a hub socket from this computer. The gateway can bring an internet station's ACK back on the radio if it has heard you on this dial.
Email?	Yes, by radio to the Mail gateway callsign in setup. That station posts it. This computer does not open the hub.
Map colour	Magenta (#ff4dff)

Worked example: radio-plus

You are in radio-plus on 144.950. You send a direct message. #bulletin and a closed group use this same path.

1. This computer keys the message on the radio. It does not open the hub.
2. An internet-radio gateway on 144.950 hears the frame and sees that it may go to the internet.
3. The gateway sends it to the hub.
4. The hub delivers it to the internet station.
5. That station's receipt comes back to the gateway. The gateway keys the receipt on the radio if it has heard you on this dial.
6. Your line can show [gw] when the gateway accepted the frame, then [ok] when the receipt comes back on the radio. [rl] only means you heard your own frame on the radio again.

In radio mode the same air path runs. The gateway does not upload the frame, and there is no receipt from the internet station.

If the hub dies

Switching to radio asks for confirmation: it drops hub and LAN chat. Changing mode starts or stops hub chat and the radio path immediately. Switching between radio and radio-plus leaves both paths as they are: radio stays on, and this computer still does not open hub chat. Clear [telemetry] url to stay off the map. An arc is drawn only between two station pins that addressed each other. That line glows for a few seconds after the contact, settles to a dimmer line, then fades and stays faintly visible until 48 hours after the last contact. Reduced motion skips the glow. A station pin stays bright in its mode colour while the station is reporting, then dims, and drops off the map 48 hours after it was last heard. A #bulletin or closed-group destination is not a callsign, so it does not draw a line to every other pin.

If you are in internet-radio and the hub goes away, radio keeps working. The status bar says Internet down, radio only. Traffic that still needed the hub waits in an internet hold and goes out when the hub returns. That is separate from the RF retry hold queue.

Email

Email is not another operating mode. The map pin keeps its mode colour, and an e beside that logo means mail moved recently. internet and internet-radio post their own mail to the hub. radio-plus sends mail by radio to the Mail gateway callsign in setup, and that station posts it. radio has no path, so Email stays grey. Email.

Weak-signal behaviour

On a faint or fading path the program retries your message and asks modem73 for a slower waveform. The status bar shows TX (current waveform) and RETRY. Presets: hf-good, hf-poor, hf-weak, hf-deep, vox-safe (always RDM-600S).

Operator steps: weak signals. Versus JS8 / FT8 / Olivia: compare modes. Packet layout: wire protocol.

Busy channel

When several stations talk at once, frames would otherwise pile onto the modem and key over each other. Two layers stop that:

1. modem73 CSMA is on for every preset. The modem waits for a quiet carrier before PTT. On VOX it counts anything over -30 dB at the sound card as a busy channel, so loud music or talking near a built-in mic holds sends back until the room is quiet.
2. The air queue in wcr serialises our own traffic. It waits while the channel is busy, spreads retries and group ACKs, and holds a due beacon while an exchange is in progress (a line and its receipt, or a mail and its acceptance) or while occupancy is high and frames are being decoded. A due beacon goes ahead of this station's own queued lines. It waits out one exchange at most, a warm-up beacon never more than two minutes after the last, and never more than 10 minutes after the last. The queue leaves a gap after each TX so an ACK can be heard. A frame that would switch the modem to a mode too narrow for one it still holds waits until that one has keyed.

The status bar PTT field shows wait while a frame is held. OCC is occupancy 0–100. QUEUE includes how many frames sit in the air queue. The beacon countdown shows after exchange while a receipt or a mail acceptance is still due, pending until the beacon reaches the modem, and busy while a decoded frame is still fresh. The first three beacons go about a minute apart, then one every 5 minutes. A line sent in the first startup_hold_s seconds after start (120) waits until another station has been heard. VOX has no hold, since it sends no beacons.

[rf]
csma = true
slot_ms = 100
quiet_ms = 300
max_defer_ms = 15000
emergency_max_defer_ms = 3000
turnaround_ms = 250
congested_pct = 60
ack_dither_ms = 800
beacon_jitter_s = 15
retry_jitter = true
startup_hold_s = 120

Gateway knobs

In wcr.toml:

[gateway]
rf_egress = true          # put internet traffic on the air
third_party = "deny"      # guest (~nick) traffic on RF: allow or deny
tower = true              # internet-radio only

In internet-radio the station panel has a TOWER switch (/tower on or /tower off). It is on by default, and a gateway run by wcr web (a Pi) always shows as a tower, whatever [gateway] tower says (wcr.toml is not changed). On draws that station as a small tower on the public map, with the dial frequency beside the icon. Other modes keep the station mark. The switch does not change what goes on the air.

Stations on different frequencies use two gateways and the hub. Diagrams: cross-frequency chat.