Channel settings and terminology

1

Devices have a default channel preconfigured, shown as ‘#LongFast-I (Long range / Fast)’.

  • in a Youtube video I saw ‘LongFast’ as the default name. Is this because of version differences and older documentation? Is there a relation with the modem preset LongFast?
  • it seems that this default name is not shown in the web interface (again, seen on Youtube). So internally and for the webUI/CLI the name is empty?
  • stated here: Channel Configuration | Meshtastic, “If left empty on “the Primary channel”, this designates the default channel”
    • I understand that position info etc. is communicated over the Primary channel (only one channel can be primary). But does “the default channel” also have special functionality?
    • when I give the primary channel a name, I no longer have a designated “default channel”. What are the consequences?
    • I think I also saw that a Secondary channel can be name-less. Is that different from the designated “default channel” (which as stated should be Primary)?

You can also create a new Channel and share the details with your group. The group is private and only those who have the details can join the group and see the messages. You will need to do this once initially, and then only when you want to change or make a new mesh network group.
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The Channel tab allows you to create a new private mesh.

  • is “group”, “private mesh” and “mesh network group” equivalent to “channel” here?

choose the most appropriate option: (with screenshot of “modem preset names”)

  • also here I think documentation lags behind of what I saw on Youtube (where I didn’t see modem presets used as a channel setting). But in the CLI documentation I do see “–ch” commands (which I assume is for channel settings) with modem presets (like “–ch-longfast”). So what’s the relation between modem presets (single setting for the radio) and channel modem presets?
2

The channel name thing is confusing, and I wish the default messaging channel would use a different name from the Lora preset. You can have a channel called LongFast, but be using the SlowFast preset and a non default Lora channel.

3

I think the firmware and the surrounding platform is setup very professional and robust. Probably some key architectural elements evolved differently over time. And of course it’s hard to keep documentation up-to-date when moving fast. But the channel concept seems to be an important core element and probably crucial for new users to understand. I couldn’t find an easily accessible and an unambiguous explanation or overview for it. The videos from The Comms Channel helped me (playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLshzThxhw4O4--klTjqDzR6KeJyqXNNXI ) but I still had some questions.