Small command-line helpers for Meshtastic boards on USB. They need the Meshtastic Python library (pip install "meshtastic[cli]"); paxwatch.py --mqtt also needs paho-mqtt.
Close the web client, the control panel and any serial monitor first, because only one program can use the USB port.
radio_check.py: why can’t my boards hear each other?python radio_check.py # report + send a ping + listen 120 s
python radio_check.py --listen 300 # listen longer
python radio_check.py --fix # reset LoRa and channel settings to NP_865 / LONG_FAST / default key
python radio_check.py --port /dev/cu.usbserial-0001
It prints the region, preset, computed frequency, channel and key fingerprint (never the key itself). Then it listens and counts packets heard by radio from other nodes, and saves report_<nodeid>.json. Run it once on each board; from the second run on it prints a side-by-side comparison with * marking differences.
To test a link, run it on board A while board B is powered nearby, and press B’s reset button during the listen, because a booting node announces itself. Then swap the boards.
paxwatch.py: Paxcounter and packet counter in the terminalpython paxwatch.py # Paxcounter reports + packet summary every 30 s
python paxwatch.py --mqtt --nodes '!a1f80938' # also count messages from that node on the public MQTT server
Example output:
14:02:11 PAX !a1f80460 wifi=3 ble=7 total=10 ##########
14:02:30 SUMMARY mesh=12 {'TELEMETRY_APP': 6, 'PAXCOUNTER_APP': 4, 'POSITION_APP': 2} proxy=0 pax={'wifi': 3, 'ble': 7}
See the guide: Paxcounter · Troubleshooting.