iPhone and iPad app

The app is the same on the iPhone and the iPad. The iPad app also runs on a Mac with Apple silicon.

Connect to your node #

You need the dashboard address of the node and a dashboard account. To use the app away from home, the node must be available from the internet with HTTPS.

1. Open the app.
2. Tap Add a connection. If you have a connection already, tap Add.
3. Select Mutara node.
4. In Dashboard address, type the address, for example https://node.example.net:8443.
5. Type your user name and password. To listen as a guest, keep the user name empty.
6. Tap Save.
7. Tap Connect.

Result: The status line says that the app is connected, and you hear the node.

You can save more than one connection. Select a connection in the list, then tap Connect. Turn on Use as the default for the connection that you use most. The app keeps the passwords in the iOS Keychain, on this device only.

The app can also connect with an IAX user, as iaxRpt and DVSwitch Mobile do. This works with Mutara and with other AllStarLink nodes. Type the node address, the IAX user name and secret, and the node number. Turn on Key with *99 and # (phone mode) if the node keys this way. With an IAX user, the audio is narrowband, and the app shows only the talk screen and the DTMF keypad.

Trust the certificate of the node

A node with its own self-signed certificate is not signed by a known authority. The first time, the app shows Trust this node? and the SHA-256 fingerprint of the certificate.

1. On the dashboard, open Settings, then Health.
2. Compare the certificate fingerprint there with the fingerprint in the app.
3. If they are the same, tap Trust.

The app keeps the fingerprint with the connection. If the certificate changes later, the app shows a stronger warning.

Listen #

When the app is connected, you hear the node. The audio continues when the screen is locked or when you use a different app.

• Who talks. Under the talk button, the receive strip shows who talks now, the time and the audio level. When the node is quiet, it shows who was heard last.
• The lock screen. The lock screen and Control Center show the module and the connection name. They also show who talks, with the first name when the node knows it, for example "K1ABC · Pat". Pause mutes the node, and Play turns the sound on again.
• Music and other apps. Music from other apps can play while you are connected. While the node talks, the app makes the music quieter or pauses it. While you talk, the music always pauses. You select this in Settings.
• Calls. A phone call pauses the sound, and the connection stays. After the call, the sound starts again. If it does not, tap Resume sound.
• Headphones. When headphones or a Bluetooth device disconnect, the sound continues on the speaker, and a notice tells you.
• From the node. The last text messages from the node show under From the node.

Talk #

1. Hold the talk button and speak.
2. Release the talk button to stop.

Or tap the talk button one time to talk (tap to latch), and tap again to stop. The audio is full duplex: you hear the node while you talk. A transmission stops after 90 seconds.

When you key, the app plays a short talk permit chirp. Start to talk after the chirp. The microphone opens when the chirp ends, so the node does not hear the chirp. If you release the talk button during the chirp, the app sends nothing. To turn off the chirp, open Settings and turn off Talk permit chirp. Open mic in a room has no chirp.

The app opens the microphone only while you talk. When the app goes to the background, the transmission stops. If the talk button says Listen only, your account may listen but not talk on this node.

The iPad layout and the keyboard #

On an iPad, the app uses two columns when the window is wide enough. The left column has the status, the module bar, the talk button, the receive strip and the recorded clips. The right column has the node panel and the activity of the node. On All nodes, the right column shows All nodes and Last heard. In a narrow window, for example in Split View, the app uses one column, as on an iPhone.

With a hardware keyboard on the iPad:

• Hold Space to talk, and release it to stop. When you type in a text field, Space types a space.
• Command-T starts a latched transmission, and stops it again. Hold Command to see it in the Talk menu.
• While Settings, the DTMF keypad or a question is open, the keys do not start a transmission.
• Escape closes the DTMF keypad. Return sends the DTMF digits.

Link nodes from the app #

The node panel shows the node, its links and who talks. Use it to link and unlink nodes.

1. In the node panel, type a node number or a callsign in Number or name.
2. Select the node in the list.
3. Tap Link.

Turn on Monitor only to listen to the node without sending. Turn on Disconnect others first to drop the other links before the new link. Permanent links stay. To drop a link, tap Unlink.

To send a DTMF code, tap the keypad button in the top bar. Type the code, for example *32101, and tap Send. Your account must have Link and DTMF on the node.

All nodes and scan #

A node with more than one module shows the module bar: All nodes, Scan and a button for each module. Read Nodes and modules.

• All nodes. This view lists each module with its state, for example Active now, and Last heard. Tap a module to listen and talk on it.
• Scan. On All nodes, tap Scan all or Scan my list. Or tap Scan in the module bar to start with your last pick, and touch and hold it to pick the mode. The app plays the active module, as the scan on the dashboard does. Rooms are in the scan only when they are In my scan. The scan panel shows the module that you hear and the hang time. Tap Skip this node or Stop scan. Hold the talk button to talk on the module that you hear.
• Scan priorities. Tap Scan priorities in the scan panel or in Settings, or Choose modules on All nodes. Turn In my scan on or off for each module. Read Make your scan list. For each module, tap − or +, or type a number from 0 to 99. Tap Use default to use the default of the admin again. The node keeps your values for your account, so the app and the dashboard use the same values. Read Set the priority of a module.
• YSF. On a YSF module, the talk button shows Reflector busy while a station talks on the reflector.

Recorded clips #

If the node records clips, Recorded clips shows them, newest first. On All nodes and during a scan, it shows the clips of all modules.

1. Tap a clip to play it.
2. Tap Back to live to hear the node again.

The app plays the newer clips after it, then goes back to live audio. After a scan, Missed marks the clips that you did not hear. Tap Show missed clips to see only those clips. The More menu of a clip has Save clip and Share clip, when you may save the clips of the node. Both give an M4A file. Admins also see Delete clip.

The More menu can also have Show transcript, Transcribe or Transcribe again, and Bundle from this clip. Read Bundles and transcripts.

Rooms #

Rooms, Scan my list and bundles need the app 0.3.0 or later, and Mutara 0.1.0-beta.58 or later on the node.

A room shows in the module bar. Tap it to join. Read Rooms.

• The Room card has the pill Off the air. Below the talk button, the app says Only the members of this room hear you. When visitors can listen, it also says Visitors can hear this room.
• The Members card shows each member, who talks and who has open mic.
• Tap Open mic to talk without the talk button. Use headphones.
• When the room stops your talk, the talk button shows the reason and the time until you can talk again.
• A user who manages the room sees Interrupt: hold it, or press it two times to keep it. The user also sees Stop on each member who talks. To remove a member, use the dashboard.

Bundles and transcripts #

A bundle joins clips into one recording with chapters, a net log and a transcript. Read Bundles and transcripts.

1. In Recorded clips, open the More menu of the first clip and tap Bundle from this clip.
2. Under From, select To the newest clip, To another clip, To a time or a number of quiet minutes.
3. Under Bundle, type the Title. The Description is optional. Select Keep for.
4. Tap Make.

Tap Bundles in Recorded clips to see the bundles of the node. Tap a bundle to open it:

• The details show the length, the stations, who made it and how long the node keeps it.
• Chapters: tap a chapter to play from there. Live sound is off while the bundle plays.
• Transcript and Net log follow.
• The share menu has Share link, Share audio file and Download zip.
• The More menu has Edit, Make transcript or Transcribe again, and Delete.

In Share link, select Open for and, if you want, Allow download of the zip. Tap Make link, then Copy link or Share link. The link shows only now. Tap Revoke to stop a link. The buttons show only when you may use them.

Settings #

Tap the gear in the top bar to open Settings. The main screen keeps only what you use to listen and talk. Settings has five sections:

Playback

Volume from 0 to 400%. Make quiet and loud stations the same level. When the node talks: lower or pause other audio, and the time until it comes back. Voice boost, from 0 to +20 dB.

Listening buffer

Auto or Manual, the buffer now and the gaps.

Microphone

Auto level for each saved connection. Below it, Talk permit chirp: a short tone tells you when to talk. It is on by default, for all connections.

Scan

The hang time, Skip IDs and announcements and Scan priorities.

About

The version of the app.

Voice boost makes the voices louder on your device only, so that they are closer to the level of music, for example in a car. The default is +10 dB. A limiter stops loud sounds from clipping. 0 dB changes nothing. Voice boost does not change what the node or other users hear.

In Listening buffer, node audio waits here for a short time, so that late packets do not make gaps. A bigger buffer gives fewer gaps and more delay. Select one of these:

• Auto (the default). The app measures how late the packets are and sets the buffer from 60 to 300 ms. It keeps a value for Wi-Fi and a value for cellular. After a network stall (the late packets then come all at once), the buffer gets bigger at once. A pause of the node, for example before a courtesy tone, does not count. When the network is good again, it gets smaller after each transmission with no gaps, in the pauses of speech. A single stall does not keep the delay high for long. Buffer now shows the value, the network and the gaps in the last transmissions. Before the first measurement, it says Measuring. This takes about a minute of audio from the node.
• Manual, from 40 to 500 ms in steps of 20 ms. A mark on the slider and the line Recommended: N ms on Wi-Fi show the value that Auto would use. Tap Use N ms to set it. If your value is much lower and there were gaps, the line says Gaps are likely at this value. Before a measurement, it says Not measured on Wi-Fi yet.

When a packet does not come in time, the app makes a short sound from the audio before it, so that you do not hear a click.

When the network changes #

When the device changes from Wi-Fi to cellular, the app connects again at once. If the connection stops, the app tries again after 2, 4 and 8 seconds, up to every 30 seconds. With no network, the app waits, and it connects when a network comes back. The node keeps its links while the device is away.