Peer to Peer (P2P) messaging - la5nta/pat GitHub Wiki

This article will cover P2P messaging. This example setup will use the web GUI and ax25 transport. It is based on KM4ACK's video demo of this topic.

Prerequisites

This article assumes you have already set up the web GUI and the ax25 transport.

Setting up listen mode

In order to receive P2P messages, Pat must be configured to listen for them. This can be set in the listen field in the config file, like so:

{
    "listen": ["ax25"]
}

This configuration would have Pat listen for messages on the configured ax25 transport.

Confirming the settings

After Pat has been configured, simply run pat http to start the HTTP server. Pat will report in the console which address and port it is listening on for HTTP requests. Open the web GUI and verify at the top of the screen that Pat is "Listening on ax25". If that message is present, you are ready to receive a P2P message. So long as Pat is running, if your station is called with a message, Pat will receive it and save it to your inbox.

Composing a message

In the web GUI, under the Action menu, choose Compose to begin composing a new message. Enter the recipient's call sign in the "To:" field as usual and a subject if desired. Check the box for "P2P Only" to make sure the message is not routed to Winlink CMS servers. Finally, type your message and add any attachments you may wish to send, and click Post.

Initiating a P2P session

After posting a message, it is saved to the outbox and needs to be transmitted. To initiate a P2P session and send the message, you connect to the other peer just like you would with a regular RMS station.

Under the Action menu, choose Connect. For the transport, choose your desired transport (e.g. AX.25), and for the target, enter the call sign of your recipient. Pat will then initiate the connection and send any messages queued for that recipient.

This is contrary to how P2P works in Winlink Express, where the user must first start a "P2P" session before being able to connect to the peer. With Pat, the P2P session is initiated by a regular connect call to the peer's callsign.

It is important to note that if you are connecting to a user on Winlink Express, they must have a "P2P session" active to be able to receive your connection. If they do not, the connection may seem to hang or sit idle after being established.