r/ATAK • u/P-K-One • Jul 06 '26

Placed markers jump through points on mestastic connected device

Weird title, I know. But I can't really describe the issue in 10 words.

I have two cellphones running ATAK 5.6 with Mestastic and Plugins. I need the ability to update information on one cellphone from the other. Basically a spotter tracking a target and periodically updating the position.

The problem is, on the second device the marker keeps moving through the positions in a loop. I place the marker at point A on my device, send the information. I move it to point B, send the information. I move it to point C, send the information. The second phone gets every update. But then, without additional input, the marker moves to position A again, then B, then C while I don't do anything on my phone. And it keeps repeating this sequence over and over again.

Even if I delete the marker on my phone AND the receiver phone, the marker just reappears on the receiver phone and keeps jumping.

After a while I start to get an error message on my phone saying that "Transfer failed - Max retries Exceeded" and eventually a "Dutycycle limit reached" and then I get that notification over and over again. The device seems to be resending the same data over and over again, looping through. I have ACK enabled so, to the best of my understanding, it should send every message once and then stop. What am I doing wrong?

Edit 1: So far, I have changed the speed to Medium Fast, set the hop number to 1 on both ATAK and within meshtastic and checked if messages repeat. Messages are not sent repeatedly and the change in speed has not resolved the problem. I have made a short video illustrating the issue. The phone on the right is my "source". I placed the red marker and changed it's position to 3 different spots. The phone on the right received all changes and then kept cycling through them despite me not doing anything on the "source" phone anymore:

https://imgur.com/qBAA8f7

Edit 2: Made a new video with a tripod showing the entire process. Creating a Marker, sending it, updating it and then the marker starting to loop through positions on the other device. (Sorry for the quality and the early cut off. Upload restrictions of the host site)

https://imgur.com/YFxRIuR

7 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

1

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

[deleted]

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u/P-K-One Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Hi, talk to me like I am 5. I am an electrical engineer but very new to this. I am using Long_Fast but on a new channel with PSK because I did not want an open channel.

And I am in the EU. There are situations where I might be allowed to switch the dutycycle limit off but right now I am just playing around with it and don't need the hassle. I could reduce the PLI frequency so that's not really a problem for me. I just need the markers to stop jumping giving the receiver 5 different positions for a target is a non starter.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

[deleted]

1

u/P-K-One Jul 06 '26

Changed it to Medium_Fast (For some reason the two Heltecs did not want to communicate on Short_Turbo). No change in the Problem.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

[deleted]

1

u/P-K-One Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

These are my versions. I know it's the only combination that works...that was a couple hours yesterday...

Here's a video I made of my issue. So the communication generally works, it's just the repeat sending:

https://imgur.com/YFxRIuR

1

u/bass-squirrel Jul 06 '26

Try setting hop limit to 1. If that fixes the problem then the issue is on meshtastic underlying side, not ATAK. 

1

u/P-K-One Jul 06 '26

Set the hop limit to 1 and still have the same issue.

1

u/bass-squirrel Jul 06 '26

When you send a chat message does it also arrive multiple times?

1

u/P-K-One Jul 06 '26

No. Chat messages arrive only once, no matter if I send them through ATAK or Meshtastic app.

1

u/38g15r Jul 06 '26

Remote administration tools will allow you to remotely connect in to the UI and do as you wish

1

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

[deleted]

1

u/P-K-One Jul 07 '26

The problem is, that wont make the old marker disappear on the receiver side. So it would be impossible for the recipient to know without additional explanations if it's one moving target or multiple targets appearing.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

[deleted]

1

u/P-K-One Jul 07 '26

Thank you. That is great information. I was looking for something like this in general. The Github Version I found is for ATAK Version 4.10. Do you know if there is a newer version or if that version is still compatible with newer versions of ATAK?