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Using the serial menu

The MS2net reference station has a text menu on its serial port, reached with a cable and any serial terminal. It covers the settings of the configuration panel, plus diagnostics and a few items the panel does not show, without WiFi and without entering Config mode. It is meant for expert users: most items act without confirmation. Every menu is listed in the Menu map.

Connecting

Plug the cable in as in Getting started › Power and switch on.
Port PWR USB-C connector (see Hardware); the USB-serial converter is inside the station, no adapter is needed; never together with a cable in GNSS
Cable USB-C data cable (a charge-only cable does not work)
Settings 115200 baud, 8N1, no flow control
Line ending the terminal must send CR, LF or both on Enter

The station appears as a new serial port: COM on Windows, /dev/ttyUSB… on Linux, /dev/cu.… on macOS. Once the port is open it prints status messages (start-up, battery, accuracy, log size…): they are normal and do not get in the way of the menu.

Opening the port can restart the station

Many terminal programs toggle DTR and RTS when they open the port, and the station takes it as a reset: it restarts in its startup mode and a recording in progress is interrupted. Turn DTR and RTS off in the terminal if it allows it, and do not open the port on a base serving other users unless a restart is acceptable.

Typing

Press Enter (or any letter or digit): the main menu appears and the display shows Serial Config. Its first line is the firmware version, the second the Bluetooth name.

  • Every choice is typed and confirmed with Enter: 1, s, 21, then Enter.
  • Letters are case sensitive: in the System menu b/B, r/R, s/S differ.
  • x, or Enter on an empty line, goes back one level; from the main menu it closes the menu.
  • Items asking for a value show a prompt: type it and press Enter; Backspace corrects.
  • On/off items change as soon as they are chosen, and the menu is shown again.
  • After 10 minutes without an answer the menu closes with No user response - Do you have line endings turned on?; with a terminal that sends no line ending no choice is accepted, and the menu ends the same way.
  • A choice that does not exist gets Unknown choice or Unknown value.

While the menu is open, over USB, Bluetooth or the network, an NTRIP client already connected and the ESP-Now corrections keep working: a rover stays in RTK. Most of the rest is suspended (network data, NTRIP server): close it as soon as you are done. Choosing a mode from the button menu closes it.

When changes are stored

Changes are kept in memory while moving through the menus and stored when the main menu is closed with x: settings to the internal memory and the copy on the microSD card, the GNSS configuration to the module. There is no separate Save. After a change to the NTRIP client, or to the minimum elevation or C/N0 of the GNSS menu, the station restarts its rover work (switching to rover even from base); after a change to the base settings it restarts the base, if working as a base. Items that act at once are listed under Warnings.

Status sentence with ~

Outside the menu, ~ returns one status sentence in NMEA format, for programs that poll the station:

$GNTXT,01,01,05,145730.50,290926,0.479,32,45.123456789,12.345678901,50.02,3,0,100*6F

After 05: UTC time, date (DDMMYY), horizontal accuracy (m), satellites in view, latitude, longitude, altitude (m), fix type, RTK solution (0 none, 1 float, 2 fix), battery (%). Without a working GNSS module the text is OFFLINE.

Remote access

The same menu can also be reached without the cable, in two ways.

Over the network. Through the TCP server port, with Remote config set to Console and a password: see TCP/UDP and remote access › Remote configuration.

Over Bluetooth. Connected over classic Bluetooth (SPP), send nothing for 2 seconds and then +++: the station answers Echoing all serial to BT device, its serial output also goes to Bluetooth and the menu is operated from that side (the USB side can only watch). Enter, or any letter or digit, opens the menu; the main menu gains b) Exit Bluetooth Echo mode, which ends the echo and closes the menu; losing the Bluetooth connection ends it too. No password is asked. The firmware check is not available over Bluetooth.

Warnings

Items that act at once or cannot be undone:

Where Item What happens
s r) Reset all settings to default after y, factory reset of the profile in use, internal file system and GNSS module, then restart (see System)
s S) Shut down switches off at once; a remote station can then only be switched on by hand
s B, R, W change the working mode, without confirmation, as soon as the menu is closed; with W (Config mode) rover or base work stops
s → d / h e) Erase internal file system erases profiles and settings stored inside the station and restarts, without asking
s → d / h / n r) Force system reset stores the settings and restarts at once
s → h t) Test Screen starts the factory test screen when the menu is closed
s → o 3) and 9) buffer sizes store the new value and restart at once
p select, reset, restore a profile restarts the station when the Profiles menu is closed
2 10) to 13) rewrite all the message rates, without confirmation
3 → 8/15 2) to 5) rewrite all the base RTCM rates, without confirmation
f u), 1), 2)… install a firmware and restart; from the microSD card the internal settings are also erased (Firmware update)

The Debug and tuning menus only add serial messages, but slow the station down if left on; the RTK Operation values are internal parameters, to change only if asked by the team.

Passwords are shown in clear

The GNSS, Base and WiFi menus show caster and WiFi passwords as they are. Hide them before sharing screenshots or logs of a serial session.