diff --git a/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/session.rs b/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/session.rs
index af449343..9ca361bd 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/session.rs
+++ b/core/archipelago/src/mesh/listener/session.rs
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ async fn handle_send_command(
             // payload with a recipient pubkey-prefix header so the
             // receiver side can tell it apart from normal channel text.
             let wrapped = wrap_dm_via_channel(&dest_pubkey_prefix, &payload);
-            if let Err(e) = device.send_channel_text(1, &wrapped).await {
+            if let Err(e) = device.send_channel_text(0, &wrapped).await {
                 *consecutive_write_failures += 1;
                 warn!(failures = *consecutive_write_failures, "Failed to send DM via channel: {}", e);
             } else {
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ async fn handle_send_command(
                 // Single frame — wraps under 160B. 160 − 7 wrapper − some
                 // safety margin leaves ≈133 bytes for the base64 payload.
                 let wrapped = wrap_dm_via_channel(&dest_pubkey_prefix, encoded.as_bytes());
-                if let Err(e) = device.send_channel_text(1, &wrapped).await {
+                if let Err(e) = device.send_channel_text(0, &wrapped).await {
                     *consecutive_write_failures += 1;
                     warn!(failures = *consecutive_write_failures, "Failed to send raw DM-via-channel: {}", e);
                 } else {
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ async fn handle_send_command(
                 for (idx, chunk) in chunks.iter().enumerate() {
                     let frame = format!("MC{:02x}{:02x}{:02x}{}", msg_id, idx as u8, total, chunk);
                     let wrapped = wrap_dm_via_channel(&dest_pubkey_prefix, frame.as_bytes());
-                    if let Err(e) = device.send_channel_text(1, &wrapped).await {
+                    if let Err(e) = device.send_channel_text(0, &wrapped).await {
                         *consecutive_write_failures += 1;
                         warn!(failures = *consecutive_write_failures, chunk = idx, "Chunk DM-via-channel send failed: {}", e);
                         break;
diff --git a/neode-ui/src/views/Mesh.vue b/neode-ui/src/views/Mesh.vue
index 9398f5c2..55d146f4 100644
--- a/neode-ui/src/views/Mesh.vue
+++ b/neode-ui/src/views/Mesh.vue
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ let pollInterval: ReturnType<typeof setInterval> | null = null
 // + RF region. Slot 1 is set by archipelago first-boot to a hash derived
 // from the channel_name, so all archipelago nodes are guaranteed on the
 // same channel regardless of region.
-const publicChannel = { index: 1, name: 'Public' }
+const publicChannel = { index: 0, name: 'Public' }
 
 // Channel contact_id convention: matches backend u32::MAX - channel_index
 function channelContactId(channelIndex: number): number {