diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/mesh/BluetoothMeshService.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/mesh/BluetoothMeshService.kt
index a636042a..54539988 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/mesh/BluetoothMeshService.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/mesh/BluetoothMeshService.kt
@@ -1001,6 +1001,7 @@ class BluetoothMeshService(private val context: Context) {
                         // Exclude first (sender) and last (recipient); only intermediates
                         val intermediates = path.subList(1, path.size - 1)
                         val hopsBytes = intermediates.map { hexStringToByteArray(it) }
+                        Log.d(TAG, "✅ Signed packet type ${packet.type} (route ${hopsBytes.size} hops: $intermediates)")
                         packet.copy(route = hopsBytes)
                     } else packet.copy(route = null)
                 } else packet
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/protocol/BinaryProtocol.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/protocol/BinaryProtocol.kt
index 0a0c466a..fee7aaad 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/protocol/BinaryProtocol.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/protocol/BinaryProtocol.kt
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ data class BitchatPacket(
     val payload: ByteArray,
     var signature: ByteArray? = null,  // Changed from val to var for packet signing
     var ttl: UByte,
-    var route: List<ByteArray>? = null // Optional source route: ordered list of peerIDs (8 bytes each), including sender and final recipient
+    var route: List<ByteArray>? = null // Optional source route: ordered list of peerIDs (8 bytes each), not including sender and final recipient
 ) : Parcelable {
 
     constructor(