A while ago someone was going to install a Lora to 2m system in my woods to connect with my 2m digipeater. Unfortunately this didn’t happen. However, I would still like to get something working there. Any pointers on doing this or does anyone fancy trying it themselves? My wood is a very good location for covering the Cheshire Plain and N Wales.
Are there cheap Lora modules for 2m ?
Interesting video on the subject:
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This is the module that I bought for the receiver:
To set it up you need to compile and write the firmware to the module.
It needs a WiFi connection to send data to APRS-IS.
The range on my setup seems pretty poor though - not sure if it’s the transmitter or receiver that’s the issue. Reveiver is connected to a dipole in the attic, the attic roof probably attenuates the very weak signal a bit too much.
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TTGO LoRa32 V2.1 _ 1,6 Version 433/868/915 Mhz ESP32 LoRa
This is indeed what I use too for ON6ZQ-15.
But it is 70cm, not 2m…
The concept was a Lora 70cm RX which decodes and then retransmits APRS at very low power on 2m. That is heard by my digipeater for onward transmission.
Sounds fun to build, but it might be a lot easier to use two boards running GitHub - lora-aprs/LoRa_APRS_iGate: This is a LoRa APRS iGate/Digi based on an ESP32 , one in your woods configured as digipeater, and the other at a place a few kilometers away where there is wi-fi available as the actual IGATE.
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I guess it’s possible that there’s a Lora igate in range? IO83vg.
There’s one at IO82lx if I plug it in, but I think it might be out of range with the current antenna.
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The Lora thing does interest me, especially as I am currently playing with a couple of Rasbery pi APRS igates with RTL SDR receivers.
What sort of range would you expect from a Lora tracker? Am I correct in assuming that the trackers are licence exempt as they sit in the industrial, scientific and medical frequency allocation?
Paul.
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The frequency of 439.9125 MHz seems to be the one for Lora trackers ( I think that’s the frequency Ofcom gave @M0JKS for an unattended beacon NoV) which which sits outside the ISM allocation of 433.05 - 434.79 MHz. You can program the module to transmit in the ISM band, but the receivers need to be listening on this frequency.
The furthest my beacon has been picked up that I know about is 40 km away (by @GW4BVE ), but sometimes I can’t receive it at home when I’m only a few km away.
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I have ordered the same unit (I think) from Amazon see link below. It was more or less the same price as the Alliexpress unit when you take postage into account and free postage with Amazon.
DollaTek LORA32 V2.0 433MHz ESP32 LoRa OLED 0.96 Inch Display screen SD Card Blue Bluetooth WIFI Module with Antenna Amazon.co.uk
After watching the YouTube link earlier in this thread posted by Christophe I have also ordered one with GPS from Amazon also.
Fasizi T-Beam 433MHZ ESP32 WiFi wireless Bluetooth Module ESP 32 GPS NEO-M8N IPEX LORA 32 18650 Battery holder Amazon.co.uk
They arrive today, so I will have a play over the weekend 
You can pick them up free from met balloons. A mate here has a couple that he recovered.
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Hi Peter
I noticed that you pinged my Lora igate today. Just to let you known my 70cm / 2m antenna is currently only leaning against the fence for testing. I have ordered some coax and so you have back up on the side of the house this week.
I plan to use a splitter so I can run the APRS and Lora igates from the same antenna if the loss from splitter isn’t too bad.
Paul.
I’m glad it’s working.
I should have plugged it into the big antenna on GW/NW-032 to see how far it could be heard, but the thunderstorms were approaching and it rained for the last mile back to the car so probably best I didn’t stick around for any longer.
John’s igate seems to be doing a pretty good job at picking people up, he heard me on the way tot he summit.
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