I’ve been impressed by the performance of the SOTA tracker and thought I’d like to set up an iGate at home (near Hay-On-Wye) to perhaps increase the coverage around here, which has a number of SOTA summits within range. I wondered if it was possible to configure or flash another SOTA tracker unit to act as an iGate, and link it to my home internet connection via its wifi. I know there are other ways to achieve an iGate using an Rpi and LoRa board etc, but if it’s possible to use the SOTA tracker hardware as it is, this seems like a simple quick way to get an iGate up and running. Forgive my ignorance if this is a silly question
You can use the SOTA tracker as a tracker, iGate, or Digipeater. It contains a Heltec Wireless Tracker board which can be flashed with Richardo’s iGate firmware by selecting the “Heltec Wireless Tracker” board.
In fact it’s what was in the payload of the RSGB high-altitude balloon (GB1HAB)- configured as a Digipeater with a tweaked version of Richardo’s iGate software:
I’ve ordered another tracker. I’m guessing I’ll have to use wifi to link into our router - unless I can use the USB to get a wired connection via Ethernet somehow.
The WiFi range is reasonable considering the size of the antenna - which easily snaps off if you are not careful!. Some of the iGates I run (MB7UWS-10, MB7UNP-10) are a considerable distance from an indoor WiFi router, so I install Wavelink AC600 Wireless Outdoor Routers nearby to ensure the iGates are no more than a few meters from an internet connection. The AC600 is PoE, so requires just single run of CAT6 cable to provide power and connect to the routers via Ethernet.
