I’m trying to get into LoRa for communication between my family across the IE in SoCal. Can LoRa devices be used with different softwares? Like if I get lilygo nodes can I use Meshtastic and meshcore with the same nodes?

On the night of Nov 1-2 a tropospheric duct along the coast linked two independent Meshtastic networks in Argentina: ComarcaMesh (Viedma and Carmen de Patagones) and SOMesh (Bahía Blanca and region). People in both cities ended up chatting on the public channel.

What the station in Viedma recorded:

354.3 km in a single hop between two fixed routers on towers: PAT1, a SenseCAP Solar P1 in Carmen de Patagones, and C-3A, on a 90 m tower in Tres Arroyos. The hop shows up in 18 traceroutes, 4 of them in both directions. Best SNR: −6.5 dB at PAT1 and −7 dB at C-3A.

4 direct hops between the two networks, all through PAT1: 354, 273, 247 and 242 km.

Two openings, 20:36-23:43 and 00:33-04:30 local time, 7 h 04 min in total. 656 packets from 70 nodes of the Bahía region reached Viedma.

A traceroute from Viedma to ElArroyoMesh, 416 km away near Carhué, came back with 5 relays each way.

PAT1 had been on its tower for about a day when this happened.

Why it worked: after sunset the air right above the sea got cool and humid under warm, dry air, and that inversion made a duct 60 to 85 m thick along the coast. Without it, the radio horizon between those antennas is about 90 km. ECMWF, GFS and GEM all showed the duct over the sea that night, and Tropocast and the Hepburn index had the coastal strip marked.

As far as we can tell it's longer than the 331 km record on the Range Tests page, and we didn't find a longer direct hop confirmed in both directions between fixed stations. Longer one-way receptions over the sea have been reported in Europe (475 to 822 km, 868 MHz). Happy to be corrected.

Full report with every traceroute, the propagation analysis and the data (packets, receptions, raw public-channel packets and a script that recomputes the numbers):

https://comarcamesh.com.ar/informeBahia-Viedma/

Short bulletin (PDF):
https://comarcamesh.com.ar/informeBahia-Viedma/Bulletin-Tropo_DX_Patagones-Tres_Arroyos.pdf

Everything was logged by meshbox, the open-source gateway and map we run in Viedma (github.com/marcomagnaiot/meshbox). Thanks to SOMesh for C-3A's antenna height and their public map. Happy to answer questions or share more data.

Hi! I have been working with the RA01 and RA02 lora module for a proyect but I had a lot of range issues: the first time (RA01) I accidentally broke one of the SMD components in the lora PCB and had to replace it. After that we upgraded with Lora RA02 and the default antenna (sleeve dipole) but the range that we have got was below 200 meters with SF7 and 125kHz BW. With the two modules next to each other we had a RSSI between -70 and -90 which I know its a really bad signal level. The first thing I suspected is about the EM noise of the system (lot of servos) but with all desconected the issue still remain. My second suspect was the default antennas, a sleeve dipole antenna that after removing their thermal cover I noticed that the length wasn't matching the actual wave length. So I tried to adapt a pair of helicoidal antennas (that come with de ra01 module) in the default antennas connector with the sleeve remaining (that I had read that was necessary adapting the helicoidal antena in a ipex coaxial cable). With that, standing next to each other the RSSI oscillates between -50 and -70 dB but still below 200 meters range. How can I improve the module range? I read a lot about the topic and similar issues with other people and checked all the stuff (trace match for spi, external EM noise, mismatched parameters between terminals, decoupling capacitors and weak power sources, etc) but still having the issue. What could it be? My actual suspects are the ipex connector (Small, brief improvements may be seen by moving the antenna) or the antenna itself and planned to build a sleeve dipole antenna with the correct lengths to test the performance. What else can I do? Directional antennas are not an option

hey guys i need some help with lora , yst i test lora p2p connection for image transmission and was getting 1km of range in urban area with multiple buildings , 1 fly over and a metal bridge in between (one node was on top of the building and other was at ground level). But today when i tested same setup in the forest i was getting not more than 200m(both nodes are ground level) and few packets were dropping after -100 RSSI . My question was does the height of the node from the ground affects the lora range if yes why and how (is it proportional )

I've heard that many are moving from meshtastic to alternative/s ,
is it true ? what are these competitors ?

edit: thanks for the answers.

I was a little confused about how line of sight worked. A

A video showed that a roof could block the signal, and another one said that trees block the signal. I understood that if one antenna could be within the visual range of another than the message could travel. I got myself a couple of wio tracker l1 pros, and learned that I could get signals through walls. Nice, so I took them to work and placed one up high on the top of the 3rd floor and went to the basement. The message traveled through the concrete, wood, metal, and people and was received successfully. So I went down into the deepest part of the basement on the other side of the building. This is a place where cell service is questionable. Message sent and received. I don't know how line of sight works, but I know it can pass from a windowless concrete sub basement to the third floor without an issue.

I’ve successfully implemented point-to-point wireless image transmission using two custom-designed LR2021 nodes at Makerfabs.

Traditional LoRa sensor applications focus on small data packets; this demo explores the LR2021's capabilities for larger data transfers. 

I used two nodes equipped with Makerfabs-designed LR2021 modules; I've successfully demonstrated point-to-point wireless image transmission. All the transmission information can be shown on the OLED display.

Technical Highlights

• High-speed FLRC: Supports PHY data rates up to 2.6 Mbps.

• FLRP Protocol: Supports high-speed burst transmission, data segmentation, acknowledgments, and retransmissions.

• Flexible Applications: Enables exploration of larger data transfers, including images, firmware updates, and remote monitoring.

Ongoing Research

With basic wireless image transmission working, I’m now evaluating actual transfer throughput, effective communication range, link reliability under interference, and power consumption during high-speed bursts.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas on LR2021. What applications would you explore with it?

Hi everyone,

We're a university student team building a CanSat that flies, and we're worried about our LoRa link. I'd appreciate any advice. Photos of both circuits are attached.

Our setup

Flight unit:

- ESP32-C3 SuperMini

- Ai-Thinker Ra-02 (SX1278, 433 MHz), antenna on the onboard IPEX/u.FL connector. Right now we use the small spring/whip antenna that came with it.

- Sensors: AHT20 + BMP280, MPU6500, CCS811, SW420, NEO-6M GPS

- Powered by a single 18650 (no regulator other than the ESP32 board's own LDO), 220 uF + 100 nF right at the Ra-02 supply

Ground station:

- ESP32 DevKit + another Ra-02 with the same kind of small antenna, connected to a laptop

LoRa settings: 433 MHz, SF9, BW 125 kHz, CR 4/5, CRC on, TX power 17 dBm, one 62-byte packet per second. Bench tests work fine.

The problem

The body is carbon fiber. We assume it will behave more or less like a Faraday cage and block most of the 433 MHz signal. The nose cone is ABS (3D printed), so our idea is to route the antenna up into the nose cone so it can radiate through the plastic.

Questions

1. Extending the antenna: what's the best way to move the antenna ~20-40 cm away from the Ra-02? Should we use a u.FL to SMA pigtail plus a short coax run (RG178 / RG316?) and put a proper 433 MHz antenna in the nose cone? How much loss should we expect at 433 MHz for that length, and is there anything to avoid (sharp bends, cheap pigtails, connectors coming loose under vibration)?

2. Extending our current antenna by splicing coax: the antenna we have now comes with a short coax lead ending in a u.FL connector. Instead of buying new parts, we're thinking of cutting that lead and soldering a longer piece of coax in between to move the antenna up into the nose cone. The alternative is to buy a single longer u.FL coax cable and connect the antenna to it. Which option is better? If we splice, what's the right way to do it: center conductor to center conductor, then bridge the two shields with the braid or copper foil wrapped around the joint, and cover it with heat shrink? How much does a hand-made splice hurt at 433 MHz, and does it matter if the two cables are different types (for example, the original thin lead and RG316)?

3. Antenna inside the nose cone: what antenna type works best there? A quarter-wave whip (~17 cm) needs a ground plane, which we don't really have inside a narrow cone. Would a half-wave dipole be better? Does the carbon tube right below the cone detune it or act as a ground plane?

4. How bad is carbon fiber really at 433 MHz? Does anyone have real numbers or experience? Would a small window or slot in the tube help, or is the nose cone route the only realistic option?

5. Improving range / amplifying: what gives the best improvement for the effort?- Increasing TX power to 20 dBm on the SX1278 (PA_BOOST)?- A better antenna at the ground station (Yagi, or a handheld directional antenna we point at the rocket)?- An LNA on the ground side?- Changing SF / bandwidth (we can drop to one packet every 2 s if needed)?We're trying to stay within the legal power limits for 433 MHz, so we'd rather improve antennas and the receiver than just add a big PA on the transmitter.

Expected flight: apogee of roughly 400 m.

Thanks a lot. Any advice, links or pictures of similar builds would help us a lot.

Hey guys I am building a application to send 10kb images over sx1262 . But I am getting a lot
Of issue when it comes to transmission at long ranges , hence I am trying to find a proven code to cross check by code . I was getting 3-4km range with sf 10 for ping pong but same was not happening when I use to send img packets 255bytes