Modern Ham Radio: 6 Reasons why LoRa Matters

 

Before COVID was a thing, the HVDN team worked on a project called HASviolet. The underlying wireless technology for this was LoRa. The timing was great for us to get into this spread spectrum technology as the costs for consumer hobbyists were coming down and the possibilities were endless or so we thought back in 2018 and into 2019.  

There are many, many videos by all the famous ham radio people on YouTube covering this also, so chances are you have heard of LoRa by now right?

This article is going to focus on six clear reasons why if you are involved in ham radio and our modern digital future, you need to get up to speed about LoRa now. And.... we are only hyperlinking once, so get ready to do some massive Google action for things mentioned below! 

Lessons learned from a presentation made at a few ham clubs a few years ago, we were early adopters in HVDN and now the rest of the world can catch up to us now that there is more to do and easier to buy.  

This article does not apply to people who think that HF and CW is the pinnacle of ham radio, so do NOT start making comparisons because LoRa has different goals, mostly deployed on the 70cm and 33cm bands.  Here we go...

Reason #1:  Its another mode with infinite settings - In LoRa language, there are some settings you can adjust that give you optimized communication.  As in "traditional" ham radio, in voice modes like AM, FM and SSB, you can change your bandwidth and audio to your liking. 

With Morse code, you can change how fast or slow you send with the aid of your radio features plus how to filter out adjacent signals.  With digital voice modes like DMR, you really do not adjust anything, just the destination details like color code, time slot and talk group. 

Other modes like D-Star, Fusion, NXDN, P25, there are other things you change relative to destination, but with these you can also send different non-voice payloads like location, texts and limited telemetry.  LoRa also does not compete directly with the likes of FT8, PSK31, RTTY, etc since it can do so much more. Closest competitor in terms of utility might be VARA, but its still not the same.

It is hard to RTFM if no manual exists. Welcome to LoRa and many other modern things which only include out of date limited print material. Its no longer 1979. Lets move on here.

With LoRa, you adjust the frequency and bandwidth plus specific settings for spread factor (SF) and coding rate.  The right blend of settings can provide short and fast transmissions for short range communication or longer and slower communications for greater range plus higher overall throughput or data speeds.  

There are many options in between which give you higher or lower data rates too.  This is important depending on what you are communicating and how often. LoRa does not support voice communications though, but can actually have up to eight distinct simultaneous channels for different needs and that is actually pretty cool.

There are preset options for frequency and the right settings to chose from are built in to many projects already.  The top non-academic level projects to look into are Meshtastic, HASviolet and LoRa APRS.

 All three are ready for use and support many different applications not found elsewhere in amateur radio today using advanced waveforms, low signal to noise ratios and options around spread spectrum technology at very low cost. Beware that interoperability is still being worked on given frequency and setting variances.

Reason #2: It is a cheap way into ham radio for people who do not speak - Sure, you can go and buy a cheap Baofeng or Quansheng radio for VHF/UHF voice communications or any other inexpensive radio that may do digital voice modes like DMR with or without some extra messaging capability.   You can also buy and build some type of 40m CW lower end kit for around the same price. 

Sure you can use a wire and connect the radio to your computer device and do limited data over audio channels. 

Price is not the goal here, but for under $50.00 you can buy a pair of either 433-510 MHz or 900-928 MHz LoRa radios plus maybe a case for both.   

While all the projects mentioned support either frequency range, there are benefits to both options.  

If you plan to coordinate with others, try to all buy the right spectrum radios.  It is worth noting that the M17 mode boards available for under $50 today can do both voice and data, but require a 9600bd capable radio and is still the same type of 12.5 kHz signal used by other digital voice modes. So we are still not talking about price.  For under $50 you can buy two LoRa radios on 70cm, install the right code for which over project catches your eye and that is all you need along with an antenna for greater range.

Reason #3:  It offers great community value  -  If you and your local friends can actually plan together, you can communicate in interesting ways with LoRa. 

Depending on the project you like best, its possible to bounce your signals from one another using mesh features or over a wider distance via a well placed digipeater. 

While most LoRa options are low transmit power, the range is pretty impressive and this allows both ham radio and unlicensed people to talk to each other with LoRa. As a ham, you can use higher power and create nodes that serve the whole community.  Be careful however when selecting frequencies so that you do not share unlicensed users over a digipeater created via LoRa in amateur radio.

Here is your chance to actually do something for the community because no one who is not a ham could care less about your morning "fiddle faddle good guy net". 

Your neighbors can check in with one another if the internet or cellular network goes down. 

This is your chance to do something without a 130ft wire antenna and the cult like aura of Morse code or even the local analog voice repeater where some "morning drive" discussions take on some form of papal like positioning.  

Once you get your community engaged with LoRa, then you can try and suck them in to the parts of the hobby you like better later on.  Again,  LoRa could be a great gateway into ham radio if thought about correctly.

Reason #4:  Gets you out of the house - We know you want to sit in your shack or pack your car full of gear to go to a park and bring way too much equipment to play "Parks On The Air".  With a LoRa device, you can look for other signals and be surprised who may be using LoRa, especially via Meshtastic if everyone is using the same frequency and settings.  

Clip a node to your dog collar or hide one on your wife's bag to track them, if you have a LoRa device with GPS. Give one to your kid or grandchild to stay in touch with you in an area with bad cellphone coverage.  It is easy to pair a LoRa device to your smartphone to create a modern text communicator.

There are many things you can do with LoRa and it also makes a great discussion point the next time you are doing POTA and no one cares about 20m contact park leader points.   If you are into SOTA, this may really get fun during summit to summit contacts especially since these are very small and light weight.  

You may even wish to visit your local library to have them print a 3D case for you if you do not own a 3D printer. So, anything with LoRa may get you doing something different somewhere different and possibly with different people for different reasons.

Reason #5: People who have 3D Printers will love it - If you have a 3D printer, now you can print cases for your local community which are customized how you like them for a LoRa based project. This also gives you reasons to find unique places or uses for a LoRa device to help justify why you bought your printer in the first place.

If you got into digital modes like DMR, D-Star, etc via a MMDVM based hotspot, think of LoRa as the next thing you need a 3D printed case for.

 

Reason #6:  Update the software to do really cool things - Best for last. If you use the Meshtastic software and want to try something else, just flash the new program to the ESP32 LoRa device you have or whatever other option you acquired.  

It is super easy to change things around and then even make you rethink your device case since you may now want to connect sensors to your LoRa device.  Have you ever wanted a mailbox alert to know when your small Amazon packages get shover in your postal box?  You can do that!  

There are so many options to explore and software is usually free, thanks to a community of opensource people. 

Heck, maybe if even gets you dabbling in some code without feeling overwhelmed since the projects mentioned here are well documented on Git.

Ok, now that I have your attention 

You are probably thinking, what to buy and where to buy it. Ham radio people often jump at the chance to spend a little money. And, by little I mean little.  That last under $50 HT you bought because you saw a video on YouTube or a local friend got one is a great example.  

How about those under $50 ham clock screens for your shack?  YES!  LoRa is now another thing competing for your under $50 spending.

Before you go and buy something, please do a little more research.  This is not for someone who struggles to find the power switch on a computer, how to use CHIRP software, or does not yet know that Raspberry Pi is not a snack.

The good news is there are people who did the hard work for you already to help guide what you buy, but beware, not all LoRa products are the same. Here are the tips for making your first LoRa related purchase.

Tip #1 -  Spectrum choice. It is likely better to purchase 70cm (420-450 MHz) capable equipment compared to the 33cm (900-928 MHz) type.  Be sure what you are buying is the correct frequency range. Some options on Amazon may be unclear so be 100% sure of this first before buying.

Tip #2 - LoRa is not always a finished product. While there are some really cool things on Etsy, Amazon and others sites you can find simply by searching for "LoRa".  Likely a case is the most important thing to put an unfished LoRa board in. Here is an example if you want to get started which includes a basic case, but not self contained in any other way.

Tip #3 - Power!  The Heltec v2 board linked in the above tip can run on a battery, but this means you need to buy a battery and a case to put your radio in. This means you will do some more research. A great example can be found on Etsy via a reputable seller who often gets sold out quickly since he prints on demand per order, but are top quality. If you have your own 3D printer, you can print the cases yourself though since the plans are in public.  Really consider power to your device early on to help you with future use cases.

Tip #4 - How do you use it?   The Heltec or TTGO options out there based around an ESP32 provide the ability to connect the LoRa board to a computer or smartphone over USB, WiFi or Bluetooth. If you plan to build some sort of "LoRa Base Station" for use at home connected to an amplifier and larger antenna, using USB is fine since it can power a board and provide communications at the same time without needing a battery.

Tip #5 - Oh, this is sort of like APRS for tracking things?  Yes, LoRa can be used for that. Not every LoRa board has GPS built in. Many boards can connect an external GPS to it if you wish to add that later. Many applications can still send location data without a GPS since you can either manually put coordinates in or use the GPS from your smartphone.  I would advise start with the two pack of LoRa mentioned above first and then perhaps buy a device like a TTGO T-Beam which is almost all self contained, including battery.

Tip #6 - Tell your friends!!  For this to work, we need more people using LoRa. There are groups focused on frequency standard like 433.775 as being a common one so far, but with different spread and coding rate.   If a few digipeaters can be put up somewhere using this inexpensive equipment, communications range is increased. Parts or Europe have been ahead of one North American country for a few years now, not surprisingly as example. 

Finishing Up

There are no links above in article which is different compared to many HVDN articles. We are trying to encourage you to go and search on your own. That is why!