With growing popularity in Europe, especially in Germany, we’ve decided to bring the LoRa based APRS tracking system to Chicagoland by building a network of Digipeaters and iGates able to receive 433Mhz APRS beacons.
LoRa is a chirp spread spectrum technology able to receive signals far below the noise floor. Therefore with a lot less RF power we can achieve the same results as in a conventional 2m APRS system.
LoRa based devices, which can be used as iGates, Digipeaters and Trackers are widely available on the consumer market for just a few bucks. The code which makes them useful for amateur radio tracking is also easy to obtain and it’s been developed by fellow hams.
With all that in mind and as it’s been mentioned above, PAAROS has decided to join the effort of popularizing the LoRa APRS system in the Chicago area. We have high ambitions to cover the area all the way from the south border of Milwaukee to the south side of Joliet (see the pic below). Our iGates and Digipeaters are set to listen on 433.775Mhz with the following settings: BW 125khz CR 4:5 SF 12 @ 300bps.
The image above is showing the result we may achieve if everyone of our crew who, as of today, has decided to build the LoRa network makes it “hearable” from 15 miles away. This is very ambitious but one has to aim high in order to achieve something.
The real LoRa based APRS traffic and Digi/iGates with some data collected by the system can be viewed at this website: lora.ham-radio-op.net
We believe that with some minimal effort from the ham radio community, we can really build an inexpensive and reliable LoRa based APRS tracking system in Chicagoland. Let us know if you are up for the game. Shoot us an email or comment on Facebook. Join our Network or just build your own iGate, Digipeater (and tracker). And please don’t be shy and ask for help if needed. We’re still learning as well but we’ll be more than happy to help and share our knowledge.
73 de NA9PL
PAAROS LoRa APRS Network Team
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