LoRa APRS iGate

The LoRa APRS iGate will work with very cheep hardware which you can buy from amazon, ebay or aliexpress. Try it out and be part of the APRS network.

TTGO LoRa32

Blog posts and Youtube videos from other Hams

Manuel Lausmann - iGate & Tracker (youtube - german) 04.06.2021
Manuel Lausmann - Installationsanleitung als PDF (PDF - german) 04.06.2021
OE1ROT (blog post - german) 14.11.2020
DL7AG (blog post - german) 08.11.2020
Manuel Lausmann - iGate (youtube - german - OLD) 06.11.2020
Manuel Lausmann - Tracker (youtube - german - OLD) 02.11.2020
OE1ROT (blog post - german) 09.12.2019

Feel free to add yours or create a ticket if you want to be added.

Supported boards

You can use one of the Lora32 boards without changes:

Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V1 (433MHz SX1278)
Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V2 (433MHz SX1278)
TTGO LoRa32 V1 (433MHz SX1278)
TTGO LoRa32 V2 (433MHz SX1278)
TTGO LoRa32 V2.1 (433MHz SX1278)
TTGO T-Beam V0.7 (433MHz SX1278)
TTGO T-Beam V1 (433MHz SX1278)
Tracker D from OE1ACM and OE1CGC
and sure many more...

Here are some amazon-de links for some example boards:

This boards cost around 20 Euros, they are very cheap and perfect for an LoRa iGate. Keep in mind: you need a 433MHz version!

Compiling and configuration

There is a german quick start page! Take a look ;)

There is a french quick start page! Take a look ;)

How to compile

The best success is to use PlatformIO (and it is the only platform where I can support you).

Go to PlatformIO download and install the IDE.
If installed open the IDE, go to the left side and click on 'extensions' then search for 'PlatformIO' and install.
When installed click 'the ant head' on the left and choose import the project on the right.
Just open the folder and you can compile the Firmware.

Configuration

You can find all necessary settings to change for your configuration in data/is-cfg.json.
To upload it to your board you have to do this via Upload File System image in PlatformIO!
To find the 'Upload File System image' click the PlatformIO symbol (the little alien) on the left side, choose your configuration, click on 'Platform' and search for 'Upload File System image'.

Branches in this repository and version system

This firmware is developed in a rolling release system: everyday a new release could be created. But there are still rules where new pull requests has to go and and how the version system looks like.

Version system

If the develop branch is stable enough for a new release it will be merged with a pull request to the master branch and a new version will be generated.

The versions are based on this settings:

major: the current year (2 digits)
minor: the current week of the year
patch: if there is a important fix for an release, just increment the number, otherwise 0

example: a new release will be created on the 11/14/2020, this version numbers will be used:

major: 20
minor: 46
patch: 0

so the version will be: 20.46.0

Future plans

LoRa Tracker

Look at my other project: a LoRa Tracker

Hints

Here are some peculiarities of the different boards

TTGO T-Beam V1.0 and V1.1 and SSD1306 OLED display

When adding an SSD1306 0,96" OLED display direct to the board you have to be careful, there are two different pinout versions on the market. For direct mount you need a display with this Pinout -> VCC - GND - SCL - SDA. A direct mount of the other display is not possible without damage the display! The 'wrong' display works too but you have to change VCC and GND by wire !

The LoRa APRS WiKi Displays page has more details.

Feel free to add hints!