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.

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

Supported boards

You can use one of the Lora32 boards without changings :

• 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:

• LoRa32 V1
• LoRa32 V1
• LoRa32 V2
• LoRa32 V2.1
• T-Beam V1.0

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

Compiling

How to compile

The best success is to use PlatformIO.

• Go to PlatformIO download and install the IDE.
• If installed open the IDE, go to the left side and klick on 'extensions' then search for 'PatformIO' 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.

Here is a Video tutorial in german language how to install the software.

Dependencies

• LoRa by Sandeep Mistry
• APRS-IS-Lib by Peter Buchegger
• APRS-Decoder-Lib by Peter Buchegger
• LoRa-APRS-Lib by Peter Buchegger
• ArduinoJson by Benoit Blanchon
• AXP202X_Library by Lewis He
• Adafruit SSD1306 by Adafruit (with all dependecies)
• NTPClient by Fabrice Weinberg

But you don't need to download all this libs, PlatformIO will take care for you ;)

Configuration

• You can find all nessesary 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, choos your configuration, click on 'Platform' and search for 'Upload File System image'.

LoRa APRS iGates on aprs.fi

Feel free to add a link to your iGate here:

• OE5BPA-10

Future plans

• show time until next beaconing
• show login issues from IS server
• add better OLED library to support multiple different OLEDs
• add support to turn OLED on, off and dimming
• add support for temperature chips (BMExxx)
• add FTP server support to upload configuration
• add web server for configuration and other things
• add statistics for received packages
• show received packages on a map
• etc.

LoRa Tracker

Look at my other project: a LoRa Tracker

Hints

Here are some peculiarities of the different boards

• TTGO T-Beam V1

When adding a 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 !

feel free to add hints!