Bench notes · LoRa · MicroPython

Getting started with LoRa in South Australia

A $30 board can send a few bytes several kilometres, with no SIM, no Wi-Fi and no licence. Out here, where farms, vineyards and trails sit well outside phone coverage, that makes LoRa one of the most useful radios you can learn. The trouble is the alphabet soup around it, so I've written a full guide for SA makers.

The short version

• Four names, one radio. LoRa is the radio. LoRaWAN is for sensors reporting data, while Meshtastic and MeshCore are for messaging without phone coverage.
• Mind the rules. Australia allows 915–928 MHz at up to 1 W EIRP, antenna gain included. Set your region to ANZ (Meshtastic) or AU915 (LoRaWAN) before you transmit, and skip 433 MHz boards.
• You're not alone. SA Mesh, the SA Meshtastic User Group and The Things Network SA are already on air around Adelaide. Join one before buying, so your settings match.
• What to buy. A Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V3 (about $35–45) for coding it yourself, or a RAK WisMesh node ($109.95+) for messaging out of the box.

Your first project

Two Heltec V3 boards, MicroPython and Thonny. One board sends a counter every 10 seconds, the other prints what it hears and the signal strength. Then you walk the sender down the street and watch the RSSI fall. It's the quickest way to find out how far LoRa really reaches from your place.