#271

Reaching long distances with LoRa devices can be an exciting hobby. Today we will build a simple robot to automate the task and so increase our chance to post the next record!
Links:
Sketches: github.com/Sen...
TTGO LoRa Module: s.click.aliexpr...
or bit.ly/2OHUwYw
or amzn.to/2V7i77K
JPmeijers Github: github.com/jpm...
Radiowave propagation: en.wikipedia.o...
Supporting Material and Blog Page: www.sensorsiot.org
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[@Cptnbond]

Thanks Andreas, this was a hidden tresure, atleast for me! Strange that this have not been seen by many, I found it, by "accident" in your playlist LoRa. I got my ham radio license today so I'm really into radio now.

[@AndreasSpiess]

This video is not yet published. So you saw it very early...

[@mk-hh]

Danke Herr Spiess!! Da ich das nur als Hobby mache und nicht so gut programmieren kann, habe ich durch Ihre Videos Erfolge erzielen können!! Danke für Ihre Kompetenz und Ihre Gabe diese erfolgreich weiter zu geben !!

[@ZillionPrey]

Jetzt fehlen nur noch die english Kenntnisse damit der Rest der Zuschauer das auch lesen kann :)

[@AndreasSpiess]

Das freut mich sehr. Danke!

[@freedom2000]

Well done Andreas ! Stupid or "useless" projects are often the most exciting ones ! JP

[@AndreasSpiess]

At least I like it :-)

[@rishav4343]

your qr pic looks like hitler

[@JakobWierzbowski]

Lieber Herr Spiess: mal wieder der helle Wahnsinn! Sie sind eine der kompetentesten Personen auf dieser Plattform. Dankeschön.

[@dicktonyboy]

Diese Videos werden in einer sehr sicheren, gepolsterten Zelle veröffentlicht.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Vielen Dank für die netten Worte! Das is motivierend.

[@springwoodcottage4248]

Fascinating & although I have no current need for any of this it is super useful to see the sort of things that can be done & the means. Thanks for sharing!

[@AndreasSpiess]

A similar idea is also used by ham operators (WSPR)

[@anibaloliveira6111]

Great video, for someone who is just starting... Many thanks for your time 🤗

[@AndreasSpiess]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Dhamian]

If you reverse your line of thinking, you've just made a Troposphere condition analyzer.

[@PhG1961]

Awesome video and a very particular/interesting approach of the topic.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you!

[@DuneKraftwerk]

Flat earth believers will break this record easily!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Only with at least one hill ;-)

[@highdesert50]

Brilliant ... WSPR for the masses. Keep up the imaginative work. You are an inspiration.

[@AndreasSpiess]

You see where I come from ;-)

[@oleeide9763]

As always excellent stuff, I wasnt really that interested in Lora and radio communication, but now I have to try it myself.. Hmm this an expensive channel to watch, hehe.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Cheaper than many "gadget" channels ;-)

[@joostwestra]

Nice idea. Would be nice to see a new record in these special conditions. However I think I have a recommendation that will improve the chances of succes. Decrease the payload size to (almost) zero. As you know this will decrease the Air Time. Which in turn will improve the succes rate per message (conditions could be short lived, less chance of collisions,..) And you would also be able to send more messages-> increasing the chances of hitting the right circumstances. Sending exactly the same coordinates just feels "wasteful" in this scenario. As far as I can see the complete flow would still work in the NodeRed scenario if you hardcode the sender coordinates there. For TTN mapper it would still work with a "linked" mobile phone next to it (not so elegant). Is there another way to "lock" the coordinates of a sender? Or you could just leave out TTN mapper completely. You probably though about this as well a prioritised the TTN integration. Love your channel especially the LoRa content.

[@AndreasSpiess]

So something to improve. I like that!

[@avejst]

Impressive walkthrough Well done Thanks for sharing😀👍

[@AndreasSpiess]

You are welcome!

[@henrykzajac8001]

Usless but entertaining, I thinkt thats the definition of hobby :)

[@dicktonyboy]

There is a whole sub-culture of 'nurdiness' behind this video. You are well advised to stay away (it's a dark, dark pit) :)

[@jafinch78]

No way stupid. Excellent info for sure. Thinking why some invested so heavily in weather modification... I mean... understanding and improving predictions of the weather. I'm thinking on some days was like GPS where when predictions were not so good... we the consumers didn't get the best performing GPS. Once updated with the access to the available good data and predictions... well... in the U.S. weather predictions became good or at least decent with all the info that we can use to predict, over time also, via radar near real time. I'm not sure familiar with the LoRa, though your presentations are compelling to look into more. I thought the first part was excellent for sure. Originally was thinking a turret type tracker with dish or directional antenna before I watched. Interesting the ability to integrate data and I didn't even know about the TTN. Interesting.

[@AndreasSpiess]

There are a few other LoRa videos on this channel. Most of them more useful than this one ;-)

Gute Idee als Ergänzung zu FT8!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Vielleicht auch für andere Leute (ohne Lizenz). Ist ähnlich wie WSPR.

[@SteveWrightNZ]

Nice work Andreas. It is curious to see the Maker community in a parallel world to Amateur Radio. All of these experiments have an already existing Amateur equivalent, whilst each is largely unaware of the other. I have to apologise for the Amateur community - I think they, er, we could be more inviting, and maybe even give free tech licenses to Makers who demonstrate good knowledge and experience in the art of radio. Sadly, I don't see them doing that, even though much of the maker community would run circles around many hams, technically. Maybe that's the reason..

[@strange0eye]

Then take the test. It's easier than taking the written drivers license test. Don't need to know morse code anymore for the technician level.

[@SteveWrightNZ]

@@strange0eye You miss my point. I mean to say, that one of these very similar communities could reach out to the other in some nice gesture, what that gesture might be, and why it would be the beginning of a quality friendship. Saying "go do the test then" is arrogant and unwelcoming, and self-evident of most hams, sadly.

[@strange0eye]

@@SteveWrightNZ -- Sorry you have a bad taste in your mouth. I've had nothing but good interactions between both sides. Of course, most of that has been face to face interactions. What about you? If you are judging by internet interactions well that answers your question and explains why you missed MY point and injected some negative connotation to my comment. Find a local Ham club and go talk to them the old fashion way. Although, I've been licensed since the 80's, I still don't have much Ham equipment because it's expensive as hell. Also, there are a lot of non-licensed people abusing the Ham "space" similar to all the drone abusers ruin it for those that play by the rules.

[@SteveWrightNZ]

@@strange0eye Nice try trying to convert my topic into your topic, but it won't work. Perhaps start off your own comment elsewhere?

[@strange0eye]

@@SteveWrightNZ -- Well thanks for ending the conversation as you are obviously a snowflake, educated by the internet, sovereign citizen type who has this unfounded sense of entitlement that you should be able to do whatever you want. So, I will leave you with an analogy... Just because someone has their standard drivers license; does that mean that they should be allowed to drive a motorcycle, semi-truck and fly a Cessna 172 too!? If that doesn't make sense to you, sorry. What I do know is most of you internet commenters wouldn't say the same thing in a face to face scenario. This is a public comment forum... start my own!? Oh geez... please... I'll pay for your vasectomy... please don't procreate your genes any further. Buh Bye.

[@101jtag]

Dear Andreas, please limit the number of extremely useful nuggets of knowledge to 150 per minute, so that I can keep up ! Another brilliant one, many thanks

[@phillipmcmahon5949]

Love this channel. Englishman in Zurich :) I'm curious who down votes this stuff and why...

[@strange0eye]

Because their parents never paid any attention to them. You could post a video of a child playing with a puppy and some miserable bloke will down vote it....sad.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Me too ;-)

[@wombat9999]

@@AndreasSpiess - Your wife because she wants you to stop making videos and mow the lawn?? 8-)

[@AndreasSpiess]

Maybe. Never thought about that!

[@vladoportos]

Very nice, thanks to you I have started looking into lora, finished my own lora server last week and made my own lora gateway yesterday... :) wasnt as easy as I hoped to be but its working now :) next is to place it somewhere higher ( maybe add solar and battery ) and than tracker to map the range :)... what I did not expect is from how many separated systems the whole thing is made of... lora packet forwarder, lora gateway bridge, mqtt server, lora server, lora app server... and you still don't have anything to store the data or show some nice graphs ( integration )... it was/is a ride to get it all together :)

[@TheThingsNetworkCommunity]

Hi there, you can find more info on using the integrations to commonly used dashboard here - www.thethingsnetwork.org/docs/applications/ and an extensive list of topics on the Forum - www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/.

[@twmbarlwmstar]

You are a very clever man sir, I try and keep up with your videos but I often fall at first principles. I must watch more of your videos on LORA but you have so many videos I get distracted. Interesting that that record was based in Wales, where I live and (some of) the Raspberry Pi are made.

[@AndreasSpiess]

I also did not learn everything in one day ;-)

[@FlevopolderAviator]

Nice video again, the black background you used in this video is great imho.

[@dicktonyboy]

Yes, black is difficult to work with.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you for the comment about the new background.

[@LordKilliak]

I will hire Flath Earth Engineers From now on... You "Round" guys Are complicated :D Nice work

[@AndreasSpiess]

Good idea! Will solve many problems;-)

[@padonker]

Hi Andreas, the link to the source code doesn't seem to work. Is it a private repo?

[@AndreasSpiess]

The video was pre-produced and the repo set to private. Now it should work.

[@acopernic]

Splendid. Bravo Andreas.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you!

[@Hybrid330i]

Nice one! :) love the clearly explained content btw.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you!

[@WienkeGiezeman]

Love it!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you!

[@avatarteamultra]

Why doesnt have the flatearthers the world record?

[@KucharJosef]

lmfao

[@haydo8373]

Their balloon keeps hitting the space ceiling

[@AndreasDelleske]

Yves Haberthür because their balloons are flat, too.

[@netsigi]

From TTN-Mapper FAQ: Which spreading factor should I transmit on? We use SF7. This provides us with a map of "worst case" coverage. It also does not make sense to use a higher SF, as the performance decreases when you are mobile. The time between packets, and therefore distance between samples also increases with higher SF. SF7 is just good enough.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Your choice. This device is not mobile and I would not place it where it is easily heard by a nearby gateway. So you do not disturb anybody.

[@76queen]

Andreas totally enjoy your videos. for sustainability do i buy a commercial gateway or a hatted pi do just as well?

[@AndreasSpiess]

Both will do. Depends only on your preference.

[@NudeJawn]

Thank you Andreas

[@AndreasSpiess]

You are welcome!

[@Herebuss]

Pronunciation of 'Ionosphere' ;)

[@dicktonyboy]

Sorry Tony, we only arrive here each Sunday for our fix of Swiss Accent, blasphemy and the very occasional extreme swear word. :) I say potata! No, I take that back we come here for FAR more and are rarely/never disappointed. Tune in! :)

[@DanMcAfee]

Or how 'bout "Devil oper"

[@dam1917]

"lonosphere" and "Ionosphere," one of these speIlings of the word in question is wrong. This is a font issue: here is the all capitalization representation of each example given earlier "LONOSPHERE" and "IONOSPHERE." I looked into the articles that Andrea quoted (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation#Tropospheric_modes) if we change the font type the issue disappears, but because the font type used has this anomaly, and Andrea is not as familiar with this topic this is not a big issue and ultimately can be ignored with respect to the subject matter of this video. This is not even the first time such a thing has happened, and probably will not be the last as long as this font type (Arial) is used as the standard for all modern UI. Even within this comment for fun I played around with some of the elements where two "L" (e.g. LL or ll) existed and ironically as it may be the only time this event occurred is in the spelling of spelling. Here is your only clue to figuring it out with the standard Arial font type without leaving the page or changing the font type: "Il" (i.e. in uppercase IL or lowercase il) you can notice that the uppercase "i" is slightly smaller than lowercase "L". If you happen to live in the United States, in the state of Illinois (i.e. IL) you will have definitely seen this issue pop up. Point some more out, and ask yourself this "How can we change or complain to modern UI builders for using visually appealing font type as the default standard type for all browser?" Here is a neat article I found on the uses of fonts typefaces: web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/fonts.html Here is a settings page in the desktop Chrome browser application to change the font type (change the Sans-Serif font type to something more legible use the Wikipedia page as the test subject): chrome://settings/fonts en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif Take note of the subject of the page and enjoy. Have fun. Sincerely, Samuel Kauffman

[@adbas6201]

Very detailled. Do you know a lora module compatible with this project without oled ? Thanks

[@AndreasSpiess]

There is a link in the description to the module I used.

[@Pici3k]

Now I know why my gateway "in the middle of nowhere" receives some messages almost every day even when I do not send anything :p

[@Life2]

What versions of what libraries are used? error: 'esp_sleep_enable_timer_wakeup' was not declared in this scope

[@AndreasSpiess]

The ESP32 framework changed some commands for deep-sleep. Maybe you check with the example file for deep-sleep and adjust the sketch.

[@Life2]

@@AndreasSpiess my fault. I must to choose board type before compiling.

[@henningbjrgo5776]

The Things Network is migrating from it's V2 stack to V3. It would be awesome if you made a video about setting up an application and node using the new version. It has a lot of settings not present in V2.

[@AndreasSpiess]

I have to have a look at it. Thanks for the tip! If you contact me, We can have a chat about it.

[@adzak6569]

In Tracker-lowpower-abp.ino (github SensorsIot ) LAT = 44.163761; LONG = 28.646676; alt = 350; in video 8:20 lat:-5.25...; lon=74.58...;alt -20923; (decoder error ?) in video 5:17 lat: 47.47533; long: 7.49516; altitude: 350 in ASP_Test (2019-06-13 18:54:25) 44.163749, 28.646648, 350.0

[@AndreasSpiess]

Where is the problem?

[@adzak6569]

in video 8:20 lat:-5.25...; lon=74.58...;alt -20923;; is wrong ( You did not send such coordinates.) alt -20923 ?!! because AppSKey is wrong - instead of lsb, it should be msb.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you.

[@KalterKrieger]

Hallo Andreas, mal kurz in Deutsch. Diese Lora Module werden mit 4-5 km angegeben. Was habt ihr denn da gemacht um solche Reichweite zu erreichen? Gibt es da sowas wie ein Netzwerk? Paket Radio? Ich überlege das als FPV Modell Zusatz zu verwenden. Bin aber noch am Anfang.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Vielleicht schaust du dir meine ändern Videos über LoRa an? (Reichweitentests etc.)

[@KalterKrieger]

@@AndreasSpiess Alles klar, habs verstanden. LoraWan für ein IoT Netzwerk. Paket Radio nannte sich das früher im CB Funk.

[@spreeuferberlin]

According to specifications sending primarily with SF12 is not "allowed"

[@AndreasSpiess]

Maybe you place the device where it normally is not heard by a nearby gateway or only by one which is not used a lot? Then, TTN does not care too much, I think. We are anyway only interested in long distances.

[@VisinePL]

Its possible to run in raspberry pi 3 + lora gps dragino hat?

[@AndreasSpiess]

Maybe you watch my other LoRa videos?

[@jensbovbjerg9284]

Hi Andreas Interesting video, but when uploading I get this error "Arduino\Tracker-lowpower-abp\Tracker-lowpower-abp.ino:85:1: sorry, unimplemented: non-trivial designated initializers not supported# Also the code mentions: "Do not forget to define the radio type correctly in config.h". where is this?

[@AndreasSpiess]

Unfortunately, I cannot do remote debugging. But my file has only a parenthesis on line 85. You should find the config.h in the library directory of the LMIC library.

[@seydunarojhilat4733]

1:00 which map service to see this calculation?

[@AndreasSpiess]

See my LoRa world record video

[@electronic7979]

👍👍👍

[@AndreasSpiess]

:-)

[@SinanAkkoyun]

Lol this is like reaching the new world record in TNT boosting in Minecraft

[@AndreasSpiess]

Unfortunately, I do not know Minecraft :-(

[@SinanAkkoyun]

@@AndreasSpiess Danke for the awnser anyways!

[@chuxxsss]

First row as alway Andreas. Have a great week.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you. I am now back from my trip :-)

[@garrypkeogh]

Superb Andreas, I must try some of these tricks. A group of us hoping to mesh network a bunch of LoRa devices in a single network, no gateways across the Continent on September 22nd,. Would you like to join us? #uPython #Pycim

[@AndreasSpiess]

Where do I find the info?

[@garrypkeogh]

@@AndreasSpiess Maybe follow or DM @JohnCassidyGB or myself on Twitter. 22nd Sept 2019 is the date, anniversary of Marconi's transmit to Australia

[@adzak6569]

In Node-Red code (functiom node "Calculations"): if (max

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you!

[@mihigyver]

this video was usless but entertaining, at least for me! :D ich hans eifach grad luschtig gfunde dass das hinerenand cho isch xD

[@stefanhagemann1734]

It is useless... I hope this video was useful for you. 😂

[@AndreasSpiess]

I liked the idea. And a similar concept is used for amateur radio (WSPR)

[@Conservator.]

Dear Andreas, Can I ‘subscribe’ to longer then X km connections that you make? After watching your video I’m very curious to see your device working. 😉

[@AndreasSpiess]

I hope a few other viewers will build one and we will see how it works.

[@gr7480]

Hello Andreas, do you know the lora server? I have a gateway RAK831 with TTN. But i think it s a good alternative. Thanks a lot for your great videos. Bye.

[@AndreasSpiess]

I read about it, but so far I did not need an alternative.

[@DustinWatts]

It seems like The Netherlands is full of gateways! Any idea howcome this is so popular over here?

[@Mr_Freubel]

The local mobile telephone provider KPN steps in lora. Mostly for the business applications.

[@DustinWatts]

Gustav Aardema That’s very interesting. I did not know that. I will have to look in to that!

[@science4allworld587]

Because of pycom

[@JPMeijers]

My theory is that due to the socio-economic situation the budget available for hobbies is larger than elsewhere and places a Lora gateway within reach for the average hobbyist. You can see the same in Switzerland with a similar economic climate.

[@wombat9999]

Yeah, I'd expand that to say a good chunk of Europe (maybe just eastern Europe -- the map seems to be down right now). I'm in the US, and according to the map (ttnmapper.org/), the coverage here is abysmal. I don't know why -- I would have expected that the Maker/ham/experimenter community here would be all over this. *sniff*

[@rickharold7884]

Cool

[@AndreasSpiess]

:-)

[@isidoromaich7226]

Nosotros aquí tenemos el 'arroz brut' no confundir con paella, que pena que los turistas no disfruten nuestra gastronomía local, ellos sólo beben

[@AndreasSpiess]

???

[@jayantagogoi6906]

And here I'm struggling to get 200m LOS.

[@dicktonyboy]

There are a lot of reports like this BUT be positive - you have made a connection! (The joy when that little green spot appears). Without building a second transmitter / receiver pair - using different kit - it's difficult to work out what is going on. The problem is normally the treatment of the RF signal - which is not like just connecting a battery. If you can't confirm that your aerials are designed for the correct frequency (as some from China are not) then use short lengths of wire (cut to the correct frequency 868/915 etc etc) soldered directly to the board and gain as much height to get line-of-sight as possible. Ensure both wires are vertical and good luck.

[@catalinalb1722]

Hello Andreas, I did flashed the sketch to my TTGO T-beam v1.1 with my keys. On the serial I see that it sends every 1800s but I don't receive anything on the live list. The board has also the small oled display attached, how can I add that and get it working? I found that an interesting project trying to reach the longest AP. I want to tie it up to my car, next week I will drive to Paris si will be a lot of fun if I get it working

[@AndreasSpiess]

I suggest you to google "TTN tracker" for that purpose (KZbin deletes all links). It is made for that.

[@catalinalb1722]

@@AndreasSpiess Thank you I did play around with TTH tracker did the GPS reset stuff and tried ABB and OTAA but no success. The ID Device is with eui-**** I did put the part without the "eui" and it id compile but no live message. I did not know about the links beeing deleted. Thank you I won´t share any links from now on.

[@AndreasSpiess]

I use the kizniche/ttgo-tbeam-ttn-tracker and so far had no problems

[@catalinalb1722]

@@AndreasSpiess yes exactly I was talikng about that. I also asked in a ticket where can I find the files that have to be edited at point 3 "arduino-lmic/project_config/lmic_project_config.h" it is just me the issue since this is the first time I want to connect to the TTN network

[@AndreasSpiess]

If I remember right the file is in the libraries folder

[@ytfp]

Its a neat project, but since the results are unreliable and infrequently repeatable, then its probably not worth while to pursue unless trying to identify how frequently these conditions occur. This rate at which these conditions occur would be the real valuable data here and thus could make for useful information. Unfortunately there is no way to know in which condition this occured (lightning, plane reflection etc), so even this data is unreliable.

[@AndreasSpiess]

That was the reason for the title. Useless, but maybe people can learn something ;-)

[@tuliosouzaa]

useless, but entertaining. i love you mr spiess!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Thank you!

[@ChriDDel]

It would be nice if ypu could test a "LTC3108 Ultra Low Voltage Boost Converter". I will try to load an LiPo with an wind turbine generator aut of an old PC fan. It makes between 50 and 250mV in very light wind. And 2V if im turning it by hand. The Chip is able to step up mV to up to 5V.

[@AndreasSpiess]

Maybe it will be covered in the energy harvesting video.

[@BigJonYT]

Maybe you should start a league table ? :-)

[@AndreasSpiess]

TTN should do that, I think.

[@lithostheory]

Moonbouncing!!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Would need quite a big antenna ;-)

[@adzak6569]

In Tracker-lowpower-abp.ino // LoRaWAN AppSKey, application session key // lsb WHY LSB ??!!

[@AndreasSpiess]

Why not?

[@adzak6569]

Because msb works better.

[@Zhaymoor]

wish I can understand what's happening 😓😓

[@AndreasDelleske]

There is an introduction to LoRa / LoRaWAN from Andreas, too!

[@abdelnacer7721]

let's try

[@AndreasSpiess]

Yes!