LoRa Long Range Message System (LRms) using Reyax LoRa modules.

This is something i have been playing with for a little while now and I thought I'd put it out there to see if anyone else is interested in experimenting with it too!

I'm calling this LRms (Long Range messaging system)

It's a pretty simple system which uses UART LoRa transcievers available from the company Reyax, in particular the RYLR993 Lite (with IPEX Antenna socket) and the RYLR998 (built in antenna) these tiny transceivers are capable of 100mW output and they simply use AT commands to configure them and to send and receive short messages over the air using LoRa, other youtubers have found the range of these devices to be extraordinary as we would expect from anything that uses LoRa

The devices are available from here:

Store

These devices run on 3.3V and can be powered directly from a Raspberry Pi or any other MCU that has 3.3V available. Once Vcc and GND is connected the only other pins that need to be connected are Rx and Tx serial pins. These are connected to the corresponding pins on the Rasperry Pi, I used the serial port ttyS0 which is the main UART on the Pi (there are sometimes timing issues with this port but I have found these devices to work well, probably because the data throughput is quite low)

I have written a few simple python scripts, please forgive me for any inefficient code or errors as I am not a coder and used ChatGPT to create a lot of it!
These python scripts are available on my github:

The program communicates with the RYLR module on the GPIO pins 0 and 1 and will listen for packets from nodes, if the packet includes the text flag "RPT" it will repeat broadcast the message.

All messages are sent as broadcast messages so all nodes will receive all messages, nodes will not receive RPT flagged messages intended for a repeater UNLESS they are a repeater.

As I say this is all work in progress and it is designed to encourage experimentation, fun and learning how to use these fascinating devices alongside simple but powerful scripting to achieve messaging and other tasks independent of the Internet.

The scripts will attempt to setup the Reyax LoRa modules each time they start. You can familiarise yourself with the AT command set for these modules by downloading the AT guide from the Reyax website here:

NOTES ON ENCRYPTION
These modules do feature encryption which is enabled by way of an 8 digit hex password. LRms is not using encryption as it is meant to be a hobbyiest system. Any encryption should not be taken as competely secure without full control of the software/hardware used.

I hope you enjoy this and I looks forward to seeing you on my discord:

[navex]

Nothing like sensationalism to get the ratings up, eh? Meshtastic isn't broken, just in a few big cities bad practice is causing problems due to traffic volume . What's described here is what LoRa has been used for since it began nearly ten years ago.

[joshuahale]

Here in Kentucky we are doing pretty well with our mesh we dont use the main root topic on US and are using a regional state and city root topic and its been running perfectly with no crashing.

[PaulTaylor]

I can't help thinking that it's not meshtastic that's broken, it's the config settings of the people in Manchester. Long/Fast may not be the best choice, probably not all the static nodes need to be on full power, and if there's anyone junking out MQTT traffic then they need to curb it, even if everyone has Ignore MQTT switched on. I would be interested to see how congested 868 MHz is on a waterfall. Popularity has its own downfalls lol. 😂

[djbryce]

First you sing the praises and urge everyone to go out and buy the boards and cases, then months later you give up and move on. I feel scammed.

[TheLaughingdonkey]

We've had a great deal of success with meshtastic, in the UK running 120 nodes at a recent hackers/makers festival and seeing around 30ish at glastonbury festival, I didn't have a single lost message and we were reaching from mid-Dorset all the way to Burnham-on-Sea on default/legal power settings (albeit to elevated locations). Phone networks at both events were sub optimal so it was genuinely useful, but I saw less external interference on 868Mhz in these countryside locations compared to built up areas so this may be a factor that negatively affects meshtastic. Exciting times and I hope either future meshtastic firmware or a new Lrms style approach will make things even more robust. As an engineer I still regard the chirp system as absolute magic and its performance continually astounds me.

[SeranaTheStudent]

Dude, I've been looking at meshtastic boards for months now, don't be telling me it's broken now lol

[vrfrir]

If you adopt meshtastic to try and make friends and make contact, then go back to ham radio. I'm adopting meshtastic to have a backup off grid communication in case SHTF situation.

[GUVWAF]

How is a system consisting of blind repeaters gonna scale? Two of those in range of each other will repeat at the same time and create a collision.
Meshtastic at least does listen-before-talk and collision avoidance by implementing random delays based on SNR and channel utilization. Yes, that might not scale up to hundreds of nodes, but with proper settings (e.g. use more CLIENT_MUTE and less ROUTER nodes as you've advocated for) you can get quite far. In the end LoRa has limited bandwidth so any system built on top of it has limits.

[hanfo]

I don’t see the value over meshtastic here. If meshtastic can’t scale im your environment, then improve it. It’s open source.

[sUASNews]

It's great for SAR when integrated with ATAK. The tracking is what it was all about, not the messaging.

[WarrenGuy]

There's a work in progress to implement next hop routing in the meshtastic firmware for version 3.0. Watch this space.

[nathanz]

Whats next? Lol, just because the poorly educated people using it in your region failed to scale it properly doesnt mean its time to give up and run away. Work with the devs and make it better for the uneducated and dont be that guy in the community that runs away from the very community he created and hides under a click baity title. Sucks to see when i heavily relied on your videos and now what your just gonna give up because of some problems LOL. That attitiude is almost sad.

[fotografm]

This is a great idea. I was wanting to give something like this a try and you have already made the first steps 🙂

[mzimmerman]

anyone who knows the history of Hub, Switch, and Router technology knew this was going to happen. Meshtactic has a lot in common with early token ring network and hubs and therefor has the same issues.

[kapilangra]

Please Andy try not to misled people ...sure meshtastic might not work all the time like our mobile phones but its still early days...meshtastic is not broken...its just getting started!

[HotelHero]

Why wouldn't you just use the Lora and create a custom interface/functionality? Why does it have to exclude meshtastic?

[innercityprepper]

It's only broken if you use the default settings.

[honahwikeepa]

I just started looking at Meshtastic. Glad I saw your video before I wasted cash. Cheers.

[RandomMinecraftUser]

Reticulum is far better for this purpose of hundreds of nodes and should be useable on hardware intended for Meshtastic

[MattBaker]

Well I get no contacts here Yeovil so diluting the pool of contacts with a 2nd protocol would be a disaster :( Great idea though. I like Tulip firmware for the Tdeck. Great video dude