Meshtastic uses open source hardware, right? Does that mean it’s possible to build radio receivers by ordering the parts and assembling them yourself, Ikea style? If yes, then how can I go about doing this? I am in Canada if that is relevant

  • Salamander@mander.xyzM
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    1 day ago

    Yes, you have many options. It depends on how much “from scratch” you want to go.

    The simplest method is to purchase a module with the radio transceiver + microcontroller, flash it, and assemble it. If you don’t want any sensors, you can for example purchase from RAK the kit a kit with a ‘RAK19003’ base board + ‘RAK4631’ module (nRF52840 micro-controller + SX1262 transciever) . For Canada, you would pick the 900 MHz version that operates in the 915 MHz band. (https://store.rakwireless.com/products/wisblock-meshtastic-starter-kit?variant=43884035113158)

    For an enclosure, you can look up ‘Project box’ or 3D print a case.

    If you want to go even more “from scratch”, you can buy a module without a micro-controller (Waveshare core1262, Ra-01SH, Wio-SX1262), and interface with these using a micro-controller via SPI. At this layer it starts to become more of a hassle if you want to implement Meshtastic, because you will need to either copy an existing configuration, or modify the firmware so that it matches the way that your electronics are connected.

    Then, if you do not want to purchase a module, you would buy the transciever directly (for example, the SX1262), and assemble your own module. You can look up the schematic of the basic modules to get an idea of what this looks like. For example, you can see the Waveshare Core1262 schematic here: https://files.waveshare.com/upload/c/c1/CoreSX1262_Sch.pdf

    If you do not want to rely on an already existing LoRa transciever, but instead use a more general radio transciever, that is also possible. But, more expensive, and is unlikely to match performance. This is something that one might want to do if you already have an SDR transciever connected to raspberry pi and want to use it to interface with LoRa (still, it is much easier to connect a LoRa device over USB). I would not recommend building a meshtastic device from more general transcievers.

    • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOP
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      16 hours ago

      Awesome, thanks for the info. Do you by chance know where I can purchase this stuff in Canada? I’m not sure if the stuff on the link you sent will ship here