About
In short, because we can. Experimentation is the primary justification of Amateur Radio. As radio amateurs, within the confines of our international, national and sometimes local regulations, we can improve technology. APRS works well. But it can be drastically improved. LoRa APRS represents the next step forward in evolving APRS.
Amateur radio is also an almost ideal solution to the problem of back up emergency communications. Depending on the type of equipment you choose, Amateur Radio radio can be portable, it can provide both short range and long range communication, and it can continue to work even when local infrastructure goes down. LoRa APRS can provide location, weather information and texting over a longer distance than conventional APRS.
The LoRa Trackers and iGates can be built from readily available consumer off the shelf hardware.
LoRa APRS is low-power. LoRa trackers transmit at 100mW. They can be run with off the shelf 2W amplifiers for a bit more range.
LoRa is a chirp spread spectrum technology. As a result of this novel modulation having process gain LoRa can receive signals far below the noise floor. Conventional APRS is limited by having to signals above the noise floor.
LoRa APRS trackers require little power and can run for hours on a Li-ion battery
Here's a map LoRa APRS iGates all over the world
A LoRa APRS tracker receives its location via GPS and sends it over a LoRa iGate either directly, or via a LoRa digipeater to an iGate.
A LoRa APRS weather station collects weather data such as wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, temperature, air pressure, humidity and forwards it towards an iGate
A LoRa APRS messaging device and receive data from an iGate and display the text on the display.
