[MVMA] LoRa

[Chuck Gelm]

Hi, Bob:

  I agree that LoRa and Wi-Fi do not share scope.
Wi-Fi did 200 kilometers in an annual Wi-Fi 'shootout' sponsored in the 
Las Vega area some years back. (Decade?)
Seems like some folks from the Cincinnati area trailered their gear and 
made a 200 km link with 30 mW (15 dBm) input.
This was a TCP link...like a Packet AX.25 'connected' state.
I think LoRa is akin to UDP or a Packet UI frame.
LoRa seems very suitable for meter reading, monitoring a solar panel 
battery charge controller,...

"AREDN could be used as a backbone"
I prefer 'backhaul' or 'transport' over 'backbone'.
'backbone' reminds me of the single channel digipeating that started pre 
1987.
Before 'NetRom', 'TheNet', and open source automatic adaptive routing 
was available.
Alas, digipeating continues to this day. :-(

" It would be great if AREDN could expand out much more. "
I agree.
I am contemplating mailing a post card to all licensees in Kettering and 
Centerville to advertise and spark interest in AREDN.

"John is coming over tonight to see if we can get the loaner to reach MVH. "
Awesome.
One sight drawback; the loaner is dual stream (MIMO) and the MVHS-Omni 
is single stream (SISO).
If it works, it would be a 'proof of concept' that a pair of 5 GHz, 16 
dBi, 28 dBm panel devices would work.
I have a spare Mikrotik SXTsq-HP5 and could add it to the MVHS network.
This would mate well with your choice of a TP-Link CPE510.
Both are MIMO.

"My understanding is that someone has already extended out an AREDN 
network with sensors using LoRa. I have not dug into that yet. It could 
be for monitoring something like a balloon."

Here is an example.
There is a program that monitors the ADS-B transmissions from aircraft 
and displays them on a live map.
One such program runs on a Raspberry Pi.
The data collected can be shared over a network (AREDN: RF and internet 
tunneling).
There is one such service in New Jersey that combines its map with my 
ADS-B map and Steve KC8SLY's (Hamilton, OH) ADS-B map.

Chuck