1

Given that the dreamcatcher is essentially a combination esp32 and LoRa receiver, would it be possible to use existing boards of that type to decode broadcasts? I have a couple of the following boards laying around for LoRa experimentation, and it seems like they have the hardware needed to work unless I’m missing something.

https://heltec.org/project/wifi-lora-32/

2

image
TTGO LORA32 V2.0 433/868/915Mhz ESP32 LoRa OLED 0.96 Inch Blue Display

Features:
ESP-32
LoRa SX1278 chip
WiFi

Downsides

  1. The display is very small, but can be expanded
  2. The input frequency band may not match the output band of the block downconverter.
3

Unfortunately all chips except the SX128x series can not receive the othernet bandwidth / beam setting. That excludes every LORA Module with a RTX frequency under 1 GHz. And even with the SX128x you need a SHF Mixer to tune the signal. Only exception is the Semtech LR1120. The Dreamcatcher 5 boards are the only tinker-boards that utilize that new chip to my knowledge at this point in time.

Dreamcatcher 3.x uses the SX1281+Mixer combo i mentioned earlier.

4

Dreamcatcher 2301, which includes the LR1120 will go into small batch production as soon as the factories are running again. They just recently got back from Chinese New Year.

1 Like