driver for raddy L7 LoRa weather station

[matthew wall]

here is a driver for the Raddy L7 LoRa weather station:

https://github.com/matthewwall/weewx-l7

the driver might need a tweak to convert/detect the units.  i was only able to test with the console set to imperial units, so if you have one of these stations, please set the console units to a mix of imperial and metric, then post the json output.

also, in the brief period i had with the hardware, i did *not* see transmission distances of 1.9 miles (as claimed in the marketing propaganda).  easily got a signal between console and instruments at 600 feet across open water, but got no signal over a distance of 1200 feet with partial tree coverage (mostly conifers).

has anyone listened to the LoRa signals to see whether they can be picked up (and subsequently decoded) by standard LoRa hardware and/or LoRaWAN gateways?

m

[michael.k...@gmx.at]

The transmission distances are always presuming, that the Fresnel zone is is clear of any obstacles. I learned this that way: I had a WLAN over a distance of a couple of hundred meters, which worked flawlessly for years. Then a storm came, and blew away the neighbors trampoline, the debris was piled in the Fresnel zone of the WLAN, not in the line of sight! But die connection was dead. It took me some days, to figure out, what was wrong, then I moved the junk just a bit and everything was working again.

So: the 1,9 miles probably only work between two elevated point with a clear Fresnel zone.

[matthew wall]

On Tuesday, October 8, 2024 at 9:53:49 AM UTC-4 michael.k...@gmx.at wrote:

So: the 1,9 miles probably only work between two elevated point with a clear Fresnel zone.

 

good point!  this RF stuff is dark magic.  someone should make goggles that let you see a selected spectrum or range of frequencies - kinda like night vision glasses, but where you see lights and darks (and sources and shadows) of the frequencies of interest.

an example: we deployed a ubnt PtP link to connect two buildings about 600 ft apart, with thick forest between buildings.  the only unforested part between buildings is a 'tunnel' about 2.5 meters in diameter, carved out of the forest for the (mostly straight) road between buildings.  pointing the antenna directly at each other through this tunnel kinda worked, with a signal of around -70 db. but when we pointed each antenna toward the ground a bit, the connection signal jumped to -58 db.  each antenna is only 1 meter above ground.  go figure!

another example: a 2 mile PtP link between island and mainland does pretty well, with antennas about 3 meters above ground on each.  until a spring tide.  then the signal drops completely until the water recedes.  definitely looks like fresnel interference.