900mhz radio systems

It would be neat to someday see software available to allow other 900mhz SDR transceiver to act as gotenna nodes when paired with a desktop, or RaspberryPi. Such as the following:

https://greatscottgadgets.com/hackrf/

http://rpi900.com

https://www.cooking-hacks.com/sx1272-lora-shield-for-raspberry-pi-900-mhz

https://wireless.murata.com/eng/dnt900p.html

http://lexycominc.com/900MHztransceivers.html

http://www.analog.com/en/design-center/evaluation-hardware-and-software/evaluation-boards-kits/adalm-pluto.html#eb-buy

http://nuand.com

https://www.ettus.com/product/details/UB200-KIT

https://epiqsolutions.com/matchstiq/

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I’m not that exited about using other devices to replicate the Mesh since they plan to bring out a USB SDK. That will allow us to use a Gotenna Mesh with a wide array of computers and devices with the added benefit of still functioning on it’s own.

This is an interesting looking device however for other projects.

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I think if we truly want Gotenna Mesh coverage to expand to a useful and reliable level we should embrace the idea of allowing other hardware to support it. Especially considering the sheer quantity of Raspberry Pi and SDR devices that are already out there.

The same principal was applied to the FlightAware ADS-B community which utilizes both official recievers as well as Home built Raspberry Pi SDR recievers. By doing so their coverage map has flourished.

Same is true for the ham radio APRS community. You don’t only see proprietary APRS hardware being used. There are literally dozens of manufacturers of APRS digipeater and Internet gate hardware and software modems that are compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, & Android operating systems. People even create digipeaters and Internet Gates using a Raspberry Pi & $10 SDR dongle. Or even out of old linksys WiFi routers.

The Gotenna Mesh network would be much more robust and would expand faster if it were inclusive of other SDR hardware instead of exclusively Gotenna Mesh proprietary hardware devices.

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My thought is that the Gotenna itself is an inexpensive transceiver for the price. Once we have more Gotennas in the wild I see hardware/software hackers using the Gotenna as an SDR transceiver for other things. It’s actually impressive at it’s price point and has a wide range. If I remember correctly and if it wasn’t changed the actual radio has a 800mhz range. The effective frequency range will be lower based on other components.

Isn’t that pretty impressive compared to other similarly priced options? Of course the protocol is the important part and I can’t wait to see where that goes. If things go in the direction I hope Gotenna will license the protocol and it will show up in other products.

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