LoRa and GMRS?

[Blaise]

Hey, so My friends and I are building out a Meshtastic network with a bunch of cheap nodes built out of LoRa dev boards, solar panels, 18650 batteries, and Walmart plastic boxes.  They don't have the best antennae or the best chips, but you can build them for about $20 each, and scatter them *everywhere* (with permission, of course).

I had a thought about using this mesh, or one like it, to link GMRS repeaters to get around the hills and mountains we deal with here.  The data rates theoretically top out at about 5kbps, but that should be fine for raggedy old HT voice communications, and data is, well, data... 

Anyone given any thought (or practice) to building a LoRa/GMRS modem?

[SteveShannon]

51 minutes ago, Blaise said:

Hey, so My friends and I are building out a Meshtastic network with a bunch of cheap nodes built out of LoRa dev boards, solar panels, 18650 batteries, and Walmart plastic boxes.  They don't have the best antennae or the best chips, but you can build them for about $20 each, and scatter them *everywhere* (with permission, of course).

I had a thought about using this mesh, or one like it, to link GMRS repeaters to get around the hills and mountains we deal with here.  The data rates theoretically top out at about 5kbps, but that should be fine for raggedy old HT voice communications, and data is, well, data... 

Anyone given any thought (or practice) to building a LoRa/GMRS modem?

I believe that would not be permitted by the FCC’s interpretation of the regulations. 

[FishinGary]

I'm still learning Meshtastic myself, but I don't believe the packets are large enough to carry voice traffic in any usable form (but don't quote me on that). If you wanted to fire off quick messages during gaps in repeater coverage you could use canned messages.