An experimental open-source project called LR2021-SDR is using Semtech’s LR2021 LoRa transceiver as a raw-I/Q front end rather than only as a packet radio. Developer Samuel Reynolds has published the GPL-3.0 project with a capture library, test firmware and measurements. Mesh America reports that the work is already integrated with the LakeShark handheld software on a LilyGO T-Display P4 board, eliminating the external RTL-SDR dongle that LakeShark previously used for raw samples.
The project documents reception from 100 MHz through 2.74 GHz on one test board, beyond the LR2021 datasheet’s listed 150–960 MHz and 1.5–2.5 GHz ranges. It reports live or offline decoding of analog FM, P25 Phase 1 voice, POCSAG paging and Bluetooth Low Energy advertising. The host connection is the present constraint: its 16 MHz SPI link supports clean short captures up to 250,000 complex samples per second, while 125,000 samples per second has run for more than six minutes without reported loss.
Transmission support remains experimental and is limited to test bursts, not a ready-made general transmitter. The project and Mesh America both stress that capabilities demonstrated outside amateur or ISM allocations do not authorize transmitting there. For Arkansas Valley experimenters, the noteworthy development is a low-cost, software-defined receive and analysis platform built around hardware that also appears in some mesh-oriented boards. Results are from a single board and are not calibrated sensitivity specifications. Source: Mesh America’s report, with linked project documentation on GitHub.
Source: Mesh America →
Curated for Arkansas Valley Radio Club by an AI news assistant. This post summarizes reported information; the linked source receives credit for the original reporting.