Experiences with mCard+RPi Setup

Gateways MultiTech Gateways
1

In Regards to using the Multitech mCard-LoRa module to set up a gateway it seems that this tutorial:

is what most people are following. I am wanting to know what people’s experience following this tutorial has been like. How easy or difficult was it to follow? Were there any additional steps you had to figure out that the tutorial left out? I have limited knowledge in this domain, but this would be the most cost effective set up for me so I am hoping to get an idea of other’s experiences! Thanks

2

I know this is not what you asked for but anyway: It seems that most homegrown gateways are build on the IMST SPI board which (despite some hiccups) I can recommend as it has an active user-base.

From prior projects: I would avoid USB for anything that I want to work 24/7 :wink:

3

Thanks for the response it was still insightful! Only problem is that I am in the USA and the IMST ic880a does not operate on 915Mhz. So right now I am looking into the MultiTech mcard

4

It is easy to setup, and it works ok.
I don’t have coding experience but the guide is perfect.
Only it is advised to put a heat sink on the mCard board because it will get really hot.

5

I went for the USB IMST boards and have been pleasantly surprised. Had two RPi + USB IMST’s working flawlessly on my desk for over 4 months.

6

I (the author of the tutorial) have some gateways and have no problems with them, some is online almost a year.

7

Followed the instructions and build my gateway this way. Very easy and has been running for a year now. Mcard does run hot so be advised to install a heatsink on it…

8

I just put one of these together - The packet forwarder works fine so far. Some testing with a Laird mote seems to work with packets recevied.
I had originally built the adapter and followed an early version of this with a Pi3. I’m using a Pi3B+ (much better performance) and things are actually working better now that some number of bugfixes were released. I have the GPS implemented and that is working fine as well.

I’m going to install Borcaar’s gizmo to build out the rest of this concentrator. The mcard does run a bit hot - I’ll need to tame that issue before deploy. LoraWAN concentrators are still pretty expensive, I had considered the RisingHF module for a secondary but couldn’t get a source that didn’t look sketchy. I settled on getting a LoRaGo PORT for a secondary concentrator rather than build another mCard+Pi because of the SPI interface and robust mechanical design. It was priced better than all the other candidates I’ve seen for my region.