Hi All,
I’m looking for peoples experience using the Microchip RN2483 LoRaWAN modules.
What sort of range are people getting with them and what type of antenna is being used? (Chip, Wire whip, SMA to Antenna or u.FL to Antenna)
Have you tried a low power sleep mode with the modules? If so, whats the lowest power you’ve seen?
Thanks
Andrew
were can I buy, as a hobbyist not a company, buy a microchip RN2483 in The Netherlands ?
Couple of options, there are probably more:
Try Sodaq for XBee with antenna. If you want just the RN2483, you could try Okaphone, they’ll order it from Farnell for you. Or drop me a private message and I’ll see what I can do as I intend to order some anyway.
by coincidence I started yesterday testing some small (china) antennas in the 433 Mhz band 
Bought the RN2483 development kit from MicrochipDirect last week.
https://www.microchipdirect.com/productsearch.aspx?Keywords=RN-2483-PICTAIL
They dont have stock at Farnell, Mouser etc but you can still order directly from Microchip.
Please keep us posted. I currently do quite a lot of monitoring on this band (mainly weather sensors) using SDR with standard antenna (not ideal), I also ordered a few nice 433 Mhz Lora modules. However it seems for LoraWAN we currently need 868 (or 915 for US / region 2) as most currently available gateways (Multitec, Kerlink, Lorank) only support these higher bands AFAIK? Although there is a promise that the TTN gateway will support also 433 MHz. I’m not sure if this statement is authorized by the TTN team.
Also in the Netherlands the max allowed power is 25 mW on 868 and only 10 mW in 434 MHz (500 mW on 869.4), see AT which would be in favor of 868 MHz (although penetration/absorption is less favorable at higher frequencies off course, not sure how much this will effect Lora technology). But as they say in Dutch: meten is weten 
Mouser has the RN2483 in stock ca 451 for direct delivery €15.50 Inside is a real SX1276 from Semtec but also RF filtering and is has CE marking so you can use it in Europe without extra filtering. This is not the case with a lot of China products.
@BoRRoZ what’s your experience like with RF explorer?
Reason I was thinking of getting their ISM combo.
Thanks
Lawrence
Hi Lawrence, I’m happy with this RF Explorer-ISM Combo.
Its low cost, handheld, and well-built.
Ordered it from Germany and received it in 2 days.
An extra 30dB attenuator I ordered in China 
@Batilan, it is glad to hear that you are using 433 MHz band.
In Malaysia, we only have one option which is 433 MHz band for SRD device.
Do we have other option apart from RN2483? I wonder if the codes available in Github useable for 433 MHz device.
@boon Please note that currently I’m only using the mentioned 433 MHz adapters as simple LoRa devices, not yet with LoRaWAN. I’m also not sure if these adapters are suitable for LoRaWAN (I haven’t seen a LoRaWAN implementation using them). I just wanted to experiment a little with Lora devices, investigate their reach (e.g. related to spreading factor and bandwidth).
Regarding the gateways I was mainly reffering to the current gateway implementations which mainly seem to be 868/915 MHz. I think there is nothing that would prevent a gateway from using the 433 MHz band. Also Wienke has promised to supply the gateways according to the locale of the backers. So you should be OK.
Most of the code is identical for all bands, it is just the configuration of the Lora chips that needs some changes. Also the RF hardware part (filters, antenna) needs some adaptions offcourse.
@Batilan Thanks for the feedback. I have two devices here that I ordered from China and they are 433 MHz. Just like what you said, they are LoRa modules and not LoRaWAN compatible. Also, they have awesome tx range. Please let us know how your experiments go. It would be interesting to know.
OK, back on topic. I now have a number of RN2483 modules and have designed and had made a small breakout PCB to enable them to be tested. First test was to actually get it to talk to a laptop using a usb to serial module. This works and I can communicate with the module.
I was then able to setup the module to send data to my MultiTech Conduit and on to TTN successfully. This was all hand typing or cut/paste the commands into a terminal window. Next is to connect it to an Arduino and send data from a simple sketch.
These are not easy to hand solder. Had to redesign breakout pcb to give longer pads just to make soldering easier.
Thanks
Andrew
I hope a RN2483 to 2.54 mm breakoutboard/converter pcb will be available in the future 
Its not a full breakout, as most of the pins are GPIO that I wasn’t interested in. I have the TX/RX, power, ground, Reset plus the CTS/RTS pins on a 7 way 0.1" spacing pins and a SMA connector for the 868MHz antenna.
Andrew
That’s enough
I found a Double Side PCB board with 1.27 mm pitch and was thinking of cutting it up to accomodate a RN2483 and some 2.54 mm headers
