Hi, I am new to LoraWan and want to connect my STM32WL-Nucelo board to the TTN network here in the UK based in Lancashire. I do not have a Gateway as I want to connect to a nearby public one.
Is this possible to do by just registering the Node which I’ve done?
I have downloaded the ST LoraWan_AT_Node demo software and have sent the following command.
AT+JOIN=1
And get this response
OK
16s971:MAC txDone
22s004:RX_1 on freq 868500000 Hz at DR 0
22s203:IRQ_RX_TX_TIMEOUT
22s203:MAC rxTimeOut
23s004:RX_2 on freq 869525000 Hz at DR 0
23s203:IRQ_RX_TX_TIMEOUT
23s203:MAC rxTimeOut
Fundamentally it either wasn’t heard by a gateway or didn’t hear the gateway’s response. You could try ABP as a quick test - that is sending blind and doesn’t need a response for anything to appear on the console.
I’m in Bolton, which is sort of like Lancashire but not. Where (roughly) are you so we can look at the various maps to see what is likely.
The reality is that all across the forum you’ll find recommendations to debug with your own gateway, but let’s see what we can achieve first of all.
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Depending on the height/location of the node almost certainly out of range. Some of the M’cstr GW’s are quite high and can be used to west side of city area but building clutter and raised roadways tend to mask, though some of the urban canyons (roads!) do show some tracker coverage. I used to have a GW on a multistory north of Trinity Way that gave some glancing coverage across Albion Way and Trafford Road to parts of Trafford Park and Salford Keys area as well as the immediate surroundings of Trinity Way up to the Deansgate/Northern Quarter/Rochdale Road escarpment and up the A56?Bury North Road and across parts of the A576 Cromwell Road. But sadly, with Pandemic and inability to access area and continue develoing coverage with the GW a decision was taken just over a year back to pull it out (Manchester had other decent coverage and additional GW’s) and redeploy to another N.West area with no/low coverage…
Recommendation would be grab a cheap indoor LoRaWAN GW and put in an adjacent room (so not too close to node) to assist your development (and help expand much needed Manchester coverage to your immediate area! A TTIG or Dragino LPS8 for a quick win?!
Thanks for the feedback, will invest in a gateway
So once the end node is registered on my gateway, will I be able to roam onto any LoraWan public gateway in the UK when in range.
You misunderstand how LoRaWAN (& TTN) works - nodes do not register with GW’s they register with the network (via the Network Server). This is more like Cellular than WiFi - if your phone is registered with Vodafone then any VDFN cell tower in range can handle, though in practice they hand off between themselves. LoRaWAN is more broadcast/ALOHA based in that your node will shout and any LoRaWAN GW in range will pick message up and relay to its associated NS. If your message is not from a node associted with the network it will be dropped by the NS but if it is - as it will be if you correctly register the node with network - then the messages will be relayed to your application. With WiFi you have to associate with a specific WiFi AP, which then passes the message on to the Internet… You can already use your node with any of the current Manchester or any TTN GW - if you can get in range You do not have to ‘register’ with your GW 1st…
Yes, but it’s not roaming - a device transmits, any LoRaWAN gateway in range that picks it up passes it on to its Network Server, if it’s connected to TTS it can join up the dots and process it.
A TTIG or Dragino LPS8 for a quick win?! 
