Compatible Base Radio for Reach

[nate53]

I haven’t been able to find where this question has been asked before. I’ve read about serial/BT connections to 3rd party radios in to Reach, but what if I want to connect a LoRA radio to an existing 3rd party base station? I want to use a Reach RS+ or Reach RS as a rover, but use the internal radio to receive RTCMV3 from an existing base station with different 900Mhz radios. This would be less hassle than setting up another Reach base.

It looks like Reach M2/M+ LoRa radio may be the answer, but I can’t find any documentation on the pinouts etc. I would want to build a cable to supply it with power and an RS232 connection to my existing base station. Is the issue that the Reach M2/M+ LoRa radio even compatible with RS232?

Perhaps I am better off to get another radio that is compatible with the base, and connect externally to Reach via RS232? This will be more expensive, but probably give better range. I was trying to keep the connections to the rover simple.

[anastasiia.iusupova]

Hi @nate53

The built-in LoRa radio is compatible with LoRa installed on another Reach device. So, there’s no possibility to integrate LoRa radio with 3rd-party equipment.

However, you can use an external radio for integration. As you mentioned, you can connect an external radio module to Reach RS/Reach RS+ via Bluetooth or Serial connection. The serial connection can be provided via USB or RS232 port. You can connect external radio to the Reach M+ also.

There’s a shortlist with projects that might be interesting for you:

• Reach RS+ tests with external UHF radio (450 MHz)

• Emlid reach RS+ with external radio in Cambodia

• Emlid with big external radio 5W in Cambodia