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What Is LoRa? (For Beginners)

LoRa stands for “"Long Range.”" It is a radio modulation technique from Semtech that enables very long range wireless communication at very low power, at the cost of low data rates —- the physical layer beneath Meshtastic and MeshCore.

How it works

LoRa uses chirp spread spectrum —- the signal is spread across a wide frequency band using a continuously sweeping chirp tone. This spreading gives LoRa extraordinary resilience to noise. A receiver can decode a packet even when the signal is far below the background noise floor —- a capability no conventional modulation scheme matches.

Key characteristics

  • Range: 1–1 - 15 km typical; 30–30 - 50+ km achievable with elevated antennas
  • Data rate: 0.2–2 - 22 kbps depending on preset —- slower than a 1990s modem, but sufficient for text and GPS
  • Power: Nodes run days to weeks on a small battery; 8–8 - 50 mA active depending on hardware
  • No subscription: Operates in the unlicensed 902–902 - 928 MHz ISM band in North America. No SIM, no carrier fees.
  • License-free: Standard operation under FCC Part 15.247 requires no amateur radio license

What LoRa is NOT

  • Not WiFi: Far slower, far longer range. No web browsing or streaming.
  • Not cellular: No towers, no coverage maps, no subscription. Works anywhere two nodes are within radio range of each other.
  • Not LoRaWAN: LoRaWAN is a specific hub-and-spoke IoT architecture. Meshtastic and MeshCore are peer-to-peer mesh networks. Same radio hardware, completely different protocols. See the LoRa Mesh vs. LoRaWAN page for the full comparison.
  • Not Bluetooth or Zigbee: Those are short-range (meters). LoRa is long-range (kilometers).

Why 915 MHz?

The 902–902 - 928 MHz ISM band is the North American LoRa mesh standard because it is unlicensed under FCC Part 15, has better building and vegetation penetration than 2.4 GHz, has a low ambient noise floor, and yields practical antenna sizes (~8 cm quarter-wave).

The fundamental tradeoff

LoRa’LoRa's extreme range comes at the cost of speed. A 50-byte text packet takes several hundred milliseconds to transmit. This is fine for messaging and GPS tracking —- and impossible for voice, video, or large files. Design your use case around this constraint and LoRa delivers remarkable results.

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