RAK Wireless and Atlavox MeshCore Repeater Build

I wanted to play around with the RAK Wireless 1w booster board for LoRa so I bought a couple of kits. Looking around at enclosures, I couldn't help myself when I saw the Atlavox enclosure and mounting bracket. He did some cool stuff so I went for it. It's a bit bulky for a mobile unit so my next one will optimize for space.

One of the things that others have said is that the booster board (amp) has additional filtering, improving the receive, which appeals more to me than running more power. If I set the repeater to 14db output, it should translate to actual 22db out, which is plenty around here.

I've been doing a bunch of testing with W6TED with the unit just sitting in the window. What is odd is that a DM to ted works better through the RAK unit in the house in a window than the one on the roof.

It was a fun simple build. You'll find the bill of materials below. I'll update this with testing as I play with it more but it's working way better than expected just sitting on the second story window.

BOM

• Atlavox DIY Beacon Outdoor Radio Enclosure Kit ($70)
  Contains, switch USB Bulkhead  connector, Vent, Cable gland, SMA to iPEX waterproof cable for LoRa and BT, mounting for board.  Expensive but purpose built combat ready.
  
  
• 

  
  Atlavox Beacon Frame Kit ($49)
  Way overpriced but very cool Frame for enclosure for mounting antenna
  
  
• Solar Panel ($15)
  5W, 6Volt, ETFE, with JST ZHR-2 Connector
  
  
• RAK Wireless WisMesh High Power Booster Starter Kit (Battery Powered variant) ($50)
  WisBlock Base Board - RAK3401 WisBlock Core module with the Nordic nRF52840 MCU and a RAK13302 High Power LoRa transceiver module, mounted on a RAK19007 Base Board.
  This is the VD series, 001, which is all powered by the battery or USBC.
  I purchased separately since neither Rockland or Atlavox ships with the 1w board.
  
  
• 

  
  MakerFocus Flat 3.7V 4000 Rechargeable Lithium Polymer 11.1Wh Battery ($16)
  With JST Type PH 2.0 Plug
  Battery is just small enough to fit under the pcb mounting bracket.  The double sided tape that came with the enclosure was replaced with Gorilla mounting tape because it was thinner and made for a perfect fit.
  
  
• Antenna for Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, SMA, Outdoor, 3", 2.8dBi ($6)
  
  
• ALFA AOA-915-5ACM 5 dbi Omni Outdoor 915MHz ($15)
  For LoRa antenna.
  
  
• 

  
  BINGFU SMA Female Bulkhead Mount to SMA Male RG316 Antenna Extension Cable 6 inch ($7)
  This is for the BlueTooth antenna from enclosure to bracket mount.  Anything more than 6 inch gives you way too much cable.  Comes in a pack of 2
  
  
• SMA Male to N Female Bulkhead 6 in. ($10)
  With Waterproof O-Ring RG316 Cable 7.8Inch N to SMA Male Coaxial Adapter Cable
  Comes in a pack of 2

As-built above: $239

If you by the low power version from Atlavox with same config, it's $270

Config

• Currently set to 14db of output which should produce clean 22db of final output.
• Dresses out at 2.63 lbs, combat ready

Note About Power Supply Variants

The RAK13302 version VD module has two hardware variants. One hardware variant only works with an external 5 V power supply, while the other only works with an internal battery supply. The different hardware versions are identified by different codes on the label.

The version for power supplied through the battery connected to the WisBlock Base Board has the code 001 on the label, and it has no connector for the external 5 V supply on the bottom of the PCB.