While building out the sensor net for WrewHQ its become apparent that the main gap in coverage has been the 5ghz WiFi band. The reason for this is that nearly every single dev board I’ve seen for LoRa use the ESP32-S3, which only supports the 2.4ghz band. Since I use LoRa as a data link between sensors, that means my sensors have all been 2.4 ghz. Because of this limitation, I decided I’d create my own instead.
The WX-4A Spectra is an ESP32-C5 powered LoRa Development board that fits the bill nicely.
Specs
- ESP32-C5-Wroom-1 w/8mb flash and 4mb PSRAM.
- SX1262 LoRa Transciever
- USB-C port for power, data, charging
- Battery connector
- Small OLED display
It’s not a particularly complex board, as far as they go.
It can work for MeshCore and Meshtastic, though there’s no firmware for it. It will have firmware for SpectraMesh out of the gate.
Revision 1.0 prototype boards have been ordered. Once they’ve been bench validated I’ll set up an online storefront and offer them for sale for anyone who wants one.