If the Dev want hostile and bullshitting, trying to pass this off as some new thing I think they could actually sell a few of these to people that want something ready built or want to learn about LoRa.

But there is still the issue that the voice side of this will be illegal just about everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What makes voice over LoRa illegal?

[–] v81 3 points 1 year ago

Nothing... But with this device the voice part isn't going over LoRa. It's going over a 50mW 470MHz to 520MHz (their claim) Thing is FRS is actually 462 and 467MHz... so.. could be a mistake or they could actually be not using FRS frequencies at all.

Additionally they don't appear to have any FCC approvals which would also make it illegal.

So... Misinformation, low power, wrong frequencies, bogus range claims, bogus audio quality claims and no FCC approval is a bit of an issue.

Add to that the Dev posting out on Reddit and then getting hostile when people ask questions. Not ideal.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Sounds like he's referring to the frequency it's operating at, but I honestly don't know enough about that kind of stuff

[–] dragontamer 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

FRS frequencies

Oh shit. So I think the other posters aren't getting what you're saying, so lemme try to translate.

LoRa happens in the so called ISM-band. You're pretty much allowed to do anything you want on ISM-bands, they're reserved for open experimentation and play. (And its why Bluetooth, LoRa, WiFi, and many other technologies are in 2.4GHz or 915MHz. These are specifically ISM bands).

FRS? That's the frequency of US-based Walkie Talkies. That's a licensed and regulated band (well, GMRS is licensed but that's also on the FRS bands... whatever it gets legally complicated). There are power-transmission requirements, there are time-of-talking requirements, etc. etc. A whole bunch of rules. Also, its straight up illegal in Europe. (Europe uses the American-FRS frequencies for other things). So we're talking about a heavily-regulated band in the USA, and a straight-up illegal band in Europe.

I would have been way more comfortable if he just kept the entire thing LoRa or something. Now with that being said, I'm not sure if too many people really care per se... but ham radio operators regularly go on "hunting sprees" where they try to catch people misusing bands (like the FRS band) and report you to the FCC. Its a fun hobby in of itself because tracking down radio transmitters is a cool tech-thing to do.

Given the "hobby" of catching people on FRS bands (and other regulated bands) and creating reports to sue people over, I think people should be rightfully scared to see FRS bands on a hobbyist level device. At a minimum, you want to make sure that the FRS-radio follows the law. And yes, the FRS / GMRS frequencies have much less regulation today than ever before... but regulations still exist. So you absolutely can be sued over this.

50milliwat transmitter with CD tone audio?

Ex: I think 5mW was the limit on FRS bands. 50mW requires a GMRS license IIRC. And high-quality audio is a big no-no, that likely means you're talking on more than one channel at once to increase your voice quality.

[–] v81 2 points 1 year ago

Generally fair comments there. Hams aren't really all that interested in FRS, but they can be somewhat protective of their own bands.

According to their claims the transmitter can't even transmit on FRS frequencies.

5W, not 5mW is the limit. GMRS transmitters up to 50 watts.

Even if it did function in FRS bands the manufacturer would need FCC approval.