I have seriously no clue what you guys are talking about. Where can I read something for dummies 101?
Discussion
Ah sorry. I mainly work in electronics so I forget sometimes :) basically LoRa is this new-ish radio system. It's long radio (kilometers) and low power. It is really ideal for short messages, it was designed mainly for small devices. Because of the frequency it uses, it is essentially available to anyone which is why there is some excitement about using it for decentralized and distributed applications.
However, it does have limitations so it's not a wifi replacement.
Here's a decent, but slightly technical overview: https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/blogs/introduction-to-lora-technology
Thank you! I was interested in getting a radio amateur license, but don't see much use for it for now. Does this (communication) work on similar principle?
That's the hope :) and this is why people get so into the LoRa rabbit hole. It is, at best case, good for very small messages infrequently sent. In this use case, a radio can run off of a solar cell for years. You can get lora radios for the EU without any license and experiment. It is legitately fun and I'm a big fan, but they have limitations.
Ham radio I'm also into for the same motivating reasons we are probably on nostr :) (decentralized radio etc...) however it does require a license to use legally. Also the ham radio community is a bit frustrating. There are a small number of like minded hams, but most I feel just like to talk on the radio.
So LoRa I think will not transmit voice for example, but with ham radio you could potentially talk globally, directly, by bouncing radio waves off the ionosphere.
In any case, it's useful to pursue if only for the appreciation of how radio works and to understand why not all radio is equal. I've been on again off again with it for many years.
Hopefully that helped :)
Yes. Lora is only partially legal. For example you should not transfer encrypted information. And yes, super slow.
No license required. Device from Aliexpress for 20$ plus antenna.