[Feature Request]: Launch Meshtastic with Dragino SX1276 LoRa HAT v1.4 (Linux Native)

[kdHub]

Platform

RP2040

Description

Setup

Device: Dragino LoRa HAT v1.4 (SX1276), Pi running rasbian 12 with meshtasticd installed successful

OS: Linux (Native, not Docker or Pi image)

Interface: SPI (/dev/spidev0.0 is present)

Tool: meshtasticd

Problem
I'm trying to use meshtasticd with my Dragino SX1276 LoRa HAT v1.4 but can't get it to launch correctly. The SPI device (/dev/spidev0.0) is visible, so I believe the hardware is recognized by the system.

Question
Is the Dragino SX1276 HAT v1.4 a supported board for Meshtastic using the Linux Native driver (meshtasticd)? If yes, are there any specific steps, overlays, or configurations required to get it working?

What I’ve Tried:

Confirmed SPI is enabled and /dev/spidev0.0 exists

Reviewed available documentation and GitHub issues

Any tips or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

config.yaml example:
Lora:
Module: sx1276
CS: 7
IRQ: 22
Reset: 11

Link to board diagram Im using:
https://github.com/dragino/Lora/blob/master/Lora_GPS%20HAT/v1.4/Lora%20GPS%20%20HAT%20for%20RPi%20v1.4.pdf

[lyusupov]

The HAT is for Raspberry Pi which essentially uses Broadcom BCM283X hardware platform.
It has nothing to do with RP2040.

Dragino Tech Support had reported few years ago that they no longer manufacture this device since late years 201x.
I believe, It has no sense to spend time on a board that is not available for sale anymore...

Unlike the deprecated Dragino product mentioned in the report,
this product from Waveshare is still available on the market:
https://www.waveshare.com/sx1262-lorawan-hat.htm

[kdHub]

Thanks for the clarification. I understand this is a legacy product—I had to select something from the dropdown to submit the issue, so apologies if that was misleading.

I'm primarily trying to find out whether anyone has successfully gotten this working, or if it's simply a matter of getting the pin values correct. I'm still learning the Meshtastic system and don’t typically use Discord, so I appreciate any guidance.

I'm mostly interested in understanding what it would take to get this module supported, even if it's no longer in production—mainly as a learning exercise. Thanks!

[avdongen]

I use these values with the Dragino LoRa/GPS HAT v1.3:

Reset: 17
CS: 25
IRQ: 4

[WizardTim]

I've got the same Dragino LoRa/GPS HAT for RPi v1.4 and use it with a CM4 and IO board. I used the available lora-Adafruit-RFM9x.yaml which shares the same SX1276 transceiver and edited the pin numbing to be:

Lora:
  Module: RF95  # Adafruit RFM9x
  Reset: 17
  CS: 25
  IRQ: 4
#  Busy: 23

I'll note also that Dragino datasheet's pin mapping table uses Wiring Pi IO numbering while the Meshtastic config uses BCM pin numbering. This confused me for quite a while until I realized my mistake.

[Snotmann]

Witch school graduation you have @paigeadelethompson ?
It takes hours to collect other stations ... so if the blue led flashes when you sent messages ... your antenna is wracked or you simply go no connection to other stations ...

[paigeadelethompson]

we'll see I doubt that has anything to do with it I've had other radios hooked up in here that saw stuff pretty much immediately, so :) later I'll see if I can borrow another and see if it actually is transmitting or can see other nodes I don't think it will though

[paigeadelethompson]

so I got it to work, I tried a couple of different SMA male antennas but it made no difference, issue is the radio it just sucks. it doesn't see nodes unless they're close-ish, the txpower is only 20DBm compared to the 30DBm that you get with some others, but it's also just crap for reception. It does work though amazingly

[paigeadelethompson]

I've read that the sx1267's sensitivity / range is better than the 1262 but if that is true then it's not apparent with this device. The station G2 actually sees a number of stations, the dragino isn't seeing anything (except the g2 when I turn it on) xD

[WizardTim]

Yeah, unfortunately the old SX1276 transceiver this PCB uses isn't very good for Meshtastic. The transmit power and receive sensitivity aren't as good as more recent ones. But a big issue with the SX1276 is that it's not really compatible with Meshtastic's custom preamble. It only supports a single word preamble whereas Meshtastic has customized the full two words to a value that isn't officially supported by LoRa or the SX1276 . This means some other transceivers are incapable of communicating with SX1276 devices. Eg. my T-1000E can only message a SX1276 it if it can hop off something else.

I use this Dragino PCB pretty much solely because of the GPS in order to run an NTP server. It being a somewhat usable Meshtastic node is just a bonus for me.

[Snotmann]

Hey together,

nice to see similar peoble with similar problems :)
I got even a dragino hat 1.4 on a raspberry 3 ...

Seems that packets go out as i see the blue led blink if i sent messages, but i dont see any incoming messages ...

Config is from @WizardTim ...

[WizardTim]

The LORA-RX LED flashing is a good sign, that can only happen when the RPi is successfully communicating with the SX1276. (unrelated to the GPS 3D_FIX LED which will flash at 1 PPS regardless of if the RPi is connected.)

Only thing I can really suggest is to make sure the antenna is correct (eg. 915 MHz and correct SMA vs RP-SMA) and RF region is correctly set in the App/web interface and is retained correctly after a restart.

That and you may be in an area where either there's not many Meshtastic users or the default LongFast channel is not used. Where I am everyone has moved to MediumFast.

[Snotmann]

You got the hat working @WizardTim ? With meshtastic ?
I got a Raspberian 13 64 bit running ... and as i told i see the blue led flashing if i sent messages with meshtastic, but dont see any incoming messages

[Snotmann]

I dont know why ... startet the same raspberry @home ... works like charm :)

Very cool to have a use for the old hardware ... thank @WizardTim