The radio's noise: the GNSS receiver costs 8 dB; a setting pauses it (#20)

Debug Builds: `lora noise test` changes one thing at a time, Sweeps the band, and reports the floor under each condition; it runs on the device by itself, since one condition pauses Wi-Fi (not saved, so a restart brings it back). Result, at 125 kHz: -117 dBm with the antenna switched off, -106 with the GNSS receiver in standby, -98 with it running. The receiver's serial line isn't it (one sentence a second changes nothing), and neither are the main loop, the CPU frequency, Wi-Fi, the screen or the radio's own regulator, all within 1 dB. Settings > "Pause GNSS for LoRa", off by default: the receiver waits in standby while the radio listens or sweeps, except during a Track, and has a Fix again about 7 s after. The GNSS App says it's paused. 11 dB remain between the antenna with GNSS quiet and the chip alone, untouched by anything that can be switched from the firmware. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EhqxQ49eCju4CzKYNjZzwT
2026-10-06 03:41:15 +02:00
parent 06a593293d
commit 70fb37ebb5
17 changed files with 337 additions and 11 deletions
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ On a page, `b` bookmarks it, `s` saves it to the SD card to read offline (a non-

 ## LoRa Scanner

-The LoRa Scanner (docs/milestones/M3.md) listens with the Cap's radio and **never transmits**. The Sniffer lists what it hears, newest first: time, RSSI, SNR, and for Meshtastic packets the sender and receiver (their last 4 hex digits) and hops. Enter shows a packet's details: the Meshtastic header (which is never encrypted) and a hex dump. `p` picks one of the 7 Meshtastic presets allowed in EU868 (LongFast by default), `c` starts or stops a Capture: a pcap file with LoRaTap headers in `/captures/lora/`, for Wireshark. A Capture keeps recording with the App closed; otherwise the radio sleeps when the App isn't open. Tab switches to **Sweep**: the signal strength across 863–870 MHz in 100 kHz steps, as bars with peak hold and a waterfall, with the Sniffer's frequency marked; the Sniffer is paused meanwhile and picks up where it was. The Status Bar shows `L` while the radio listens (bright for a moment on each packet), `SW` while sweeping, and `CAP` while capturing.
+The LoRa Scanner (docs/milestones/M3.md) listens with the Cap's radio and **never transmits**. The Sniffer lists what it hears, newest first: time, RSSI, SNR, and for Meshtastic packets the sender and receiver (their last 4 hex digits) and hops. Enter shows a packet's details: the Meshtastic header (which is never encrypted) and a hex dump. `p` picks one of the 7 Meshtastic presets allowed in EU868 (LongFast by default), `c` starts or stops a Capture: a pcap file with LoRaTap headers in `/captures/lora/`, for Wireshark. A Capture keeps recording with the App closed; otherwise the radio sleeps when the App isn't open. Tab switches to **Sweep**: the signal strength across 863–870 MHz in 100 kHz steps, as bars with peak hold and a waterfall, with the Sniffer's frequency marked; the Sniffer is paused meanwhile and picks up where it was. The GNSS receiver on the same Cap raises the radio's noise floor by 8 dB while it runs: Settings > "Pause GNSS for LoRa" (off by default) puts it in standby while the radio listens, except during a Track. The Status Bar shows `L` while the radio listens (bright for a moment on each packet), `SW` while sweeping, and `CAP` while capturing.

 ## Development aids

@@ -119,6 +119,8 @@ The LoRa Scanner (docs/milestones/M3.md) listens with the Cap's radio and **neve
 | `lora preset <name>` / `lora custom <MHz> <BW kHz> <SF> <CR> <sync hex> [preamble]` | Receive settings: a Meshtastic preset, or anything else (`lora custom 868.1 125 7 5 34 8` for LoRaWAN) |
 | `lora capture start` / `lora capture stop` | A LoRa Capture, as `c` in the App |
 | `lora sweep on [from MHz] [to MHz] [step kHz]` / `lora sweep off` / `lora sweep dump` | Sweep a band (863 870 100 by default), with a summary every 2 s (floor, strongest, peaks), or print the latest pass |
+| `gnss quiet on` / `gnss quiet off` | The "Pause GNSS for LoRa" setting |
+| `lora noise test [gnss\|quiet]` / `lora noise report` | Debug Builds: Sweep under one changed condition at a time to find what raises the noise floor (Wi-Fi goes off for a few seconds); then the result |
 | `lora inject <hex> [rssi] [snr]` | Debug Builds: a packet into the Scanner as if received (nothing is sent) |
 | `crash` | The last crash: which firmware, why, task, PC and backtrace (from the core dump in flash) |
 | `coredump erase` | Forgets the core dump |