Public Access
M3 step 1: RadioLib and lora probe
The probe finds the SX1262 (TCXO 1.8 V works) and measures the antenna path: the Cap's PI4IOE5V6408 at 0x43 must drive P0 high, or the receiver is deaf (-111.9 dBm flat vs -87 to -94 dBm with P0 high). DIO2 makes no difference to reception. Receive only; the radio is left asleep. RadioLib 7.8.1 + probe: +23.6 KB flash, +656 B static RAM (release). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EhqxQ49eCju4CzKYNjZzwT
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# M3 — Radio bring-up: the LoRa Scanner
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**Status:** planned (branch `m3`).
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**Status:** in progress (branch `m3`): step 1 done.
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**Goal:** the LoRa radio on the Cap works, receive only: a Radio Service owns it and shares the SPI bus with the SD card safely, and a LoRa Scanner App shows what's on the air, either packets (Sniffer) or energy across the band (Sweep). Nothing in M3 can transmit. The mesh comes on top of this in M4 (receive) and M5 (transmit).
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**No other LoRa device yet.** meshmap.net (2026-10-05) lists two Meshtastic nodes within 10 km of the desk and six within 30 km, with positions blurred by a few km; none is known to be in range. M3 needs none: it only receives.
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## Measured (step 1, `lora probe`)
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- **Internal I2C bus (8/9):** 0x18 (ES8311 codec), 0x34 (TCA8418 keyboard), **0x43 (PI4IOE5V6408, ID register 0xA2)**, 0x69 (BMI270 IMU).
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- **The SX1262 answers** on NSS 5, RST 3, DIO1 4, BUSY 6. Its version string reads `SX1261 V2D 2D02`, which SX1262 chips report too. **The 1.8 V TCXO works** on the first try; the radio is ready 38 ms after `begin`.
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- **The expander's P0 connects the antenna; it's required.** At power-on P0 is an input (direction 0x00, high-impedance 0xFF), and the receiver reads a flat **-111.9 dBm** at 869.525 MHz, BW 250 kHz: the chip's own floor, deaf. With P0 driven high, the noise floor is **-87 to -94 dBm**: the antenna hearing the room. So the Radio Service drives P0 high at boot (Q91).
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- **DIO2 doesn't change reception** (within ±2 dB over three runs, P0 high). It likely selects TX versus RX in the FM8625H; it stays the RF switch, as in Meshtastic.
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- **The noise floor at the desk is high** (-87 to -94 dBm, varying run to run), about 25 dB above thermal noise for 250 kHz. Something nearby is loud, possibly the Cardputer itself or the PC; Sweep (step 5) should show where it sits.
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- **Cost:** RadioLib 7.8.1 and the probe add 23.6 KB of flash and 656 bytes of static RAM to the release firmware (1,679,843 bytes of 3,342,336).
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## Decisions (design round 2026-10-05)
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| # | Decision |
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