An Even Better LoRa QWERTY Messenger

BREAKING: the latest and greatest model and build guide in the QWERTY series is now here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ripplebiz/build-guide-qwerty-pager-sticklite-v2

This is a follow up to an earlier article here: https://www.hackster.io/scottpowell69/a-better-lora-qwerty-messenger-b6e853

Please refer to this article for a background on this project as I will only be describing what is new in this article.

Now with GPS

The previous version was a good improvement on the original, with the longer standby time, and improved UI, but without a companion Android handset, like the other Ripple radio projects, this one still lacked geo-location support.

After noticing the tiny GPS module (in the parts list) on AliExpress, I couldn't help myself and ordered one. The separate ceramic antenna proved to be quite useful, and meant I could keep the 3D printed case almost the same as the previous version. The new case just has a small recess at the top, which the antenna is pushed into (underneath the Heltec board):

Another optimisation that was made is the absence of the RTC clock component. Now that a GPS is included, the date/time is retrieved from the GPS satellites.

Assembly

3D print the case from the STL files attached at the bottom of this article. The main shell has holes for mounting the Heltec board and the controller module for the keyboard. All the holes take M2 bolts.

First, place the GPS ceramic antenna inside the recess at the top so that the antenna connector wire goes down the left side. Here's a pic of the insides. Note, the keyboard controller module has been moved to the right, so the GPS and buzzer now go on the left side:

See below for the wiring diagram:

Leave the Q10 keyboard and its ribbon cable till last, as it goes over a small lip that is part of the top cover 3D printed piece.

Flashing the Firmware

The new firmware is at the Ripple Github: https://github.com/spleenware/ripple

There are instructions on the site on how to flash the firmware onto the Heltec (ESP32) boards. You need to flash the 'RippleQwertyGeo-HeltecV2-BB.bin' firmware.

Setup

Please refer to the previous article on setting your identify, and configuration.

NOTE: there is now an extra menu item under '-Setup-' which you need to keep scrolling down to see, labelled 'GPS Info'. Select this to view live GPS data:

Receiving a Geo Location

In the conversation screen, when a message arrives that has a geo-location attached, you will see a screen like this:

In this example, the sender sent a location with 'meet here'. To the right the distance and approximate bearing is displayed live. As you move you will see this change!

The test was actually with another radio connected to an Android handset running the free Ripple Messenger app, so this feature is completely compatible with Android app users and with other QWERTY GPS device users. On the sender side, it looked like this:

Sending your location

When in a conversation screen, you can now press the '0' (zero) key on the Q10 keyboard (on its own, not pressing ALT). Normally, this is a tilda '~', which I thought was fairly useless in conversations, so this key now pops up context menus.

For the conversation screen, the context menu has an option "Append GPS Loc". Select this, and back in the conversation screen press ENTER. Your message and your GPS location will be sent in a single message.

You might notice that a '#' character gets appended to the text you had typed in. You can, as a shortcut, just end your message by typing in a '#' character to achieve the same thing.

Summary

I hope you find this to be a useful addition to this project. As you are running away from hordes of zombies, or dodging meteorites, you can now effortlessly message your friends on your location, even after the cell towers have gone offline! :-)

Support

If you find this project useful and want to support the development, I now have a Buy Me A Coffee page here:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ripplebiz