About this Pager

You can build this touchscreen off-grid pager that uses LoRa and optionally GPS for location and tracking. This device lets you create (or join) a group of up to 90 devices in a private mesh network where you can send/receive messages, share location, and more.

You never know when you're going to need to be able to send messages between nearby family or friends, where cell phones don't work. You can also use these in combination with other devices (T-Deck, T-Beam, etc) and figure out where different devices are - even without having phones/internet/data. That can be really handy if you're hiking or camping in a far-out location.

How it's Built

• I designed a very simple PCB that accepts a few Adafruit components, that when combined with specialized firmware, become an off-grid communication device ready to be dropped into a 3D printed enclosure
• You can make the PCB (gerber files are included in this project) or order it from PCBWay
• The Adafruit parts are listed further down, but include Adafruit's RFM95W LoRa, 2.8" TFT Touchscreen with EYESPI & SD, Realtime Clock,  FRAM, and a few other things
• After assembling these things, you'll need to flash it with firmware, which takes only a minute or so

Assembling the Pager

Here's a video demo of assembling the pager. Full detailed instructions are also available at my website:

Full DIY Instructions

Things You Need

Soldering Tools

You will need some basic soldering supplies for connecting wires to one another and to the T-Deck (although I'm working on a DIY design that does NOT require soldering). Heat shrink wrap is also recommended.

 

Other Supplies

There may be other miscellaneous supplies/tools not mentioned here.

3D Print Your Case

Download printable enclosure files (includes 3MF and STL formats).  The printable enclosure is a slightly modified version of an enclosure originally designed by Alley Cat.

I use Black ABS for the front and colored PLA for everything else, but obviously you can get creative here.