Find a Retailer
SHOP LEARN BLOG SUPPORT 0LOG IN REGISTER
PRODUCT MENU
find products, tutorials, etc...
EDUCATION FORUM
Need Help?
HOME / PRODUCT CATEGORIES / LORA / SPARKFUN PRO RF - LORA, 915MHZ (SAMD21)
images are CC BY 2.0
SHARE
SparkFun Pro RF - LoRa, 915MHz (SAMD21)
WRL-14916
4
DESCRIPTION FEATURES DOCUMENTS
SAMD21G18A
Cortex M0+
256KB Flash Memory
32MHz External Oscillator
4 Digital and 5 Analog IO Pins with exclusive GND pins
Hope RFM95W LoRa modem
Point to Point Radio capabilities
LoRa Enabled
Frequency range: 915 MHz
Spread factor: 6-12
Range up to 1 mile line of sight
U.FL Antenna
LiPo Battery Charger
500mA Charge Rate
Qwiic Enabled
Tags
915MHZ ARDUINO DEVELOPMENT I2C IOT LORA PRO RF QWIIC
RFM95W SAMD21 SPI WIRELESS
SparkFun Pro RF - LoRa, 915MHz (SAMD21) Product Help and Resources
TUTORIALS VIDEOS SKILLS NEEDED
LoRaWAN with ProRF and
The Things Network
JULY 3, 2018
Learn how to make a LoRaWAN
node for your next long range IoT
project and connect it to the
internet with The Things Network!
SparkFun SAMD21 Pro RF
Hookup Guide
OCTOBER 4, 2018
Using the super blazing, nay
blinding, fast SAMD21 whipping
clock cycles at 48MHz and the
RFM96 module to connect to the
Things Network (and other Radio
woodles).
Adding More SERCOM
Ports for SAMD Boards
FEBRUARY 4, 2019
How to setup extra SPI, UART,
and I2C serial ports on a SAMD-
based boards.
New!
Three Quick Tips About
Using U.FL
DECEMBER 28, 2018
Quick tips regarding how to
connect, protect, and disconnect
U.FL connectors.
COMMENTS 15 REVIEWS 4
Customer Reviews
3.8 out of 5
Based on 4 ratings:
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Great chip combo, but another layout would be better for me.
about 2 months ago by Member #505206 verified purchaser
Despite their drawbacks, my projects are usually breadboarded, as my lack of design expertise generates a lot
of experimentation and modification. The width of the board with the ground rails uses all the width for
connections on the usual breadboard, so your competitor’s format works better most of the time. I seem to end
up usually needing a power bus, so all those ground connectors only solve half that problem.
A great use of your skills would be better radio software support. The third party libraries usually used are
short on explanation and perhaps a little long on attitude for a packet radio beginner, and contain
inconsistancies like setting the power one way on the server and then adding a boolian on the client, or setting
the frequency in a not if statement. I finally ended up figuring most of it out from Nate’s kill switch article.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Good Intro to LoRa WAN Device
about 2 months ago by xsk8rat verified purchaser
I like the clear labels and QWIIC connector make for a quick start. It works and seems to be fairly robust. It has
adequate mounting holes to include in a real project! I understand the other review’s concern about the layout
for prototyping. But for me the QWIIC allows minimal the soldering to get where i want to go.
It did not work well out of the box, but the support team was able to patch an issue in the library and get things
working promptly. Thank you! (Note: use 1.5.3 SparkFun SAMD board defs for the working version.)
The Hookup Guide is a little short on details (for example: it explains that connecting the two LoRa jumpers on
the back of the board puts the board in LoRa mode. But it does not explain what mode is enabled by leaving
the jumpers disconnected). The “SWITCH” pin through holes are not explained, but can be “sort-of” inferred
from the schematic.
Also, there are many fiddly configuration changes in the libraries. But if you are careful, you can make them all
correctly.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Fine but not exactly PRO-oriented.
about a month ago by mxgxw verified purchaser
We recently bought this board to use as a SAMD LoRa node on our deployment for TTN here in San Salvador.
Everything seems perfect but there is a couple of issues with this design:
1st: Documentation is a little bit of a mess and the instructions about the libraries to use are confusing. There
are several Libraries recommended on the tutorial but some of them simple don’t work directly on the SAMD.
Also there is an error in the tutorial for The Things Network were SPI pins for the radio are wrong.
2st: Why there is no JTAG port? I mean… This is a “PRO” board. Pros tend to like to have tools to debug the
boards. LoRa is a complex protocol and trying to debug only using UART is a PITA. With the instructions wrong
on the tutorial we literally had to solder a couple of wires directly on the chip to extract the SWD lines to be
able to connect a JTAG debugger and find the errors because the board didn’t even boot.
In general the other features are fine and the quality is the one that one expects from Sparkfun. But for a PRO
board and for LoRa this one didn’t convinced us.
Doesn't work!!
about 4 months ago by Member #873804 verified purchaser
I had high hopes this would supply a wireless link for an ongoing project, but its a complete dud.
5 star 0
4 star 3
3 star 1
2 star 0
1 star 0
Currently viewing all customer reviews.
SparkFun Electronics ® / Niwot, Colorado / Customer Service / Site Map / Terms of Service / Privacy Policy
Questions? Feedback? powered by Olark live chat software
CF replied on November 5, 2018:
I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble! Please contact our technical assistance team for help with this.
START
SOMETHING.
Email address
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
About Us
About SparkFun
Press & Media
SparkFun Education
Feeds
Jobs
Contact
Help
Customer Service
Shipping
Return Policy
FAQ
Chat With Us
Programs
Become a Community Partner
Community Stories
Custom Kit Requests
Tell Us About Your Project
Sell Your Widget on SparkFun
Become a SparkFun Distributor
Large Volume Sales
Community
Forum
SparkFun IRC Channel
Take the SparkFun Quiz
SparkFun Kickstarter Projects
Distributors
In 2003, CU student Nate Seidle fried a power supply in his dorm room
and, in lieu of a way to order easy replacements, decided to start his
own company. Since then, SparkFun has been committed to sustainably
helping our world achieve electronics literacy from our headquarters in
Boulder, Colorado.
No matter your vision, SparkFun's products and resources are designed
to make the world of electronics more accessible. In addition to over
2,000 open source components and widgets, SparkFun offers
curriculum, training and online tutorials designed to help demystify the
wonderful world of embedded electronics. We're here to help you start
something.
