MK05 TinyGS Kit

We've developed a kit to support the LoRa community, wanting to build TinyGS ground stations. 

Build a ground station capable of receiving telemetry from currently 14+ active satellites. Become a valuable member of a network with 1000+ ground stations.
Based on the TinyGS ground station solution, you will build and “program” a stand-alone ground station. The software will auto-tune to a 70cm/±433MHz LoRa based satellite currently in a polar-orbit, allowing you to listen in everywhere on earth.

In the kit:

• 1 x Extended core with ESP32 processor, SD card interface and LoRa connector
• 1 x LoRa radio board (400 - 540 MHz)
• 1 x USP power and programming interface
• 1 x OLED display
• 8 x 10 pin connectors

Not supplied with the kit, yet recommended:

• Antenna from NewEgg.com
  
• Antenna from AliExpress
• Antenna  interface cable from Amazon

Already have the extended core? 

If you already have the extended core, please look at this add-on kit.

Virtual workshops:

From October 2022, all those with kits will be invited to join a Canvas course where we share support and teaching materials for this kit, and encourage collaboration. To get onto the list, please contact judi at maxiq.space.

Background:

Bjarke Gotfredsen issued a post in March 2022, here is the post:
I configured one of the extended cores with a LoRa radio in the 400-450 MHz range. I downloaded the firmware from https://tinygs.com/, did a few mods, and tested it with a duplicated setup with standard small dipole antenna. When I confirmed a test packet from the one to the other worked, I downloaded a 3D quadrifilar helicoidal antenna .scad file, calculated an antenna for 436MHz (using http://jcoppens.com/ant/qfh/calc.en.php), and spent 18 hours printing the antenna in the picture. Added some wire to the groves, found an unused antenna cable and got it connected to the LoRa radios U.Fl/Ipex antenna connector. Waited overnight to get some sats flying over and got my first packets a few hours ago. Notice the 800 miles distance in the screen shot. I have ordered another antenna from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086YV2QLS. Follow my ground station here https://tinygs.com/station/Domino4@1739593222. Don't worry about the black chips in the picture, they are just prototypes of our white production chips. This TinyGS project is a fun way of engaging the space community, especially where I am sitting at the end of the world. We have a close relationship with the South African Space Agency, and they have previously installed our xChips for a weather station on Antartica. We plan to get one of these TinyGS ground stations to Antartica, when they go back next summer in November. If you are interested, I will be updating https://github.com/domino4com/TinyGS as I go along.