BYOMesh combines SX1276 (sub-1GHz) and SX1281 (2.4GHz LoRa) on one compact board, targeting high-bandwidth mesh backhaul links.
Key Takeaways
Dual-radio design: SX1276 covers the full sub-1GHz ISM band; SX1281 adds 2.4GHz LoRa on a single small dev kit.
2.4GHz LoRa targets long mountain-to-mountain backhaul links (e.g., PNW ridge nodes) with up to 100x more bandwidth than sub-1GHz LoRa.
Avoids the power, complexity, and licensing overhead of WiFi HaLow or standard WiFi while still gaining significant throughput headroom.
Compatible with Meshtastic, MeshCore, MeshTNC, and Reticulum stacks; also includes BLE.
The 100x figure is relative to sub-1GHz LoRa mesh backhaul, not a comparison to WiFi-class protocols.
Hacker News Comment Review
The 100x bandwidth claim drew skepticism: commenters noted 2.4GHz LoRa still tops out around 30 KB/s versus WiFi HaLow’s ~40 MB/s, making the framing misleading without a clear baseline.
FCC compliance is a live concern: Meshtastic and MeshCore have documented regulatory issues around channel bandwidth that are unresolved, and higher-throughput configs may not change that calculus.
Commenters debated the SX1276 choice, questioning why a new design skips the SX1262, and flagged the 255-byte radio buffer as a hard ceiling on practical throughput regardless of frequency.
Notable Comments
@the__alchemist: Raises why SX1276 over SX1262, and notes 255-byte buffer plus spread-factor limits cap real-world bandwidth well below headline numbers.
@mikeweiss: CSS modulation means 2.4GHz LoRa could reach ~6 miles with proper antenna height, far beyond WiFi at the same frequency.
