Operation of a radio in the US under a Ham Radio part 97 license requires all transmissions to be unencrypted. Use of ‘selective’ signalling (such as pl-codes used on FRS radios) to limit cross station interference is allowed, however the basic transmission is still unencrypted. The use standard published modulation and coding is generally allowed.
My use case is for operation within frequencies and power as allowed by part 97.
Recent version of the software might be prohibited.
My request would be for a version that does not include any encryption.
LoRa is a proprietary radio modulation technology licensed by Semtech Corporation. LoRa provides long-range connectivity by using the chirp spread spectrum technique, and it operates at 868-900 MHz ISM bands. LoRaWAN MAC protocol specifies the regulations for LoRa and it defines both physical and data link standards for LoRa networking.
I think your request would be better served by a SDR and custom signaling on the frequencies you are authorized to use. I do not think the operation of the Lora hardware radios can be modified as you are requesting.
The usage of these devices is FCC compliant so your title is incorrect.
In Australia LoRa devices operate under a class license for “Low Interference Potential Device” (LIPD) which explicitly states it includes:
wifi devices
wireless microphones
garage door openers
telecommand for drones’
radars including automotive
home detention monitoring equipment
personal alarms
ultra-wideband transmitters
infrared equipment
video sender transmitters
radiofrequency identification (RFID)
barcode readers
The class license does not require application or registration of users.
This class license does not prohibit encryption.
This class license includes 915-928Mhz frequency hopping transmitters (Max 1W EIRP) and 915Mhz-928Mhz digital modulation transmitters (max power 1W EIRP). Frequency hopping devices are required to use a minimum of 20 hopping frequencies (to avoid interference)
This class license is legislated and administerd by the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) …an Australian government body similar to FCC.
Australia chose regulations to harmonise with the US.
There does not appear to be a requirement for compliant devices to avoid the use of encryption.
Though Lora is legal to use encryption, it is possible at a radio level to turn off encryption. Alas there is no UI in the Android app yet for this but with the python api it would be fairly easy to set the channel psk to be zero bytes long - which tells the devices to turn off encryption for that channel.
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