Repeater config for your RAK Wisblock (RAK19003/RAK19007 baseboard fitted with RAK4631)

The most common choice for repeaters due to its low energy consumption are the RAKWireless Wisblock family, most often the RAK19003 or RAK19007 fitted with the RAK4631 core module, which is LoRa and BLE, while we don't use the BLE part in day to day running you still need an antenna on this as well as the LoRa port, I'll explain in the instructions as we go on.

You may notice on the RAK4631 that the label identifies the module as RAK4630, this is correct as the RAK4631 is in fact a carrier board with a RAK4630 pre-installed to it which then plugs into the RAK19003 or RAK19007, if you purchase the starter kit from mpowerered247.com mentioned below the module is fitted already, all you need to do is follow the instructions

So here is the specifics on RAK Wisblock configuration, this assumes either the RAK19003 or RAK19007 base boards as these are the common ones used and it also assumes you have bought antenna and enclosure options.

You will need a Chrome browser to do this, as this has the ability to access COM ports, the list that will appear at steps 5 and 6 will show the name of the device anyway

1. First of all we need to flash the firmware to the device, if buying these from mpowered247.com these will already come flashed with a different firmware, we of course want to put MeshCore repeater firmware on the device, to do this we need to connect this to a USB cable, if you buy the "Meshtastic starter kit" you will have one of these with the device, but before we connect the USB cable connect the supplied BLE and LoRa antennas (these are labelled) to the appropriate ports, these are labelled on the board but if you hold the board as shown in the picture I will provide soon the LoRa antenna is top-left, the BLE antenna is bottom right.
2. Connect the USB cable, the board will boot up, if you press the button immediately next to the USB-C port when powering the board, it will show up as a storage device in a similar way to the Raspberry Pi Pico however this board uses a different chip (nRF52480 rather than the RP2040) so keep this in mind so you don't brick it which you shouldn't anyway.
3. Go to the MeshCore website and select the RAKWireless Wisblock/WisMesh (RAK4631) firmware option from the web flasher, 
4. Select repeater from the "choose role" list
5. You will need to press the option to put the board into DFU mode, if you haven't already, so the board can take the firmware, there is an option to erase the flash though this shouldn't be needed.
6. Select the latest firmware and click flash, let this do the flash process and wait for the board to reboot, if the flash fails then retry again, if it still fails press the reset button
7. Then you can now configure the repeater if the flash was a success by using the repeater setup on the MeshCore Flasher, choose what you want to call the repeater, set its location (by default RAK Wisblocks do not come with a GPS module, but if used in an active repeater role GPS is a power drain we don't need), sync the clock and then you should have the foundation of your repeater working, at this point you can save the settings and disconnect the cable.
8. Install into your enclosure, the zerofox3D Hermes case is a good choice as this comes with a 4-cell 18650 holder (make sure all these cells are charged to equal levels before installation) with correct polarity for the RAK Wisblock boards, a wire tail and some gel-filled crimps for a solar panel and an option of either SMA or N-Type antenna connection, as well as a power switch that physically disconnects the power from the board.
9. Install an antenna, if using the case noted above you can simply directly fit this to the case, if not try and get the antenna as high as possible but keep the feeder as short as possible, antennas and suitable cable for this are available from Paradar and McGill Microwave.
10. Install your solar panel somwhere where it will get as much sun as possible all year round, keeping the repeater running 24/7 is important to keep the mesh reliable and running lithium batteries down to flat does cause them damage, the current draw of the repeater will depend on how much traffic goes through it
11. When all this is done power up the repeater and you should then be able to log into it via the MeshCore app using a companion device connected to your phone or a standalone device, you can then sync the clock again if needed, change the password if needed and also if you have yet to do so you can set the location where your repeater is located (or a rough approximation)

With your repeater the mesh can grow and cover a bigger area, the more we have the bigger the mesh will be, with the potential to link up to other meshes as well, so when the mobile networks fail (as can happen) there is a backup in place that anyone is able to use.

OTA Update of the RAK4631

You can also update the firmware on these devices without needing to go up to remove it from a mast (provided you are in Bluetooth range of the repeater, as this will be how it is done), this makes use of the "start ota" in the command line and an app on your phone as well as a zip file containing the firmware which you get from the MeshCore flasher page, when you put the hardware into the OTA mode it will show up as RAK4631_OTA on your Bluetooth list, we only want to select this within the app used for updating, which is on the Google Play store or Apple's App Store if you look for "nrf ota", there is a setting that needs changing in the app, this is "Number of packets", set this to 10 (it is set to 12 by default), once you have done that, follow the steps below

1. Go to the MeshCore website on your mobile device, on the web flasher as before look for the RAK Wisblock firmware as mentioned above and select "repeater" as before, this time download the zip file from the download list.
2. Go into the repeater's admin from the MeshCore app, go to "command line" and type "start ota", it should respond "OK - mac: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (where xx equals letters and numbers)
3. Open the "DFU" app that you downloaded from the Play Store or App Store, if you haven't already made the setting changes mentioned above make these now
4. Press "Select" next to "File", navigate to the device's downloads folder and select the repeater firmware, it should be named with RAK_4631_Repeater in its name followed by the version number
5. Press "Select" next to "Device", this will ask you for Bluetooth permission the first time so make sure this is allowed, then select "RAK4631_OTA", it should populate with the name and the device address which you would have seen in the MeshCore app earlier
6. Then it is a matter of pressing "Start" and waiting, as each stage is completed a tick will appear if it has been successful, don't interrupt the process until it is completed
7. Once the process has complete the repeater will reboot, you may need to sync the clock again on the repeater once this is done, I found I had to do this

And the update should at this point be done and without you needing to go up a mast to bring the device down and reflash the firmware, you only have to be near the repeater to do this, this is another advantage these boards have over other devices (though this should work with other devices that use the same nRF52480 chip as the RAK boards as the app used is by Nordic Semiconductors).