Newbie: Radio signal over 10m?

Wireless & IoT
1

Hi!

I’m new to electronics, other than doing some hacking a while back with the Arduino and getting that talking to applications on my PC.

I now want to do something that I’m sure is relatively easy, but I just need a few pointers if someone could help? :slight_smile:

I want to built a simple circuit (battery + reed switch + transmitter), that, when it’s activated, sends a wireless signal. This signal needs to be received by something that can talk to my PC. An Arduino would be fine for that part of it I guess.

Question is, what do I use to transmit and receive the signal? Ideas anyone? :slight_smile:

2

oh, i’ve been looking at the xbee stuff, and it seems like that’s overkill for what I want to do! :slight_smile:

[edit]

Might this work?

RF Link 2400bps Receiver - 434MHz

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=8949

RF Link Transmitter - 434MHz

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=8946

“The theory of operation is very simple. What the transmitter ‘sees’ on its data pin is what the receiver outputs on its data pin”

That sounds ideal?

3

It would work, but those modules can be finicky. If the signal is left on or off too long, the signal tends to degrade. People use encoding like manchester encoding to balance the on’s and off’s to get around this. It also means you’ll need to use your own antenna’s, which can be another finicky problem.

Anyway, like everything in electronics, you have to pick what you want, cheap or easy. These things are cheap, but they aren’t that easy, if you want a reliable signal.

4

yezzer:
“The theory of operation is very simple. What the transmitter ‘sees’ on its data pin is what the receiver outputs on its data pin”

**This is simply wrong.** Do not assume a radio link will

replicate the Tx input at the Rx output. The data “payload”

must be an AC signal, with data rates within the pass band

of the channel (typically 5KHz wide, and good for a few

kilobits per second). Some form of error detection and

data sync has to be used to counter the random impulse

noise present in any radio link.

5

yezzer:
oh, i’ve been looking at the xbee stuff, and it seems like that’s overkill for what I want to do! :slight_smile:

…

Might this work?

RF Link 2400bps Receiver - 434MHz

RF Link Transmitter - 434MHz

Yes, but [[[u]read this thread[/u]](http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?p=68838) carefully before attempting it.](http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?p=68838)