XBee Pro 900 Simple Communication

Wireless & IoT
1

Hello, I have purchased

2x XBee Pro 900 RPSMA http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9099

2x XBee Explorer USB http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8687

I have them both hooked up to different computers running X-CTU and am trying to get simple communication established. They are set to the same baud rate, VID, and have the DH and DL set to each other’s SH and SL. Have also tried broadcasting. Have tried testing from factory defaults. Range test won’t work. ATND only returns the attached xbee, not the other. Assembling a packet does not affect the terminal on the other xbee. Typing in to either terminal in transparent mode causes no response on the other xbee’s terminal.

I know this sounds like a simple and common problem but I feel like I’ve tried everything. Thanks in advance.

2

Solved it…

The xbees were simply out of range, even though they were on the same table. With the bare RPSMA connectors the range is only a couple of inches. Once I attached antennae they worked fine. I hope this helps someone else.

3

something else is wrong. Even without antennas, the range should be 10’s of ft. It is in 2.4GHz and should be even more so in 900MHz.