BS2 communication with RF Transceiver (27982) range issue

[macHVD]

I'm working on a project to have a number of BS's to communicate to each other via the RF Transceiver (27982).
The idea is to have some stuff switched on and off remotely controlled be a central master and a number of slaves.
The master is a BS2e the slave(s) BS2

The master sends a command to the slave(s) when something needs to be switched on or off.

Now the prototype I've set up works fine, but I started some tests to find out the range and I have an issue.
For that I uploaded a small test application to the master that sends every 3 seconds a switching command to the slave.
The prototypes are build on 2 usb boards of education

When I moved away the slave from the master connection dropped already on around 5 meters (+/- 16 feet) with only 1 brick wall (10cm / 4inch) in between.

Just to test I've put a thin copper wire around the slave's antenna and this gave me a range off about 10 meters (+/- 32 feet). I would like to have a range of about 50 feet.

Is the range I got with my test normal or could this indicate some malfunctioning of one of the RF modules ?
Can I extend the range by just putting a thin copper wire around the antenna's ?

[stamptrol]

Best case, line of sight distance is only 250 feet, according to the product write-up.

A brick wall would certainly attenuate the signal but you seem to be getting pretty poor distance. Can you do a test in an open area outside where you can confirm at least half the advertised distance?

The ultimate improvement would be to move the antenna to the other side of the brick wall. That can be by extending the antenna lead (may be more trouble than its worth) or moving the tranceiver itself outside and extending the data cable.

Cheers,

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Tom Sisk

http://www.siskconsult.com
·