Does anyone know the longest range that I can get from the Linx transmitter and

wmtell1

Thankss for all of the help on my postings. I would like to get a range of btween 3000 and 5000 feet from the Linx. Is this possible? How would I do it?· I'm not rf expert but I think understad the basics and I am wiiliing to experimen with a soldering iron if people have any suggetions.

William

Mike Green

It's not possible. It's not a matter of experimenting. The issue is that the transmitter produces very little power, maybe a few milliWatts to a short dipole antenna. The receiver is also very simple with minimal amplification and a short dipole antenna. As a pair, they're rated for maybe 500 feet under good conditions. If you had a multi-element Yagi antenna on each end cut to the proper frequency, you might make it when they're lined up with each other. There are transceivers designed for this sort of range. They're more expensive, more complex, have higher transmit power and a more sensitive receiver. They require better antennas than are normally used with the Linx chips and these are larger and more expensive than a little nubbin of a "rubber duck" antenna. A good antenna can be built cheaply, but it has to be done properly.

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) has some excellent manuals on antenna design and construction and on getting more range out of low power gear.

Post Edited (Mike Green) : 4/5/2009 11:01:26 PM GMT

wmtell1

Mike,

Thans for yur reply i really appreciate your help. Im in a pickle because I want to use the Linx I bought 2 each of the transmitter and receiver a while ago so Im in for about $150. I will look at the ARRL and see if they can hlep. any other suggestions from othr members is welcome!

William

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Take a look at this thread.

-Phil

Craig Eid

William,

Although you·have spent a considerable sum of money on the Linx products you do not want to be in the position of throwing good money after bad. The members of the forum have provided solutions, for the Linx products and other products, that can achieve the specified range but they will require an additional investment of time and/or money. You need to determine how much additional time and money that you are willing to spend to achieve your specified range.

Do you truly need a range of 3000 – 5000 feet or can you get by with a lower range? The number of possible solutions expands rapidly as the specified range decreases.



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Moskog

wmtell1
As Mike said I think you can make it with a multi-element Yagi, in both ends and if there are no buildings or other things in between. What I did to increase the range in my project was to get an old car antenna for the old 450MHz mobile phone system that were used some years ago before the GSM . I connected the antenna coax to the TX module and placed the antenna itself on the roof of the garage. I did nothing to the receiver module, it still got the little "rubber-duck"-antenna. I did not need as much as 3000 feet range but I took a ride one night to test the range. I had good signal up to about 800 meters or so with this configuration, that means something like 2400 feet I guess. If I had used a better receiver antenna I guess I could have done it much better. So my advice to you is to give it a try, look at Phil Pilgrim's antenna-solution and also take a look at antenna pages you find on the internet.
I did replace the element on that old 450 antenna with a half-wave copper element trimmed for 433MHz, some 35 cm or so long, just to make the best out of it. That works fine.