XBee Antenna

Comments

• Mike Green Posts: 23,101

  2010-11-28 19:32 edited 2010-11-28 19:32

  The wire antenna looks like it's a 1/4 wave "whip antenna" for 2400MHz. You could probably substitute any other wire of the same length soldered to the same place on the board. I'd be careful trying to use an external antenna unless you must move the antenna off the xBee board since, at those frequencies, any cable or connector would introduce a significant amount of loss and the xBee is already operating at low power. People do use connectors and antennas with short cables and connectors on them for xBee, Bluetooth, and WiFi, but they still introduce significant losses.
• W9GFO Posts: 4,010

  2010-11-28 20:29 edited 2010-11-28 20:29

  You could also purchase an XBee that comes equipped with an antenna connector.
  
  
  
  Rich H
• rwswofford Posts: 2

  2010-11-29 10:42 edited 2010-11-29 10:42

  Thanks,
  I did notice a loss when testing with an external antenna. I will complete my testing as is and if needed I can replace one unit with the appropriate XBee equipped for an external antenna.
• rocker1446 Posts: 1

  2010-12-17 14:00 edited 2010-12-17 14:00

  The XBeePro modules with wire antennas are calibrated at the factory differently than those with the external connector (rpsma). You will have many signal issues if you try soldering the rpsma connector on an XBee that was shipped as a wire whip.