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Post by SDL on May 18, 2021 7:37:28 GMT -8
I'm currently using a second board and third antenna. I've got one more unused board that I'll load up and try. Thanks, Jason I'm not surprised that one might be bad. We are updating the kits to send two with each kit to forstall this problem in the future. In bulk, we got these cheap enough to do that. BP
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wshealy
Full Member
Posts: 187
Raspberry Pi: Yes
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Post by wshealy on May 18, 2021 7:47:28 GMT -8
Just to be clear. My internal antenna like the one in the package you sent me works fine. It is only the external version with the board without the spring antenna and the extra wires that I get no data. I simply unplugged the external board and plugged back in the internal and all is fine. I have done the pin bending on both. I wasn't going to modify the the internal boards since once I have done that I won't be able to go back. W
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Post by SDL on May 18, 2021 7:52:04 GMT -8
W,
OK. That helps. So the 433MHz Transmitter board for the external antenna might be bad.
Send me a close up of the wiring. Let's make sure you have it plugged in correctly.
BP
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Post by Jason on May 18, 2021 7:56:01 GMT -8
I'm currently using a second board and third antenna. I've got one more unused board that I'll load up and try. Thanks, Jason I'm not surprised that one might be bad. We are updating the kits to send two with each kit to forstall this problem in the future. In bulk, we got these cheap enough to do that. BP You've nailed my over-arching concern which is there is no way all this hardware is bad. I've got to be doing something wrong and for the life of me, I'm simply not seeing it. Jason
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wshealy
Full Member
Posts: 187
Raspberry Pi: Yes
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Post by wshealy on May 18, 2021 8:06:28 GMT -8
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Post by Jason on May 18, 2021 9:33:38 GMT -8
Okay third board using a third short range antenna seems to be working. The two long range antennas I've tried so far don't appear to work. I've got some more long range antennas so I'll be testing some more this afternoon with those.
Thanks,
Jason
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Post by doxidad on May 18, 2021 11:20:15 GMT -8
I finally got good results in my TB setup by replacing the transmitter board with my existing external antenna. Not sure if this is the final fix, but it has been reporting every 12mins since I moved it to its final resting place. Before I couldn't move it more than 10 feet line of sight without loosing the signal. Is now sitting out on my deck wire tied to the railing with the signal going through an outside brick wall.
I would assume that the original transmitter had a problem with output power.
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Post by Jason on May 18, 2021 12:31:51 GMT -8
I finally got good results in my TB setup by replacing the transmitter board with my existing external antenna. Not sure if this is the final fix, but it has been reporting every 12mins since I moved it to its final resting place. Before I couldn't move it more than 10 feet line of sight without loosing the signal. Is now sitting out on my deck wire tied to the railing with the signal going through an outside brick wall. I would assume that the original transmitter had a problem with output power. Any chance you have a link to the external antenna you used? Thanks, Jason
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Post by doxidad on May 18, 2021 13:25:00 GMT -8
Jason Here is all the info of what I have. I have 2 different styles of transmitters.. One style has the single coil on it like original from SDL and the second one has 2 coils. Not sure what the differences is other than maybe fine tuning a bit. I put in the single coil one. Also, both of these packages come with both transmitter and receivers.
The one with the single coil - 3 transmitters and 3 receivers and 6 coil antennas
Both packages were < $10
The antennas were 2 in package
OOPSIE - I removed the 2nd set of transmitters - I just looked at them and messed up when ordering -they are 315Mhz instead of 433Mhz. Glad I saw this before I tried using them and spent time trying to figure out why they wouldn't work - hopefully no one ordered them from my link.
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dow4hurst
Full Member
SkyWeather2 Newbie
Posts: 117
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Post by dow4hurst on May 18, 2021 13:30:45 GMT -8
I found that RFAnalyzer does work with a Google Pixel 4XL, a OTG cable off of Amazon, the SwitchDoc Lab SDR, and external antenna. I've got a video attached (keep your eyes on the cellphone, not my nose. ). I do not yet know if this is my SkyWeather2 Kit talking at 433.95 MHz, but I think it is since the closer I get to the source, the greater the amplitude. I have a good bit of testing to do. Just shutting off the system should kill the signal. I had no idea originally how to start testing signal strength. I asked my Dad, who is 80 and knows more about practical electronics in his little finger than I'll ever know in my life. He first started talking about an inductor and capacitor setup, recommending some pico farad capacitor as a starting point. Positioning closer and then further away. Then, boom! out of nowhere he suggested searching for a cellphone app that measures RF! I thought that was an excellent idea and so had a cellphone app developer. I didn't see any other app that had this capability and Android compatibility. There is a git source tree and continued support for the app. I added a pic of the cable hooked to the SDR and antenna. Dow
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Post by Jason on May 18, 2021 13:42:00 GMT -8
Jason Here is all the info of what I have. I have 2 different styles of transmitters.. One style has the single coil on it like original from SDL and the second one has 2 coils. Not sure what the differences is other than maybe fine tuning a bit. I put in the single coil one. Also, both of these packages come with both transmitter and receivers.
The one with the single coil - 3 transmitters and 3 receivers and 6 coil antennas
The second one with 2 coils - 5 transmitters and 5 receivers.
Both packages were < $10
The antennas were 2 in package
Thank you sir! Jason
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Post by SDL on May 18, 2021 14:01:33 GMT -8
Dow,
This is really cool. BTW, there are a number of packages (like RFHack) that will do the same thing on a Raspberry Pi. That's what we used in developing all this stuff!
BTW, it looks like that is a 433MHz transmitter on your screen. 433.9MHz is what it actually is. So it fits.
BP
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Post by Jason on May 20, 2021 9:09:57 GMT -8
Unfortunately, I'm 3/3 on the external long range antennas I purchased. It also appears that only one of the three short range antennas works as well.
Thanks,
Jason
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Post by SDL on May 21, 2021 5:38:14 GMT -8
Jason,
I'm at a loss here. We tried all sorts of antennas (talked about above) and had pretty good luck. We even used one of our huge Yagi antennas.
Are you sure you have the antennas plugged in correctly? Would you take a close up picture of the Mini Pro board with the external antenna plugged in?
BP
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Post by Jason on May 21, 2021 7:03:48 GMT -8
Here is my current wiring. The RPi and SDR are currently about 11 ft apart in our kitchen with minimal noise. As you can see, I've removed the solar completely. Additionally, I've bent the pins as well as made sure the antenna connected using pliers. I'm not getting any hits at all on the broadcast messages. Thanks, Jason View AttachmentView AttachmentView AttachmentHere are the images of my setup. Thanks, Jason
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