If I had to come up with a list of the top 5 technical resources ever, the CC-Antenna-DK kit from TI (formerly Chipcon) would definitely place pretty high up there. Antenna design is a time consuming, repetitive task requiring an excellent attention to detail and understanding of the materials you’re working with, more than a few calculations, and a dash of trial and error. $49.00 for more than a dozen pre-rolled, easy to test, easy (and legal!) to steal antennas is seriously one of the best deals I’m yet to come across. Heck, they even throw in short, load and open boards if you’re in a pinch and need a cheap way to calibrate your VNA! The frequencies are a bit biased towards Europe with a lot of 868MHz boards (no surprise since Chipcon was Norwegian), but if you’re looking for an excellent primer in antenna design, including complicated ones like mixing 868MHz and 2.4GHz in the same antenna, you’ll definately benefit from reading some details on this excellent board. See Design Note DN031: CC-Antenna-DK and Antenna Measurements Summary. And if you’re interested in RF at all, seriously … buy one now before someone at TI wises up and starts charging the $495.00 this board is really worth!
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!
Join over 38,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord
CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org
New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — New Products 11/15/2024 Featuring Adafruit bq25185 USB / DC / Solar Charger with 3.3V Buck Board! (Video)
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: A New Arduino MicroPython Package Manager, How-Tos and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
Adafruit IoT Monthly — The 2024 Recap Issue!
Maker Business – Adafruit Daily — Apple to build another chip at TSMC Arizona
Electronics – Adafruit Daily — SMT Tip – Stop moving around!
1 Comment
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Ooo, new “RF” tag in the blog. You have my attention. 🙂