Adafruit’s Radio Bonnets come in a few different flavors. I chose the RFM69 at 433MHz version (note: you have to choose the same frequency for radios you want to communicate with each other). The radio chip itself, the RFM69, is available on several different breakout/dev boards, but I found the Radio Bonnet to be the most getting started friendly because of it’s OLED display that can be utilized for status messages (I’m talking to you, printf debuggers) and the three push buttons on the front that can be used to trigger events such as packet transmissions.
Software libraries and examples are available in CircuitPython.
The RFM69 is operated by a microcontroller using an object-oriented library that packetizes messages for transmission and reception known as RadioHead. The RadioHead library is open-source and supports a variety of radios and transceivers that many have written driver libraries for. Since the RFM69 is a pretty popular transceiver, there are quite a few libraries that have popped up for it. Adafruit has done it’s own version using their CircuitPython framework. While it’s a very basic implementation of the RadioHead library in that it only handles “raw” packets.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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 – we’ll post the link there.
Biohacking — Vitamin-C + Gelatin for Accelerated Recovery
Python for Microcontrollers — See you at Supercon, Python #2 language on GitHub and more! #Python #Adafruit #CircuitPython #PythonHardware @circuitpython @micropython @ThePSF @Adafruit
You need a ham radio license to use that frequency. It’s easy to take the test and get one.
KE0UNF
Actually it’s in a free zone, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LPD433