Forum - Recent Threads

Budget Cuts: Environment Canada ends Weather Radio

scottiebabe — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 23:32:59 GMT

Sad news for Canadian nerds, as of March 16, 2026 environment Canada is pulling the plug on their VHF weather radio service on 162 MHz.

My weather radio will soon be an antique paperweight

I will be sure to listen to the last transmission

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatheradio_Canada

It was very similar to USA's NOAA Weather radio

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOAA_Weather_Radio

So long XMJ330, enjoyed your weather broadcasts. Local station details from ISED Canada:

hannel Type	Frequency [MHz]	Frequency record identifier	Regulatory service	Communication type	Conformity to frequency plan	Frequency allocation name	Channel	International coordination number	Station Function	Analog/digital	Occupied bandwidth [kHz]	Designation of emission	Modulation type	Filtration installed	Tx effective radiated power (ERP) [dBW]	Tx transmitter power [W]	Total losses [dB]	Analog capacity [channels]	Digital capacity [Mbit/s]	Rx unfaded received signal level [dBW]	Rx threshold level for BER 10E-3 [dBW]	Manufacturer	Model number	Antenna gain [dBi]	Antenna pattern	Half-power (3 dB) beamwidth [deg.]	Front-to-back ratio [dB]	Polarization	Height above ground level [m]	Azimuth of main lobe [deg.]	Vertical elevation angle [deg.]	Station location	Licensee station reference	Call sign	Type of station	ITU class of station	Station cost category	Number of identical stations	Reference identifier	Province(s)	Latitude (WGS84)	Longitude (WGS84)	Ground elevation above mean sea level [m]	Antenna structure height above ground level [m]	Congestion zone	Radius of operation [km]	Satellite name	Station Fee Zone	Authorization number	Service	Subservice	Licence type	Authorization status	In-service date	Account number	Licensee name	Licensee address	Operational status	Station classification	Horizontal power [W]	Vertical power [W]	Standby transmitter information
TX_RES : null	162.55	0000367827	Public Information service	Tx-only/Rx-only	Non-standard	--	--	--	TX	Analog	16.0	16K0F3EJN	Analog - Land Mobile Radio	Medium isolation (e.g., band pass)	20.199998	70	6.3	1	--	--	--	Industry Canada - Industrie Canada	SRL 210C4	10.1484	Directional	80.0	0.0	Vertical	120.0	90	--	ST. AGATHA, (CBC TOWER)	--	XMJ330	Fixed base station	FB - Base station	--	0	--	Ontario	43.45	-80.60194444	408.0	120.0	Medium congestion	0.0	--	--	010361483-001	Land Mobile	Base-Mobile Systems	Non-Developmental	Granted	2007-07-23T00:00:00-04:00	044080006884	Environment Canada	351 boulevard St-Joseph, 7th Floor K1A 0H3 Gatineau QC	--	--	0.0	0.0	--

Do you have experience on connecting a Sub-1GHz transceiver to public TV antenna?

HKPhysicist — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 15:35:31 GMT

Dear RF Engineers and Applied Physicists,

What are your experiences on connecting a Sub-1GHz transceiver to a public TV antenna? 🤔

Since I live in a very dense city with skyscrapers, I cannot set up my own antenna outside my building. Then, I want to wire my own SMA Male to TV Male Plug coaxial cable. This will connect my Sub-1GHz transmitter directly to my building`s public TV antenna.

The next step is to connect my ISM band Sub-1GHz transmitter to test a receiver several hundred metres to 1km away.

Who have experience on this? What else should I do to improve the transmission or communication? I guess a high quality Element14 MultiComp coaxial cable can serve well. 📡

Thanks for your opinions. 🤓

Interested in learning more about Nordic's Wireless Solutions? Take These Courses

rscasny — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 14:31:36 GMT

I was in a meeting with our sister community, Hackster.io.

It is promoting some training courses developed by Nordic Semiconductor in order to equip developers with the know-how to build wireless products.

Called the Nordic Dev Academy, the program consists of the following courses:

nRF Connect SDK Fundamentals
Bluetooth Low Energy Fundamentals
Cellular IoT Fundamentals
Wi-Fi Fundamentals
nRF Connect SDK Intermediate

This is a good (and FREE) opportunity to enhance you skills and receive an official Certificate of Completion. You can also enter into a hardware giveaway for chance to get a FREE Nordic Dev Kit.

For more info, please visit the DevAcademy Landing Page here.

esp32 ble

sivaguru — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 09:33:43 GMT

in esp32idf ble , I am not sure how to send data form client to server , by using call back function in main

Omnidirectional RFID UHF antennas with medium (~25mm) range recommendations?

penguin — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 15:28:12 GMT

Please bear with me as I couldn't even be considered a novice yet. I'm just a coder with an idea that I want to try out using RFID technology.

I want to identify and record data from passive RFID tags that are up to approximately 10 inches (25 cm) away from the device in any direction. There may be a few inches of low density foam between the antenna and the RFID tags. Small size and weight are important factors. Number of simultaneous tag reads... let's say, up to 5 at a time.

Based on my online research, I've come to the conclusion that a UHF reader is the way to go however, it seems like all antennas are either very short (few inches) or very long range. Can anyone recommend some antennas that might be suitable for these requirements?

Thanks in advance.

2g gsm module available in India

sivaguru — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 06:47:19 GMT

2g gsm module more famous in India are simcom and quectel

Both are Chinese company ,

India China conflict is developing more ,

any other easily available(in India) 2g gsm module is there ??

Weather Radio

scottiebabe — Sun, 21 Apr 2024 14:49:12 GMT

In north America there are several government agency that broadcast weather forecasts and reports in the VHF band.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_radio

The closest broadcast station to me, transmits on 162.55 MHz as measured with my TinySA

The broadcast is narrow-band FM with 5 kHz of deviation:

Not many consumer products tune and receive weather radio.

How about modifying an existing FM radio to receive weather radio.

I have one of these low cost AM/FM radio solder kits: https://goughlui.com/2016/09/07/project-paeansonic-cf210sp-cd9088cd7642-amfm-radio-kit/

Its based on the clone of a modern version of the original TDA7000

This app note provides the theory of operation: https://www.cool386.com/tda7000/AN192.PDF

For narrow-band FM one should reduce the IF frequency to ~5 kHz (to improve the sensitivity of the FM quadrature demodulator) and reduce the IF bandwidth to reduce noise and improve selectivity.

In my case, I scaled up the IF capacitors by a factor of 10 ( or close enough I didn't have all the exact values)

I also replaced L1 on the input BPF with a hand wound 45 nH inductor.

For now I am using a TinySA as a local oscillator programed to synthesize an LO at a 7 kHz offset (162.453 MHz).

Eventually I will use an Si5351 as the local oscillator.

Its alive!

community.element14.com/.../2068.weatheraudio.mp3

Bluetooth library for ESP32?

wlkr.jk — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 02:50:59 GMT

Hey all. I'm looking for an existing BLE library that can support live streaming of audio from an ESP32. Can someone help direct me?

LTE CAT-M chip and LTE chip recommendation

HKPhysicist — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 14:52:34 GMT

Hello,

Which LTE CAT-M chip and LTE chip would you recommend according to their prices and Linux driver availability?
Please skip China wireless chips like Quectel, etc, since they are not cheap and will not be accepted as infrastructure in EU and USA.

☺

Product suggestion for wrist-wearable audio streaming project

wlkr.jk — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 13:33:34 GMT

I've been working on a project to live stream audio to a computer from a watch-sized wrist wearable. I'm looking for OTS parts to build a POC.

Product needs to be worn on the wrist (I'll 3D print a casing with a strap). I need it to be as small as possible.

Functionality:

Receive sound from 3 wired in microphones
Receive command from customer SW on computer to start receiving audio from microphones
Continuously transmit sound via Bluetooth to a computer
Receive command to stop receiving audio from microphones
Able to be powered via battery

To date, I've evaluated the Adruino Pro Mini, but realized that the sampling rate is only 10kHz, which isn't ideal for high quality audio.

So, I've recently switched to a Teensy board, which has a sampling rate of 44kHz.

HW:

Microphone module with MAX9814 amplifier
TP4056 for battery charging/management
LiPo battery (as the project demands, I cannot have it continuously plugged in via USB to operate
HM-10 Bluetooth module
Simple LEDs for notifying when commands are initiated and complete

Does anyone have any other recommendations for me? A reference article I can reference to make it functional?

Thanks for your help!

Embedded RF & Wireless Modules

kiranmr69 — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 12:39:25 GMT

Any inputs on the factors you consider while selecting a embedded RF or Wireless Modules like LoRA, Bluetooth, Radio, Zigbee, Cellular etc.?

wifi signal booster / antenna type

sivaguru — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 06:58:18 GMT

Hello Everyone!!

I am so curious to know whether there are readily available Wi-FI signal booster for one of my project.

Idea & Use case is to enhance the signal strength from AP to STA with thick wall behind the AP and before STA. Would be great if anyone could point to any MUMIMO kind of antenna solution or a signal booster kind of product.

i am using wroom esp 32 development board (works only 2.4Ghz)

Want to ask about spectrum distribution of radio waves specifically for LoRa application

embeddedguy — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 09:24:27 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I have a Dragino LoRa module HaT which is compatible with RaspberryPi version 3 and older. I wanted to create a LoRa gateway(single channel) for personal use and evaluation how things work.

I saw that the HaT is compatible with frequencies as follows...

868 MHZ/433 MHZ/915 MHZ(Pre-configure in factory)

https://www.dragino.com/products/lora/item/106-lora-gps-hat.html

The region I am living right now(India) does not have 868MhZ as license free band and also not other two remaining frequencies supported by this shield. However here frequencies from 865 to 867MhZ are license free.

These has created confusion to me weather I could use this shield for my application. Some internet discussion also suggest that the module can be configured to 687 MhZ to be used.

Other suggest even that the 868 MhZ can also be used license free as channels are overlapping with 867 MhZ frequency. This has created confusion to me. It would be helpful to ask and get some insight how these frequency division works.?

On internet there are only a few key information but not details about how it distributed.

Wirelessly powering an LED strip

MisterPonda — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 19:09:28 GMT

Hello everyone

I want to make a little project so I can wirelessly (just a few centimeters) power an LED strip (just a short section) using a transmitter and reciever coil.

I have a 6V 4Ah lead acid battery. I want to use this as the input. I want to convert this to an AC signal around 100kHz and connect the transmitter coil to it.
On the other side I will have the reciever coil that goed to a rectifier and then to the LED strip (5V 1.9W).

What is the best (and most simple) way to do this? I was thinking about using a Colpitts Oscillator. Can this work?
Also is the battery ok or should I just start with a 12V voltage from a bench psu to make my life easier?

Does Qi Sniffer 101-01 supports WPC 1.3?

HugoC — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 23:35:48 GMT

Does anyone have ordered Qi Sniffer 101-01 (https://www.avnet.com/shop/us/products/avnet-engineering-services/101-01-3074457345632566717 ) and confirmed that it supports WPC 1.3? I'm asking because I found it a bit confusing that the previous link is not clear about it.

I want to order it but I also want to confirm before spending 1,195.00.

Thanks!

Hugo

Has anyone tried 2.4GHz LoRa?

ralphjy — Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:08:15 GMT

I had not heard of 2.4GHz LoRa until I came across the Semtech SX1280. I was looking for a device or module that could do both LoRa and BLE.

It combines BLE and LoRa in the same transceiver by moving the LoRa frequency to 2.4GHz so that the antenna can be shared. Apparently it's been around for a couple of years. I was wondering if anyone on E14 has tried it and what their experience has been.

I have a RAK4631 that combines BLE with LoRa at the conventional frequencies (I use the US915 band). It uses an nRF52840 for BLE and an SX1262 for LoRa - and uses separate antennas... I was writing a blog post about it but it got sucked into the black hole of moderation.

Remote controlled release mechanism underwater

martinho11 — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 10:27:54 GMT

I am looking for some other point of views on how to solve this problem. A horizontal load in the water is connected to a rope frame by a clip that is manually unclipped/released in order to get reel the rope in on a boat. I am searching for some kind of signal, maybe ultra sonic signal, that will tell the mechanical latch to release while being perhaps 10-15 meters away. If you have any questions, let's discuss it below.

Cheap 433MHz ASK modules in commercial applications. Pros and Cons

ipv1 — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 17:37:06 GMT

Hi all,

I am working on some short range RF sensors that include contact and ADC information. The data is transmitted to a nearby hub/aggregator but the sensor nodes themselves are battery driven and must be lower cost.

I have dissected a few door sensors on ebay and amazon and they seem to use 433MHz ASK modules that are quite cheap, albeit, one way and dumb. I understand that logic and flow control must be added externally via a microcontroller/processor but the real question here is...

"Should/Can we use 433MHz for commercial applications?"

LoRa is a better but a slightly costlier option. There are other Sub-GHz modules out there but they are more difficult to create small batches with.

Inputs on the 433MHz module use and suggestions are warranted here.

Thanks,

In the Age of Covid: Do Wearable Devices Have the Security and Data Privacy to Protect You?

rscasny — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 20:30:22 GMT

Since the arrival of COVID19, I have quickly seen product designers and companies pivot their interest from general fitness to tracing and tracking solutions via a wearable device. In one way, tit is remarkable how quickly the technology industry has adapted to changing conditions and a nasty disease that doesn't want to go away.

Wearable devices are getting to be more powerful and their functionality is skyrocketing.

My concern is that while they can be very effective as a health monitor or tracking, tracing and social distancing/proximity solution, is today's generation of wearable wrist or pendant devices up to the task as far as security and data protection. While data maybe stored on the device itself, at some point it will be sent out to a web server and the greater world where risks lurk everywhere.

What do you think?

Getting Started With EdgeLock™︎ SE050 for Industrial

peggy-nxp — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 08:31:04 GMT

About This Course

The implementation of security for the IoT and Industrial 4.0 applications has never been easier with the EdgeLock SE050, NXPs latest Plug & Trust certified secure element family. In this session, learn how to get started with EdgeLock SE050 in only a few simple steps. Be ready for different use cases such as securing your industrial device-to-device communication, protecting your sensitive sensor data or authenticating to a WiFi network and IoT cloud.

Training Outline

EdgeLock SE050 Benefits
EdgeLock SE050 Get Started

What You Will Learn

Learn how to get started with EdgeLock SE050 in only a few simple steps
Be ready for different use cases such as securing your industrial device-to-device communication

Watch the video here

Synchronizing Industrial Networks With 802.1AS

peggy-nxp — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 08:14:00 GMT

About This Course

Learn how to synchronize multiple devices with IEEE 802.1AS gPTP across an Ethernet network. In this webinar, we demonstrate how to accomplish this synchronization using an i.MX RT1170 crossover MCU and an LS1028A applications processor, showing both endpoints and bridging.

Training Outline

What is Time Sensitive Networking (TSN)
Layerscape LS1028A Overview
Usage Example

What You Will Learn

Learn how to synchronize multiple devices with IEEE 802.1AS gPTP across an Ethernet network.

Watch the video here

Wireless Communications in Shallow Freshwater

tree_top — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 18:51:22 GMT

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking to understand the limits and best practices (if they exist!) for RF transmission in freshwater at one of the follow frequencies 433MHz, 915MHz or 2.4GHz and using a ZigBee, LoRa or Xbee like device. One transciever's antenna will be underwater no more than 1 meter depth (more likely 0.5 meter) and the other transciever's antenna located in air about 1 or 2 meters above the water. The total range is 50 to 200 meters. The units will always remain upright however they may move around so would a vertically oriented dipole antenna be a good choioce? Ideally we'll like to use a 1/4 wave antenna with ground plane for the underwater side. The air side can be a 1/2 wave dipole antenna. We ran a test using two 900MHz radios with 1/2 wave dipole antennas 2 meters off the ground. It worked over 500 meters outside in air with a couple houses and some trees in the way. Any thoughts on how the same radios and might do in the described setup at the 3 frequencies?

Thanks,

Chris

S2-LP as garage dore opener and RF beacon for same hardware

Kilohercas — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 19:18:39 GMT

Hello. I am making one project where i need ability to open multiple garage doors for car (multiple locations) as well as locate my device by using directional antenna (fox hunt)

My understanding is that S2-LP Transceiver chip should be able to be 433MHz controller for garage dors, question is jus how to do it ? Where is very little information that i could find as well i am digital engineer, I don't know much about RF design.

And if i could do RF beacon with same hardware it would be just perfect.

Does any one know about this stuff and help me out ? I could give small reward for help

How to transmit data underwater over 40m

ahenon — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 14:30:48 GMT

Dear All,

I would need to transmit data in salted water in both ways on a distance of 40 to 50 meters maximum with no cable.

The quantity of data is not important only constarint is to use to much energy and not to expensive. Apparently the best option would be ultrasound:

I found some interesting device on internet:

http://www.benthowave.com/products/BII-7520omnidirectionaltransducer.html

As I'm a mechanical engineer, I have no clue on which material I should buy to test underwater data transmission...

So I have 3 Questions:

1/ Is the ultra sound option the only one for my application, if not, what do you recommand ?

2/ In the case of ultrasound communication, which reference of equipment should I buy (maybe in the link I gave before or you have better options?)

3/ If you think of other options than ultrasound, do you have any reference of electronic system I should buy for testing?

Thanks a lot,

Alexandre

Communication RF Psoc 4

kingmo551 — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 23:47:53 GMT

Hello I have 470MHZ RF transmitter and Receiver I want to Use them to make two Psoc 4 Poinner kit communicant.

First Psoc 4 get the result from the gas sensor MQ4.

Second Psoc 4 should receive the data from the first psoc 4 Via RF receiver.

I have a problem on writing the code and top design in Psoc creator need help