Build a 500 metre radio data link for under $40.

Step 2 Transmitter and antenna

The transmitter prototype was built on a piece of prototype board. There are a myriad of low power 10mW RF modules available which work well up to a range of about 30 metres. However, once the power goes up above half a watt the RF tends to get back into the picaxe chip and cause resets and other strange behaviour. The answer is to remove the module's antenna and take the RF away with 3 metres or more of 50ohm coax and build a proper dipole antenna. This also boosts the range considerably.