I've been using the recommended 173mm coil antenna, but I am now designing a PCB for my prototype, and was thinking of laying out an antenna on the board. Has anybody ever done this? Does anyone have a design I could use?
Thanks.
17 cm of straight wire works well at 433 MHz (much better than a coil antenna). A PCB antenna will not.
17cm straight wire won't fit in my enclosure.
give me the dimensions of the box
The box measures 62mm x 132mm.
You can buy chip antennas to mount on a PCB, for example at Mouser, but they have short range.
Antenna design is advanced technology, with trial and error using professional RF testing equipment thrown in.
It is generally not possible for beginners to make a useful PCB antenna, unless one exactly duplicates an existing design, which also requires using exactly the same PCB material associated with that design. Either leave that to the professionals, or for reasonable range, resign yourself to using a straight wire antenna of the appropriate length.
Antennas are integrated onto pcb designs everyday. I've done it. My question is; has anyone done a monopole for this situation and if so, would you care to share it? If I don't get an answer, it means no one has done it and I will need to do my homework.
Hello
Take a search engine of your choice and ask the WWW for '433MHz PCB Antenna Design'.
I got 1.3e6 results.
Yes, that was one of the first things I tried. Thousands of results, but sadly nothing precisely and easily applicable to my situation. Thanks.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to create an effective antenna in such dimensions.
Here's an example.
But you will have to introduce elements of coordination.
435MHZ-V01
*
435.0
***Wires***
5
-0.065, 0.0, 0.0, 0.065, 0.0, 0.0, 0.001, 0
-0.065, 0.0, 0.0, -0.065, 0.06, 0.0, 0.001, 0
0.065, 0.0, 0.0, 0.065, 0.06, 0.0, 0.001, 0
0.065, 0.06, 0.0, 0.0075, 0.06, 0.0, 0.001, 0
-0.065, 0.06, 0.0, -0.0075, 0.06, 0.0, 0.001, 0
*** Source ***
1, 1
w1c, 0.0, 1.0
*** Load ***
0, 1
**Segmentation**
400, 40, 2.0, 1
*G/H/M/R/AzEl/X*
0, 0.0, 0, 50.0, 120, 60, 0
or select an other rf-band for your project
Try a simple 1/4 wave wire fixed around the inner perimiter of the box and see if the range you get is enough.
By professionals, with years of study and experience, and are well paid for their efforts.
Have you considered just copying the copper layout from an existing circuit board?
Copying a layout is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I'm sorry I didn't make that clear.
So get a board you like and works and copy the antenna layout.
Are you kidding? Please tell me you're kidding.
What do you even ask? I am using quit a few copied antennas for my ham radio station. Just copy the entire copper layout, including width and thickness to your board. OR cut the antenna and circuit board off an existing board and glue and solder the cut off part to your board. Or duplicate the existing antenna in copper wire and glue it to your board.. Testing each iteration. You are going to test your antenna are you not?
It seems everyone here has misinterpreted everything I've said thus far. My original post: "...I am now designing a PCB for my prototype, and was thinking of laying out an antenna on the board. Has anybody ever done this? Does anyone have a design I could use?"
In other words, I'd like to "get a board you like and works and copy the antenna layout."
If no one can provide a layout, why are you bothering to respond to my post?