Been looking for some extra range for your R/C projects? [Tron]’s managed to control his planes from 9.8Km using this kit at 868Mhz. I don’t know if I’d have the patience to fly the plane for that long, but this beats the pants off of just about everyone else home R/C gear.
Long Range R/C On 868Mhz

That’s _nice_!
I’d like to use something like that with a wheeled ROV but real time video over those kinds of distances over the ground…ouch. :(
This is an awesome project.
cool. i know the 900mhz band is mostly open/unlicensed (cordless phones, etc). but 868mhz i dont know much about.
900 Mhz is licensed but for low power stuff (like a cordless phone or other r/c devices) you dont need one. For the things he is talking about you do need a HAM radio license in the states.
“The receivers of 11 series of 868/902Mhz are designed for the band ISM of 868-870Mhz of agreement to the European procedure ETSI EN 300 220 and availables for the band ISM 902-928Mhz in agreement with the procedure FCC of the USA.”
902-928 is the 33cm band and should not be used without a license. If you are interested in getting one, check out the ARRL and QRZ websites, they will help you get your license. Its not very hard to get the basic one which is needed for this band (technician).
I know he is talking about 868Mhz but it is not legal to use this in the states for any reasonable amount of power.
Also, if you want more range, try a lower frequency. Once you’ve got your ham license you can use a huge range of them!
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/bands.html
http://www.qrz.com/
Enjoy
-Bill
KC2RST
PS If you are ever in the Newark NJ area listen for me on K2MFF, the repeater at NJIT.
http://web.njit.edu/~k2mff/
ya, lots of place online willing to sell you tx/rx equipment for 868mhz tho…
from wikipedia:
# 824â849 MHz: AMPS A & B franchises, terminal (mobile phone) (formerly TV channels 73â77)
# 849â869 MHz: Public safety 2-way (fire, police, ambulance â formerly TV channels 77â80)
# 869â894 MHz: AMPS A & B franchises, base station (formerly TV channels 80â83) (one translator is still in use on channel 83)
# 902â928 MHz: ISM band: cordless phones and stereo, radio frequency identification, datalinks, amateur radio (33 cm band)
# 928â960 MHz: Mixed studio-transmitter links, mobile 2-way, paging, other.
from the ism page, it looks like AMPS spectrum has mostly been abandoned as of feb18 2008. maybe this will get auctioned or opened soon?
“The receivers of 11 series of 868/902Mhz are designed for the band ISM of 868-870Mhz of agreement to the European procedure ETSI EN 300 220 and availables for the band ISM 902-928Mhz in agreement with the procedure FCC of the USA.”
looks like the US version will only be 902-928mhz? and “changes for soft (setup)”??? maybe a software setting or jumper that changes it between bands? would 40mhz lower make much of a difference?
been thinking about getting a ham license for ages now. last time i checked, the morse code requirement is gone for the tech class.
This is the perfect hack for building that Full sized RC car I’ve always wanted to build!
Neat, it would be more interesting though if it wasn’t a commercial kit…
Actually the 868 DMD system is under beta testing and they have flown ¡¡16.5Km away with an easy-star elapor plane !! , the actual limit is the plane battery capacity . They will have available the system in 2 versions , 868 Mhz for Europe ISM band ,and 900 for USA .For more info take a look here : http://www.dmd.es/rc_&_fpv_e.htm
There is a cool set of tested protocols to broadcast digital over 12Mhz SW. I forget what they’re called though.
There is almost -no- public implementation literature on them though.
By combining a RC transmitter to serial interface with a Digi long range wireless serial link and a Pololu serial to servo controller you can do the same thing.
RC to serial
http://www.ringolake.com/pic_proj/servo/rc_trans/rc_trans.html
Pololu servo controller
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/727
Digi wireless
http://www.digi.com/products/wireless/
The Pololu micro servo controller mentioned in my previous post should be this model:
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/207
The Scott Edwards SSC2 works as well:
http://www.seetron.com/ssc.htm
A couple of posts raise questions about ham license code requirements. Morse code was not previously required for Technician Class licenses, and is now no longer required for other classes as well:
“The FCC has modified the amateur radio service rules, eliminating Morse code exam requirements. … Previously, the Commission, in accordance with international radio regulations, required applicants for General Class and Amateur Extra Class operator licenses to pass a five words-per-minute Morse code examination. The FCC has decided that is no longer a requirement because the FCC believes that the public interest is not served by requiring facility in Morse Code when the trend in amateur communications is to use voice and digital technologies for exchanging messages.”
https://transition.fcc.gov/cgb/contacts/headlines/MorseCodeElim.pdf
P.S. I noticed the old-school hackaday b&w photo with tape in the corners. Cute..