Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Re: Antenna and daughterboard selection for sub-GHz

[Eric Blossom]

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 10:28:02PM +0530, Anand Padmanabha Iyer wrote:
> Dear All,
> 
> Our research project requires the use of sub-GHz daughterboards in the
> USRP. We have identified the TVRX receiver board and RFX400
> transceiver (is there any other option that supports the range that is
> supported by the TVRX on TX side?). However, our confusion is on the
> antenna to be used. We would like to take help from the community on:
> 
> 1. Is there a better transmitter option than the RFX400 that supports
> the range supported by TVRX receiver (50-870MHz)?

> 2. Which antenna should we go for?

It depends.  See if you can find some amateur radio operators near
you.  They can provide suggestions.

> 3. If EttusResearch doesn't sell antennas in this range, can we go for
> local made ones? If we do, does the hardware support them? Does anyone
> have experience in this?

As long as you provide an antenna that looks like something near 
50 ohms, the hardware doesn't care.

There are tons of books and articles on antennas.  Many of the
practically oriented amateur radio publications can provide quick
advice.  A 1/4 wave monopole is a good place to start, and is trivial to
build.  A discone will work reasonably over a much wider band, but is
physically much larger.

Eric