Radio Shielding suggestion / request

[raggedyanne]

Is there any plans for shielding the radio ?

[Felix]

Not really, do you have a reason to want that at the low output power of these radios?
The challenge is with assembling such a shield given the design and layout of the board.

[raggedyanne]

1. Oscillators generate extremely low level electrical pulses in the radio frequency range.

2. Stray RF fields from RF/Electric Towers.

3. Interference from Non-Linear Power Supplies.

These are just a few, you never know were or how your product is being used.
So you are value adding to your product.

[raggedyanne]

A simple piece of nickel conductive mask tape would suffice , well under 5 cent cost.

[Felix]

The Oscillators on the Moteino are 1 ceramic resonator (16mhz) for the MCU a 32mhz crystal oscillator. Not sure how those interfere in the radio range which is at 433mhz/915mhz.
I agree about stray interference, but that's more for reception rather than transmission.
Non-linear power supplies might have an influence depending on the noise frequency, however a lot of these are battery powered.
Yes, the nodes could be used in lots of ways.
About the nickel tape - how do you suggest this would be soldered/assembled given the small size of these boards?

[raggedyanne]

EMI foam tape or double sided 3m foam tape with aluminium foil.

[Felix]

Would this require manual assembly?
Where do you buy this in the US?

[raggedyanne]

3M is an American brand i believe , So double sided 3M foam tape, hardware store
Aluminum foil, grocery store $2 = 9000cm2
Ruler
Scalpel
Flat Surface & Flat Object
A4 Sticker Sheet (sticker removed)
Conductive glue

Unroll a length of 3M tape equivalent to the length of the A4, stick this to the A4 on the side were the sticker was removed.
With your ruler & scalpel trim (X)mm off either side of the tapes length, revealing a sticky edge.
Roll out a length of foil on the flat surface, smooth with flat object, remove tape from A4 and put on foil.
Trim foil to width equal or less than tape thickness, foil foil edge to sticky side.
Cut 3M to desired length, peel off opposite side, place on radio, push down firmly and evenly.
On the pcb find any ground plain that is adjacent to the foil & use a dob of conductive glue to stick their.

Voila!

[Felix]

Won't happen. You can try it on your own with the foil I guess.

[raggedyanne]

It was a DIY'er.

Professional way is too buy emi silicone patch.

[Felix]

Right, or ...
Since the modules come from HopeRF so maybe this should be a question to them directly.

[raggedyanne]

HM-TRLR-D does for a hefty price.

[steve v]

raggedyanne,  Is your goal to make a Moteino that becomes, FCC acceptable ?  or are you trying to improve the performance or the Radio by improving the Signal to Noise ratio ?

[raggedyanne]

Yes i was just making a suggestion to reduce interference. The radio modules from HopeRF  are not certified , not a certificate recognised by any government regulator however the semtech modules are certified, which is very confusing, it is how it is 

In Australia to make these legal to use;
918MHz or greater & 926MHz or less
30dB (1W) or less from antenna output, even if there is spurious transmissions.
FHSS of 20 or more channels, using each channel once & in a non linear order.
Rx & Tx must operate from same ordered channels per network.
Channel frequencies must be separated by a minimum of 25 kHz.
Spurious bandwidth greater than 3kHz.

Commercial or private these must be adhered to.