Range seems rather short using S110 at 4dbm

RE: Range seems rather short using S110 at 4dbm

Abderrezak Mekkaoui — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 15:51:18 GMT

Thanks Hakon. The PCA10000 in connected to a hub, >20cm from the PC and is is as clear as a "final" product can be. My follow up questions are: Does Nordic recommends (or not) any range extenders (like the TI2592)? Does Nordic have any plans to increase the TX output power in future versions or their BLE SOCs? What is the best (non bulky) antenna Nordic recommends to help increase the range? For my would be application covering an entire "typical" house is a make or break issue. Appreciate the help.

RE: Range seems rather short using S110 at 4dbm

Håkon Alseth — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 12:39:29 GMT

As Beat says, you have to make sure that the PCA10000 is not "covered up", meaning that it's connected through a USB hub (or another USB port on the other side) or similar so that the antenna can radiate freely without having the laptop/PC blocking too much.

The output power cannot be set with the MCP firmware, it's hardcoded to +0 dBm.

Best regards Håkon

RE: Range seems rather short using S110 at 4dbm

Abderrezak Mekkaoui — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 01:05:49 GMT

Thanks Beat. Yes the Master control program uses the PCA10000 dev. dongle. But how can one set the PCA10000 TX power? Nordic only supplies the hex with Master control program.

RE: Range seems rather short using S110 at 4dbm

Beat Zenerino — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 12:36:16 GMT

I'm guessing you're using the PCA10000 with the Master Control Panel? We were testing the PCA10004 inside a mall with an iPhone and easily got 50-70m line-of-site. Make sure the PCA10000 is visible and not hidden behind a desktop PC. Also make sure the PCA10000 is setup with a reasonably high TX Power.