[TowerTalk] 300 MHz Remote Switch

[Jim Lux]

On 12/20/11 4:56 AM, Pete Smith wrote:
> Recently, on a whim, I bought one of these
> <http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-8-Channel-Way-Relay-Output-RF-Remote-Control-Switch-/130545242235#vi-content>,
> thinking it might be possible to use it to switch beverages at a point
> about 250 feet from my house.  I knew, of course, that the little
> hand-held remote couldn't possibly reach that far, but thought maybe I
> could cobble something up.
>
> Looking at it, I'm impressed by the relay assembly, which seems very
> sturdily made.  Is there any possibility, through the use of antenna
> improvements on both ends, that I might be able to get the range of the
> thing up to what's necessary, or would I be better off just modifying
> the relay assembly as a wired switch.
>


Velleman kits has a similar widget that I've used (with a wired control, 
but they have an RF module that plugs into it).


WHat frequency is the remote at?  433 MHz?  A small Yagi might do quite 
nicely.

Or, couple the control signals onto your feedline.  I've thought about 
doing that for 2.45GHz 802.11 stuff.  A tiny capacitive coupling would 
be almost a short circuit at 2.4 GHz and wide open at HF.