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Wireless Communication Using Cheap 433MHz RF Modules and Pic Microcontrollers. Part 1

Sending data over an RF link to a PC. There are many articles on the internet describing how someone can add wireless capabilities to a project. A plethora range of options and technologies exist and the choice is based upon the specific application. In general, sub-1GHz frequencies are used for long range applications. The selection of the rf module is made after considering amongst others, the desired range, bandwidth, reliability and cost. Obviously, the cheaper the module, the less reliable it is. Most of the hobby projects on the internet that employ RF communication, use Arduinos and special software libraries, like VirtualWire. The later provides Manchester encoding/decoding routines to balance the voltages used for the RF receiver gain averaging circuit. This instructable however, describes how you can make a Pic microcontroller talk to a cheap RF module (433MHz) through its USART port, to send data over a wireless link to another Pic. The first part demonstrates how to program a PIC12F1822 to send a simple string to an RF transmitter, and then how to get this string through an RF receiver and display it on a terminal application.”

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