Yes, it is quite a spiffy little device.  There are details on the 'net about
the protocol for communicating with the pic and the transmission protocol, as
well as the frequency (I think 300MHz??).

I would be interested in a circuit design for such a transmitter.  I imagine
it's a simple oscillator being fed into a pcb track(or jumper) antenna.  The PIC
can turn the osc on or off with a pin or two...

Anyone have some radio experience and time?  I'm willing to post the schematic
if I could get some help identifying the parts and/or critical values.  (I
imagine the pcb design becomes an issue at this frequency?)

-Adam

Adam Bryant wrote:
>
> Rob,
> On the X10 web site it does say that neighboring houses can be affected
> by your X10 signals if they also have X10 using the same channel (house
> code).
>
> A friend here in my office and I recently purchased the new FireCracker
> kit and have been having fun randomly turning each others lights/fans
> on/off.
>
> Incidently, the Firecracker kit includes a RF transmitter module that
> plugs into a PC serial port and operates in passthrough mode somehow (you
> can hook a modem or whatever into the back of the module and the modem
> doesn't know the X10 module is there).  Imagine my surprise when I pried
> this transmitter module open to find a surface mount 12C509 on the tiny
> breadboard for this unit.  The whole unit is basically a breadboard with
> the PIC, a few other surface mount components (resistors and caps and
> whatnot), and a couple of small loops of wire (antenna?).  Would I ever
> like to get a look at the code for that!  However, I am sure that it is
> code protected and I WILL NEVER crack or otherwise copy someone elses
> hard work without their permission.
>
> Maybe one of the RF gurus on this list can give us a high-level
> explanation of how you can make a transmitter out of a PIC and a loop of
> wire.
>
> Adam
>
> On Tue, 10 Aug 1999 22:51:04 +1200 Rob Bakker
> <Rob@MAILSERV.WAIKATO.AC.NZ> writes:
> > Anybody know if there is a distributor in New Zealand/Australia who
> > sells
> > X10 modules? (TW-523 or PL-513)
> > How far do you reckon the signal will propergate?  to the nearest
> > pole
> > transformer or beyond?
> >
> >
> > if this is OT then i apologise in advance and reply to me off the
> > list
> >
> > Rob Bakker
> >
> > rob@waikato.ac.nz
>
> Adam Bryant (age 0x23)
> abryant@peaktech.com (work)
> adamdb@juno.com (home)
> Parker, CO, USA
> Robotics, RC Airplanes, anything using a PIC
>
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