An alternative may be to remove the sensors from an old mouse - if neccessary cutting them into separate tx & rx parts. Although often they are already separate components. They are desined to work together so the wavelengths should match & are set up to operate over a few mm of separation. Richard P > The devices that will communicate, will nearly be in contact with each > other, and there will be no external light interference at all In that case you should be able to use an IR diode as the receiver rather than the more expensive receiver+filter+amp type. You just need to give the diode a little bias via a resistor to Vcc. If you have any small transistors in a TO18 metal can you can cut the top off and make your own opto-transistor with the IR shining straight on to the base in the silicon. If the IR is strong enough you might not need any signal amplification for the PIC to get the data cleanly -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads