I was hoping to get some information on this product(2450AT18A0100001E). Any idea on the connections. I went through the video here at DigiKey and found that this needs to be connected to metal, and then Pin1 needs to go to the feedline. Now, I am soldering on a protoboard to get this working. Any tips on how to solder it as I won’t have a 50Ohm feed but will directly connect it to my RF pin.
I wanted to specifically ask whether I should just place the add solder to the pinholes of the protoboard and then place this component on it and then connect pin 1 to the RF pin? Or should I just place it on the metal pin holes and then solder pin 1 to the RF pin? Anyone with some experience in this field? I would appreciate it,
PS: not an electronics engineer, but learning to be one. Sorry in advance for any stupid questions.
Deviating from the recommended mounting configuration in the antenna datasheet is going to take a hit on performance and increase the likelihood you violate FCC regulations. What you are suggesting would not be 50 Ohms impedance.
I wouldn’t advise rolling your own with this type of antenna unless you have the evaluation board for the antenna and copy it precisely with a calipers designing your own custom PCB.
Thanks for the insights.
In the third video(https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/johanson-technology-inc/2450AT18A0100001E/1560676) in Randall Restle’s product description, he also mentions that the antenna requires a metal plane. Did he mean a metal ground plane?
Also, any suggestions on how to solder this without getting the product damaged?
The question is: how could I test this during the prototyping stage before I place an order for a PCB?
Hello ashish.jacob11,
Yes, the metal plane would be a Grounding plane, to help the performance of the antenna.
Hand soldering would be the best choice. The lowest melting point solder, and the shortest contact time, to reduce the heat transfer, would be a good option.
For how to prototype it, I would look at Kristof_2649’s reply above. You will have to build your own circuit board, or use an evaluation board.
You don’t test performance of a chip antenna by soldering it to a perf board.
There are reasons the ground plane dimensions are specified to the fraction of a millimeter for the demonstration board example above. The dimensions are physically related to the radio frequency wavelength dimensions.
If you want to play around with rolling your own chip antenna board designs it would be advisable to start learning PCB design first and reading as many application notes as you can find from chip antenna manufacturers.
I would choose not to assist you to break FCC regulations.
There are better antennas and radio modules if you’re just starting out, like ones that have built in antennas, or U.FL coaxial connectors.
We may be able to better advise if you tell us what you’re trying to do and what radio modules you’re considering using.
