Cheap, small CC2500

I just dropped one of these into the 6S I use for flying indoor toys. They are tiny. No PA, and no LNA, but I got out to > 100 meters with it (that's when I run out of room) for a ground level test. And I seem to get valid Rx voltage, though no RSSI in FrSky.

I've updated the Module List to include it.

Hi mwm,
What's your output power setting?
100mw? Frsky protocol?
Thanks.

@mwm, where is this Module List? I tried to find it myself but failed.

I recently have seen this thing on eBay: www.ebay.com/itm/2-4GHz-Wireless-Transce...6:g:zqIAAOSwo3pWb9r6

They claim to have PA/LNA for under $4 ($6.50 with shipping).

That may be very interesting in combination with midelics frsky receiver code on an attiny85.. you could create a really tiny sbus receiver with full range.
Edit: Damn.. they didn't hook up the GDO0 pin. That's needed.

Hmm. I thought it had no PA, but it looks like it may. Which means my hardware install (and the docs) are wrong. Based on the specs, it's not the same as the one victzh found, though.

Get to the module list via links (in the left menu), then RF Module Installation Guide, then the ModuleList link.

victzh wrote: @mwm, where is this Module List? I tried to find it myself but failed.

I recently have seen this thing on eBay: www.ebay.com/itm/2-4GHz-Wireless-Transce...6:g:zqIAAOSwo3pWb9r6

They claim to have PA/LNA for under $4 ($6.50 with shipping).

It looks pretty nice and very small with cheap price!

Willing to try since my cc2500 may be defective
I will report back if I buy one of these
Edit: Is it possible that if we tell them to include the gdo0 / gdo1 / the pins we need on later revisions of the board they'll do it ?
Like Arakon said midelic's implementation with this would be pretty tiny and full-featured

It has those pins already. At least, the one I bought did. And I believe we need it.

I'm willing to buy one of these and am a bit confused. Should I buy the one in mwm's link or the one in victzh ?
Do they both have PA/LNA s ? ebay descriptions say one of them have a pa and that's all I can see.
Do we need the PAs / LNAs for telemetry ? Think so.
And can we connect an external antenna to these ? The PCB antenna's range will be an issue for me.
Edit: victzh's one looks more suitable for my purpose

mwm's does not have PA, mine has unknown allocation of GDOs - something is connected to PA/LNA, but we can only guess. I'm going to order it and check, but it can take time - it's from China.

Actually, if you check the fine print on the link for mine, it says "adjustable output power", which may or may not mean a PA. The levels it lists are different from the levels listed by the other one.

@mwm: I have two of those and they definitely have no PA. The back is completely empty, no components.

Okay so the chipworld one (victzh's one) does not have a LNA for sure. I asked the ebay seller.
It might have a PA though.
Will it be able to run telemetry without a lna ?
I'm going to ask mwm's seller the same questions too
Will order chipworld chip. Need it for testing anyways.

I found (victzh's one) it is announced that it dose HAVE PA+LNA on TaoBao.
item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14....=1&abbucket=5#detail

Loving the contradiction
I'm ordering one now if that's the case.
Thanks DC59
Will report back what happens
gyazo.com/e3d735666d6896c0840c23bf42928b05
Pic of conversation with seller. We were talking about this item :
www.ebay.com.au/itm/231784616230?euid=4c...Tags=exe=exe,ext=ext

dc59 wrote: I found (victzh's one) it is announced that it dose HAVE PA+LNA on TaoBao.
item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14....=1&abbucket=5#detail

The RFX2401C (PA/ LNA / switch ) is used on the F802 receivers ( frsky ) from BG and it does the job quite good.

As noted in the module list, I (almost certainly no LNA) got what appeared to be correct Rx voltage telemetry, but no RSSI telemetry. I do note that the one victzh posted isn't a CC2500, but apparently some work-alike. I suspect they all are. and "CC2500" is being used as link bait.

Not necessarily it's a fake. CC2500 exists in die only form - the mount the piece of silicon directly on PCB and put blob of epoxy over. It's cheaper if you produce really massive amount of such modules. I ordered a couple, we'll see.

I asked mwm's eBay seller too and he said that the module doesn't have a PA or an lna. I don't know whether to believe these guys or not haha

You should - it definitely does not have it.

Sorry, probably I'm the source of all this confusion - mwm's module does NOT have PA/LNA - single blob of epoxy covering die directly mounted on PCB. What I mentioned is another module which has the same direct die mount blob but also has a separate chip - PA/LNA, you can even read on it "RFAXIS 2401C".

The problem with this second module is that we don't know how this PA/LNA connected to CC2500 - there should be control traces - you see them on the back of the module, but because it's epoxy blob you can't tell by photo where they lead to.