DIY HF antenna (for PN5180)?

Projects
1

Hello y’all,

I finally got my PN5180 going, I had to go with logic converter on my nano, and I have to say, I’m really impressed about the read range with a full size card (~4in) but the reason range with the implants is disappointing … I have 1/4in max …

I was wondering if anyone ever made cylindrical HF antenna?
Would it be the same as the LF, but a lot less turn?

Thanks for the help,
X

2

I can help with that, but I need to look at the docs and it’s late. Ping me if you don’t hear anything in like 2 days.

Here’s the antenna design guide
AN11740.pdf (3.3 MB)

And here’s the relevant bit

Screenshot_20221102-001831
Screenshot_20221102-0018311080×2220 357 KB

2 Likes
3

Hi,

I was wondering if you had any update/insights in this?

I’ll take my board apart and measure the antenna resistance and inductance to see if I can replicate it with a ferrite rod …

4

Is this the board you’re using?

PN5180_Mods
PN5180_Mods1476×754 292 KB

We need to know how much inductance the coil has. Do you have a VNA or LCR meter? If not can you send me some pretty precise measurements of the dimensions of the onboard coil including the length, width, number of turns and space between the turns? I can calculate that way.

We’re probably going to want to go with air core (not ferrite) to more closely match the passive values of the matching circuit already on the board.

5

That’s exactly what I was thinking about doing :+1:
I was planning on measuring the voltage around the antenna, then desolder the resistors and measure inductance and resistance of the antenna. I’ll post it here when I get to it (probably tomorrow)