[Elecraft] [OT] Bluetooth and RF

[Fred Townsend]

Tom with good engineering practice there is no reason why you can't
successfully connect using BlueTooth. However good engineering practice
isn't always practiced. That's why any commercial manufacturer, constructing
an appliance of the kind you describe, must undergo certified testing.
However I don't see that as a major obstacle, even if you are not an
engineer.
What did raise my concern is your AVR. Your AVR will most likely have a
24MHz (hello 12 meter birdies) or 48MHz clock although it could be as low as
12 MHz. It is particularly important your AVR be properly housed and
shielded with attention to bypassing of power supply leads even if you are
using battery power. Your data cables will likely need some ferrite lumps
too.
A continuous tuning receiver is a great tool for checking your design. The
beauty of amateur radio is you can experiment  with your design without big
brother looking over your shoulder.  After all you will be the first person
to suffer if you have RFI problems. 
Go for it Tom.
73, Fred, AE6QL

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Thomas Horsten
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2012 4:06 AM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] [OT] Bluetooth and RF

Hi guys,

I know it's a bit off-topic but there are so many knowledgeable people here
that I thought I'll try asking. I've built a multifunction CW keyer with a
straight key, paddle, and keyboard input, that uses an AVR microcontroller.
Currently I'm using PS/2 for the keyboard input as it's easy to implement in
the AVR (and a cheap $2 adapter allows the use of USB keyboards).

But for taking on the road with my KX3 (which is stuck in customs since
Monday but should hopefully be with me soon), I'd like to use an
ultra-compact Bluetooth keyboard, of the type used with smartphones. I am
considering doing this by adding a Bluegiga WT12 Bluetooth module (which has
an UART interface that can talk to the AVR).

Before I begin on this I'd like to know how well Bluetooth can be expected
to work in a RF-filled environment (at up to 10W but with the antenna very
close, as in portable operations). It'd be a shame to get everything built
only to find out that the Bluetooth connection dies every time I transmit.
Has anyone got experience with this and/or other comments/ideas?

73, Thomas M0TRN
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