Hi all.
I’m an electronic technician who works by servicing electronic equipment.
Assembling my pair of chatter took me about 40 minutes including some small improvements in order to block display and battery holder (simple bi-adhesive tape for the display and foam one for the battery holder).
In my opinion PCB, electronic components, small parts and case supplied are of excellent quality and manufacture.
Assembling parts and casing is very easy, because despite the narrow tolerances of the different frames, everything matches perfectly without worrying about being very precise.
My two units worked in the first shot, managing to communicate for about 250 m inside a dense woods during a rainy day.
I consider myself satisfied with my chatter.
The only note I can move is for the hardware side towards the antenna that I consider too fragile and could break easily mounted in that way without any protection.
Providing casing that covers the antenna by protecting it would certainly improve sturdiness and facilitate transport of the units.
The only note I can put is for the hardware side towards the antenna that I consider too fragile and could break easily mounted in that way without any protection.
About the firmware side, I believe it could be useful to extend the possibility of re-transmitting any text, not only those not delivered, because this would speed up the exchange of messages.
I bought my pair of CHATTER primarily in order to use them as advanced pager.
Regards,
Hey, I have built both the 1.2 and 2.0 versions. however, one of my 2.0 versions antennas snapped. can you please send me a part number for a replacement?
on a separate note, I am working on the chatter 1.2–> 2.0 firmware upgrade so they can talk to each other. are they set to run on different frequencies or are the antennas tuned to different frequencies from the factory? id like to know what they are so I can make them talk to each other. thanks!!
Could you please send us a few photos of the damaged antenna and the area where it snapped?
That will help us see exactly what happened and determine whether it can even be replaced.
Hi, thanks. Yeah it is, I’m pretty sure. I already desoldered it from the board. Just looking for the correct frequency spec so I can replace. I used to make guitar pedals/do fox tube amps so lots of soldering experience[quote=“Filip_Milkovic, post:4, topic:5061, full:true”]
Hello @buboes,
Thank you for reaching out.
Could you please send us a few photos of the damaged antenna and the area where it snapped?
That will help us see exactly what happened and determine whether it can even be replaced.
I should say the board is fine. the metal just literally snapped/was bent already when taking out of the box. ive made a few of the 1.2 where you have to solder the piece in yourself, so I can tell that its just this part that is broken. thanks!
Thank you for the update and for sending the picture.
We’ve checked it with our tech team, and it looks like the board is unfortunately too damaged to be repaired.
Please reach out to us via email at contact@circuitmess.com and reference this conversation — we’d like to offer you a gift card so you can get yourself a new Chatter 2.0 kit from our webshop.
We’ll make sure to sort everything out quickly once we hear from you.
I mean, the board is salvageable. I have repaired and built many electronic devices. but than you for the gift card, I will accept.
I still have another question. are the antenna parts themselves tuned to different frequencies? will I have to change one or the other to make 1.2 able to communicate with 2.0? I suppose I can experiment and or buy a, antenna analyzer, but it would be helpful if someone could just tell me what the part for each is so that I can make the hardware compatible. thanks.
Regarding your question: if by Chatter 1.2 you mean the older version of the green Chatter (this one), that version is designed to communicate with the new, updated Chatter 2.0 straight out of the box.
If your question is about something else, could you please clarify so we can check it out with our tech team?
Thank you! yes, that is good information. so the old, original green chatter will work with the new chatter 2.0?
I have a pair of the original green and several of the red chatter 2.0. I am trying to make them all work together. I know that will have to modify the firmware (I found that thread about using Arduino to do it), but what I am trying to find out is if the antenna itself must be changed- if they are tuned specifically to 868 or 915 or if the hardware antenna can accommodate a range?
Yes — the old green Chatters will definitely work with the new green Chatter 2.0 units.
As for your question about the antennas: in general, for regular use and experimenting, the antennas will work across both frequency bands. You might experience slightly reduced range or connection reliability, but they should still communicate.
The antennas on the green Chatters are tuned specifically for 868 MHz, while the red Chatters are tuned for 915 MHz.
We’d recommend first trying to adjust the frequency in the code — only if the performance isn’t good enough after that, you could consider re-soldering or replacing the antennas.
