One other possible glitch- is the antenna track at the top of your layout below 
supposed to come back and join the ground plane?, this is usually how these 
antennas are done.  Now I’m afraid I’m getting out of my depth- worth a check.
 
Regards,
John M. Wettroth
(984) 329-5420 (home)
(919) 349-9875 (cell) 
From: TriEmbed <[email protected]> On Behalf Of John Wettroth via 
TriEmbed
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2021 12:05 PM
To: 'Scott Hall' <[email protected]>; TriEmbed <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [TriEmbed] Does my Raspberry Pi LoRa modem board look ready to 
send off to OSHPark?
 
The microstrip track with all the via fencing looks too narrow.  I assume this 
is supposed to be a 50 ohm line?  You might check this- I assume this is on FR4 
at 1.5 mm (.062”), if so, a 50 ohm track is about 3 mm wide (.125”).  A 
narrower track will give you a higher impedance line, this line looks more like 
a 100 ohm line.  If it’s a matching section, ignore my comment, but if its 
supposed to be 50 ohms, check it.  You might also consider putting some via 
stitches around the perimeter of the planes- they’re kind of floating RF wise 
at the edges except perhaps at the top and at the fencing.  I’m sure your 
initial design will work as is- but the narrow track will create some mismatch 
loss (range) and the lack of perimeter stitching can cause RF leakage- kind of 
a slot antenna that will radiate in the plane of the board- could give a 
squirrelly radiation pattern.  If the module vendor has a recommended layout, I 
would study it carefully and use it as much as possible.  Also, is any local 
bypassing recommended external to the module on power lines, etc.?  Something 
like a 10 nF 0805 and a bulk 1 uF ceramic would seem wise and cheap.  That 3.3v 
line is an inductor- not so bad really but dying to have a shunt C at the 
module end to make a proper “bias T” kind of structure.  Have fun.
 
Regards,
John M. Wettroth
(984) 329-5420 (home)
(919) 349-9875 (cell) 
From: TriEmbed <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> > On Behalf Of Scott Hall via TriEmbed
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2021 3:35 AM
To: Triangle Embedded Computing Interest Group <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> >
Cc: Adam Novak <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: [TriEmbed] Does my Raspberry Pi LoRa modem board look ready to send 
off to OSHPark?
 
Question from Adam Novak <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >, 
posed at 9:26pm 28-Oct-21:
Anybody here know PCB design? Does my Raspberry Pi LoRa modem board look ready 
to send off to OSHPark?

 
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