When looking for radio modules for your next Arduino project, you might have come across the couple named: FS1000A and XY-MK-5V. At first glance, they might look like the next best thing, but it's not that simple.

FS1000A and XY-MK-5V

Before you start hacking anything with FS1000A and XY-MK-5V, read the following pros and cons:

Pros:

  • simple - to send a signal you do not need much. Only to power them up and set LOW or HIGH on the data pin
  • cheap - true, they are not expensive

Cons:

  • pretty much everything else, including the same things that are their pros...
  • too simple - they are just too simple and offer no other functions than transmitting a wave through the void. No CRC, no packets, so SPI or serial, no bidirectional communication
    everything has to be done in the software, including encoding and CRC.
  • transmitting and receiving devices have to use the same libraries and support on some platforms like Raspberry Pi might be problematic at best
  • the frequency can not be changed!
  • no frequency hopping or spread spectrum
  • you have to get your own antennas
  • range is poor at best and depends on things like voltage of the transmitter
  • build quality varies a lot and you can not be sure that TX and RX are really tuned to the same frequency

Verdict? At leat be very careful when choosing hardware for your next Arduino RF project...