CC2500 is a low cost 2.4GHz Transceiver designed for very low power wireless application. It utilizes Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) & all registers of ChipCon can be programmed with one ‘burst’ transfer.It has a complete Onchip Frequency Synthesizer & no external RF switch or filters are required.
CC2500 is a proprietary RF IC compliant with Zigbee platform & as such it is not a Xbee Radio.It works on same frequency 2.4Ghz & is similar to Xbee.
CC2500 RF IC CC2500 CHIP on RS232 Dongle
Watch this video on types of XBEE Modules available in the market:
For this workshop you need :
1. A Pair of Texas modules CC2500 fixed on RS232 dongle .
2. A Pair of USB to UART boards (using Silicon Labs CP2102 IC).
3. RS232 STRAIGHT CABLE 2 nos. for connecting CC2500 to USB-UART board.
4. A-B type of USB cable 2 nos.
5. 9v Power adapters for CC2500 dongles.
CC2500 With RS232 RS232 Cable USB To UART A-B USB Cable
Connect the USB-UART board to one USB port of your PC using the A-B USB cable.Use the RS232 straight cable to connect CC2500 dongle to the UART board.Provide a power supply adapter to the CC2500 dongle .
Same connection setup is done for another USB port of your PC.
You can also use a second PC or Laptop for connecting the other CC2500 module.
Open up the Device Manager and scroll down to Ports.There you should see both UART boards allotted COM ports.If they are not recognized by Windows then download & install the CP2102 Silicon Labs drivers.
Download the Silabs Driver kit here.
We shall make use of 2 Terminal Programs to communicate with our CC2500.
One is the TeraTerm & other one is the COOLTERM.Download these Terminals.
Open the TeraTerm. Under Setup click Terminal
In the Terminal setup window select the NewLine Receive & Transmit as Carriage Return + LineFeed (CR+LF)
Check the Local echo box so that you see what you type inside the terminal.
Under Setup click Serial Port .
Select the Port as COM9 (First Module connected to this port) ,Baud Rate as 9600
Data – 8 bit , Parity – None ,Stop – 1bit .This setting is technically called 96008N1.
Click OK .
Now open the next Terminal program COOLTERM.You can also use a second instance of TeraTerm , but to be comfortable use a second Terminal program.
Click Options to open the Preferences window.
Under Serial port select the second port COM10 & then 96008N1.
Under Terminal make sure the Terminal Mode is Raw Mode & Local Echo is ticked.
Click Ok.
Now place both the Terminals Side by Side as shown below.
Click inside TeraTerm window and type some Text.You can see the text received under CoolTerm window.Same way you select CoolTerm window and type in some text.This will be received inside TeraTerm.
Congrats ! You’ve established a Wireless communication between the two CC2500 modules.
VIDEO 2 : Testing CC25500 Modules using Terminal Software :
For availability of these Modules contact :
alselectro 
hi.. wats the maximum distance (range) possible with this rf modules?!!
pls rep.. thanks in advance
CC2500 chips work within a range of 20 mtrs.But Line of sight is required.
sir ,i am new to using tarang (xbee) module…can i directly the tarang module(i dont want to use the base of the tarang) to the induino board(clone of the arduino) board.
i connected like this
1.tarang ground to arduino(clone) gnd
2.tarang vcc to 3.3v of the arduino(clone) board
3.tarang Dout to arduino(clone) board rx
4.tarang Din to arduino(clone) board tx
If you’re careful about the 3.3v supply to Tarang you can go ahead with the connections you’ve done.But breakout boards are always safe to use.
Sir I am using a pair of the Usb to Uart embedded module of CC2500 with an arduino uno. I need help in configuring these with the arduino uno. Can u please guide us on this??
No configuration is needed for CC2500. It is pre configured for point to point communication.Just connect the Rx of Arduino to Tx of CC2500 & Tx of Arduino to Rx of CC2500.Remember to use only the TTL level connections of CC2500 to Arduino & not the RS232 level signals.