@NeverDie That isn't what I was thinking but after a bit of research, that's better than what I was thinking.
PCB antennae work better at > 868MHz(pg 7). A 2.4GHz signal should have an antenna length of 3.1cm The nRFl01 spec shows a PCB with an antenna that is about that length but I measure the board I have and the antenna is about 4.6cm(?) Here(pg 10) you'll find a design, though I'm not sure for what frequency as the length adds up to 4.03cm. As you can see, you must not have the ground plane near the antenna.
Here, RonM9 modifies an nRF24l01 making the antenna a dipole. I tried this and did show some improvement, but not the success he had. His wires were ~5.0cm, but bends them in the opposite directions at the edge of the pcb. Does that make the antenna length about 4cm?
The antenna for a longer wave length (lower frequency) will be proportionally longer.
I'd like to do the same testing as RonM9, but I've got some other pressing projects.
I hope this helps your research.
OSD
@NeverDie said in Which PCB fab do you currently like the best?:
... a project stalling out for want of a nail...
That is poetic.
I try to have some sympathy for my favorite (OSH_Park) and order multiple boards at once. Some pain of waiting is involved - only a week - and some waste is incurred by me as I correct my own errors before they ship. But I do like that they only ship three boards, instead of five, when I only need one. They must be annoyed by little-guys like me so I try to do my part with loyalty.
@Larson About 10 years ago I did it using the A2D on an Arduino Due once for a simple 433Mhz OOK receiver. It worked well enough. Like you, it was my first experience doing such things.
