"dont be tempted by irda as its really only useful at less than a meter."

My cable box and it's handset use IRDA, and they are well over a metre apart....

Take a look at RF Soltions They have lots a easy to connect radio transmitters which work well over short distances. I like the RXQ1 (or RQX1) which is a transceiver on an 8-pin DIL. Before you go mailing them about proces - they are £17.99 :-)

Chris.