Hello I am designing a PCB using XB3-24Z8UM-J, which is the XBEE 3 Micro Module with included U.FL antenna on the module. Based on the information in the Xbee Hardware Manual I did not see any information to indicate if RF pad 33 and GND 34 should be connected or floating. How are these pads intended to be connected? I plan to use a dipole (half-wave) antenna such as: A24-HABUF-P5I. Thanks!
All grounds should be connected. The RF pad can be left floating as you are not using it on this version of the hardware.
Now as a good designer, I would design my board so that I can use either the U.Fl version or the RF pad version. That is, I would include a small trace to a Pad that I can include my own U.Fl connector if needed. That way, if one version of the module is not in stock but the other version is. I can keep producing my product.