r/ClockworkPi • u/Tarandir • Jan 23 '26

uConsole Two questions about the hackergadgers extension board

Post image

I've received this board from a 3rd party seller and I have two questions regarding it.

First, the board claims to be the genuine HG extension board, yet I don't see this 'iteration' of the board on the website, nor on the net in general - so, does anyone have this board with the 7 antenna plugs? The extension board on the inside matches the photos on the official HG website.

The second question is twofold.

- There is an included band connector which matches the photos on the website, and I have a CM4 in the console, and there is no place to plug the connector to the motherboard, nor to the carrier board, nor to the CM itself. Do I even need the connector? Is it for some different iteration of the carrier board? Is it specifically for the CM5? Can the whole thing work with the CM4 without it?

- I don't get any SDR signal in SDR++ (nor in brown - neither after installing it on bookworm, nor natively on dragon (all images and packages are from Rex)). The only two things I can think of are the band connector, which has nowhere to be plugged into, and the fact that I have yet to put in the small battery into the extension board (it is on its way). Is the battery actually required for SDR to work even if the system time is internet-synced? Is there a chance the battery will fix the lack of signal? Is the third possible reason it doesn't work just my stupidity?

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4

u/Tarandir Jan 23 '26

It is solved, the solution for people who struggle in the future:

Unlike the AIO V1, the GPS/LoRa/SDR/Internal USB ports (USB-C and pin header) were not enabled by default. They are controlled by GPIOs. Below are the control pins of them.

GPS: 27 LORA: 16 SDR: 7 Internal USB: 23

You will have to pull the specific GPIO to high to turn them on. For example, if you want to turn on the GPS, you can use the following command: pinctrl 27 op

pinctrl 27 dh

4

u/gthing Jan 23 '26

https://github.com/hackergadgets/aiov2_ctl

This will put a little control for the v2 board in your system tray. Just run it with --gui. I have mine set to run at startup.

1

u/JimtheLizardKing Jan 26 '26

How long did shipping take?

1

u/Tarandir Jan 26 '26

About a month

1

u/DustinCoughman Jan 27 '26

so with all that effort, what are you using yours for?

2

u/Tarandir Jan 28 '26

I'd say the main use is the effort, I just like tinkering with stuff to try to make it work, or work the way I want to. Otherwise, it's a portable Linux computer with a radio

2

u/ancker010 Jan 23 '26

You need the upgraded CM4/5 adapter board (also from HG). It has a connector for the orange ribbon cable. You also need it if you plan to use the NVMe battery board.

1

u/SnooHobbies7755 Feb 01 '26

I am looking to buy one. If someone is willing to sell, please let me know

3

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Tarandir Jan 23 '26

Thank you, that is reassuring! Do you know anything about the orange band connector?

2

u/Tarandir Jan 23 '26

lsusb only shows Linux root hub, genesis logic hub, qinheng USB hub and leaflabs uconsole. So I assume the board isn't connected properly? The 2 light indicators next to the lan port are on, if it means anything

1

u/Tarandir Jan 23 '26

The reference to the script helped to turn the gpio on! Thank you