I was wondering if the Adafruit Pybadge, not the Pybadge LC or Pygamer, has a radio feature like the Microbit. I see in there is a radio extension, but it seems that the Pybadge doesn't have build in atenna like the Microbit or I could be missing something (I have looked over the Pybadge documentation on Adafruit). I saw there is a way to add a Radio Wing to the Pybadge, but before I go trying this out I just want to make sure it is compatible with Makecode blocks.
I cruised through the docs a little bit. Here’s what I found.
The radio in the MicroBit is part of the CPU’s chip.[1] It seems to be based on the Nordic Semiconductor’s NRF52 series. The code for the Radio extensions in MakeCode Arcade seems to be able to target the NRF52 series generally.[2]
The RFM69HCW that appears in the tutorial that you mentioned operates on the wrong frequencies to be compatible with the NRF52 series. I’m guessing that you might be better off with this one instead:
Now, whether or not it works in MakeCode Arcade is another story entirely. My Spidey-senses tell me no, but there could be some magic in the PyBadge and PyGamer that would allow it to work.
Thank you Alex and I have the same feeling about the compatibility with Makecode too. I am curious about what board that extension is made for? Hopefully the Makecode sees this and can give us an answer.
The intent of the radio extension was to work with the micro:bit V2 when using an arcade shield. I know that kittenbot makes an arcade shield, not sure about others. I have not tested this myself, but @peli, @mmoskal, or @jamesadevine probably have some details on the current state of things.
I love seeing the synergy across the different MakeCode platforms. Your modular design is brilliant! It’d be a great example to use in a university-level course on software design.
Thank you @richard ! I wasn’t aware of this Arcade Shield from Kittenbot, which seems so cool it uses the Microbit V2. I am a little bummed the Pybadge doesn’t have the Radio feature, it is too late to try to get the Arcade Shield since I al ready purchases the Pybadge for my classes.
If anyone could help figure out how to add a radio function to the Pybadge I would be extremely grateful!