@Airbag have found a one liner fix for disappearing wifi icon
sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager
Then reboot
Might be good to add on your little guide
Update: I checked and the u.FL was already plugged into CM4. Seems weird to me though, that I get better reception without that boot flag… What are you guys’ experiences with this setting?
I had to shave flat (grind) one side of the hex base of the SMA connector to fit against the main board, but an antenna squeezes in here just fine in a newly drilled hole.
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can you post a pic of the inside, im going to do the same to mine when i get it.
Drilled while almost fully disassembled
Heavily taped and masked
All metal chips blown away
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perfect I need 2 antenna up there and one is going by the expansion. Now that i see its possible to fit one over there i’m set. Luckily i’m seeing how others are doing it so i’m going to drill before i put anything together.
Thanks for the pictures!
WiFi icon didn’t come back. Sorry
Sorry theres 2 different wifi managers, the fix i suggested was for the other one which has more options for editing wifi. You can add it by right clicking on taskbar then add/remove panel item then add “Network Manager”. Yh the “Wireless & Wired Network” one that a fresh install comes with is pretty basic and can only look at the one your connected to.
I put my spectrum analyzer on it yesterday and I can confirm, without dtparam=ant2 in config.txt the CM4 uses the onboard PCB antenna. With dtparam=ant2 the CM4 uses its u.fl (NOT THE U.FL ON THE MAIN BOARD). If you use the u.fl for the clockwork supplied antenna or for an SMA antenna then you need dtparam=ant2. These tests were done on the 6.6.30 kernel
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An addendum, if you use dtparam=ant2 and you get worse signal, that might be due to antenna placement. Its not a good idea to stick the antenna directly to the case as clockwork suggests since that will very much mess up the antenna’s pattern and matching. It turns the case into a big capacitive load attached to the antenna. Use a plastic spacer to get the antenna a minimum of 1cm away from the case. Or do what I did and drill the hole in the 4g blanking plate and stick a RP-SMA to u.fl cable there.
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Thanks, already tried that one unsuccessfully. Good suggestions, thanks Snoozer94.
If you use more recent versions of the Raspberry Pi suite, this text may be found in /boot/config.txt
# do not modify this file as it will be overwritten on upgrade.
# create and/or modify usercfg.txt instead.
# https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/config_txt.html
#
If you see this, follow the instructions and overwrite /boot/usercfg.txt instead to avoid losing your changes.