2015 Microchip Technology Inc.
DS50002335A-page 15
MRF24J40ME PICtail™/PICtail
PLUS DAUGHTER BOARD
USER’S GUIDE
Chapter 2. Getting Started
2.1
INTRODUCTION
The MRF24J40ME PICtail™/ PICtail Plus Daughter Board can be plugged into multiple
Microchip Technology demonstration and development boards. This allows the devel-
oper to choose the microcontroller that best suits the customer’s development environ-
ment.
The PICtail connector right-angle header, P2, can be plugged into the PIC18 Explorer
Board (DM183032), which is an 8-bit demonstration and development board. The
PICtail Plus card-edge connector, P1, can be plugged into the 16-bit or 32-bit Explorer
16 Development Board (DM240001).
This chapter describes how the MRF24J40ME PICtail™/ PICtail Plus Daughter Board
is plugged into the PIC18 Explorer and Explorer 16 Development Boards.
2.2
PLUGGING INTO THE PIC18 EXPLORER BOARD
The MRF24J40ME PICtail™/ PICtail Plus Daughter Board can be plugged into the
PIC18 Explorer Board PICtail connector, J3, as shown in
. Make sure to align
pin 1 to RE2 as shown.
2.2.1
Configuring Push Button Switch S2 to RB2/INT2
On the PIC18 Explorer Board, push button switch S2 is normally connected to I/O port
pin RA5. RA5 is not an interrupt-on-change or external interrupt capable I/O pin. Jum-
pering JP3 with a shunt allows the connection of RA5 to RB2/INT2 to allow push button
switch S2 to trigger an interrupt. Remember that RB2 also connects to pin 10 (input) of
U6 (RS232 level shifter), which is a Clear-to-Send (CTS) signal on P2 pin 8 (DE9
receptacle).
IMPORTANT
The MRF24J40ME module contains a Power Amplifier (PA) and Low Noise Amplifier
(LNA). It is important that the MRF24J40 be configured to control the PA and LNA. For
more information, refer to Section 4.2 “External PA/LNA Control in the
MRF24J40 IEEE
802.15.4 2.4 GHz RF Transceiver Data Sheet”
(DS39776). When using the source code,
refer to the compile options to enable the PA and LNA.
CAUTION
Ensure that the PIC18F87J11 PIM is plugged into the PIC18 Explorer Board. This sets
the system V
DD
voltage to 3.3 volts, which is required by the MRF24J40ME PICtail™/
PICtail Plus Daughter Board.
