nRF21540 Dev Kit setup

[acarpenter]

Hi, I'm attempting to use an nRF21540 to boost the range of a BLE Beacon, and I'm running into a lot of trouble getting the Eval/Dev Kit set up.  First off, is there any documentation specific to the Dev Kit?  I was able to find the nRF21540 PS, but I get the feeling there are some intricacies of the Dev Kit that I'm missing.  The paper that came in the box with my order implies I should go to nordicsemi.com/start21540db , but that appears to be a dead link.

I'm running into a few issues and have several questions:

• Are there any differences between the PCA11012 and the PCA10056?  They seem to be the same if the nRF21540EK isn't plugged in, but I want to confirm.
• I tried to use the pin #defines from pca10112.h in SDK17.1.0, but they don't seem to match the GPIO labels printed on the nRF21540EK when I plug it in.  MOSI, MISO, and CLK line up, but the rest of the pins look like they're defined as pins the nRF21540EK doesn't even plug in to.  Am I missing something?
• The nRF21540EK doesn't seem to have a header pin for PDN, or at least not one that's labeled.  Is it connected to VDD somewhere?
• I'm attempting to talk to it over SPI and I'm not getting a response, or even seeing the MISO line go high.  Is there a setup step I might be missing?
• Do I need to do anything with this header labeled "Current Measurement" if I'm not measuring current?  Do two of these pins need to be connected?

Thanks for any help you can give.  I'm at a loss with this dev kit.

[acarpenter]

Update:  the schematic is uploaded here: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/75510/h-w-information-for-nrf21540-development-kit-and-nrf21540-evaluation-kit/311687#311687 which told me that the unlabeled pin next to CS is PDN.  However, even when I drive that high, MISO does not do anything.

[Simon]

I would highly recommend you to use the nRF Connect SDK, since the the SoftDevice doesn't support FEM.

Check out https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/1.7.0/nrf/releases/release-notes-1.7.0.html#highlights

• Radio front-end module (FEM) support for the nRF21540 FEM range extender is now supported for production.

  • Bluetooth: Direct Test Mode and Radio test sample support.

  • Support for Bluetooth LE, Thread, Zigbee, and multiprotocol applications and samples using Multiprotocol Service Layer.

  • Support for nRF21540 development kit (DK), nRF21540 evaluation kit (EK) and custom board configurations.

Best regards,

Simon