# PhatBeat + IR Receiver - Extending Pirate Radio **URL:** \ **Category:** Raspberry Pi\ **Created:** [January 14, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/phatbeat-ir-receiver-extending-pirate-radio/12753 "2020-01-14T23:34:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mikecsmith](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/mikecsmith/32/6289_2.png) [@mikecsmith](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/mikecsmith)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/phatbeat-ir-receiver-extending-pirate-radio/12753/1 "2020-01-14T23:34:03Z")
Hi all, Hoping I can get a bit of help. I’ve just gone a bit nuts buying Raspberry Pi’s to put together a number of projects over the next few months - also to learn Python as I mostly use JavaScript/Ruby/C/Swift for my job and want to get in on some Machine Learning goodness eventually. One of the kits I bought is the Pirate Radio kit with the intention of building my 2.5 year old son a bedtime audio book device. I work as a software developer so am confident of my coding chops but I know next to nothing about hardware. One of the ideas I’ve got for modifying the Pirate Radio kit is connecting an IR receiver to the Zero W along with the PhatBeat and using a little remote I have lying around to give the radio some extended functionality - current thoughts are: 1. Mode switching via remote so I can switch it between being an AirPlay speaker, an internet radio and an AudioBook player. 2. Adding a button via the remote to give it a timed fade out so it gradually gets quieter. 3. More general commands like play/pause/fast-forward via remote. So my core question is this: **Given I know next to nothing about hardware - does anyone have any idea how (or even IF) I could attach an IR Receiver to the Zero W whilst the PhatBeat hat is attached? i.e. given the PhatBeat will cover all the GPIO pins could I just solder the IR receiver onto the correct GPIO pins underneath the board or is that going to cause me issues?** If the IR receiver is a no go I could probably write a little iOS app to allow control via the Bluetooth module but I kind of want to get the remote working :) Thanks for the help - if I get this working I’ll open source the code! :) ---
**Author:** ![Crowbot](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/crowbot/32/5888_2.png) [@Crowbot](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/Crowbot)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 12:28am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/phatbeat-ir-receiver-extending-pirate-radio/12753/2 "2020-01-15T00:28:11Z")
Welcome to the forum! There’s this: [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XHGJG7Q/ref=psdc\_3230976011\_t2\_B07J2PWNWF](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XHGJG7Q/ref=psdc_3230976011_t2_B07J2PWNWF) although I can’t recommend anything in particular. BCM Pins 14 & 15 are the UART pins on the Pi and you should be able to write something to read/write them to control a Pi. ---
**Author:** ![alphanumeric](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/alphanumeric/32/2729_2.png) [@alphanumeric](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/alphanumeric)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 11:26am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/phatbeat-ir-receiver-extending-pirate-radio/12753/3 "2020-01-15T11:26:55Z")
I had a go at that a while back. I got it to work, but my setup wasn’t reliable for some reason. My remote would just stop working and I’d have to get up and push a button anyway. Might have been the really inexpensive (cheap ;) ) remotes I was using though. Here is the thread if you want to have a go yourself. > [@Use a media keyboard with your pHat Beat, can it be done?](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/use-a-media-keyboard-with-your-phat-beat-can-it-be-done/5176): > > Is there a way to use a wireless keyboard, namely the media keys, with the pHat Beat Pirate radio setup? I plugged my mini WIFI keyboard dongle in but nothing happens when I press volume up down etc. I’m running the Full Raspbian, its just set to boot to command line instead of desktop GUI. This would be a really nice add on feature as those little side buttons are a bit tricky to push. If it had worked, my next step would have been to plug my FLIRC in and use a remote control to change channels… ---
**Author:** ![mikecsmith](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/mikecsmith/32/6289_2.png) [@mikecsmith](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/mikecsmith)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/phatbeat-ir-receiver-extending-pirate-radio/12753/4 "2020-01-15T13:02:10Z")
Thanks! I have one of the original FLIRC’s lying around the house somewhere I think - used to use it on a media PC. Might see if I can dust it off as a first pass at this - end goal is to just wire an IR receiver direct to the GPIO but proof of concept with a FLIRC is a nice idea! EDIT: Looking at your code right now - damn that’s nice - you’ve done a really large part of the initial work I was thinking about doing. Do you mind if I use your code as a base and extend from it? We could open source it at that point, do some setup/config stuff and host it on GitHub for anyone else who wants to run something similar. ---
**Author:** ![alphanumeric](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/alphanumeric/32/2729_2.png) [@alphanumeric](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/alphanumeric)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 1:11pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/phatbeat-ir-receiver-extending-pirate-radio/12753/5 "2020-01-15T13:11:53Z")
I started out just wanting to use the media keys on a mini wireless keyboard. Play, pause, volume up down etc. Then I remembered I had a FLIR in my parts box and got it out. That let me use an IR remote control which I figured would be better, and it freed up my mini keyboard for something else. I had it all working, it just wouldn’t stay working. I likely needed some error handling code in there some place but that was and still is above my skill level. Eventually I had to do a clean install and just didn’t bother setting up the remote control function. I now have some easy to push mini arcade buttons on top of my pirate radio enclosure.