Getting Started with Clipper HAT Mini

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2025-05-08 | By Pimoroni

License: See Original Project Single Board Computers Raspberry Pi SBC

Guide by Pimoroni

Clipper HAT Mini is a straightforward way of giving your Raspberry Pi the power to chat with ‎‎4G LTE mobile/cellular networks. This guide will show you how to set it up!‎

What You'll Need

A Clipper HAT Mini. These instructions should also work if you're using a Clipper ‎breakout with your Raspberry Pi, but you'll have to figure out your own wiring.‎
A data-capable SIM card
An antenna

Assembly

Connect the antenna, insert the SIM, and press the HAT firmly down onto your Pi's 40-pin ‎header. Here's what that looks like on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W:‎

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If you wanted to fasten the HAT in place securely, you could add a couple of these 10mm ‎standoffs.‎

Here's what it looks like on a Raspberry Pi 5 that's fully loaded with an Active ‎Cooler and NVMe Base. We've used some extended 17mm standoffs and a booster ‎header to make enough of a gap for the cooler.‎

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You'll need to be running Raspberry Pi OS (Desktop or Lite) on your Pi. If you choose Lite, ‎we'll assume you're a Linux wizard and can work around any hiccups in these instructions.‎

Configure Serial

Fire up your Pi, the NET and STATUS lights on your Clipper should light up and the NET light ‎should start blinking.‎

Open a Terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T or find it in the Raspberry Pi OS menus). Alternatively, you could ‎SSH in from another computer if that's your preference.‎

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Run:‎

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sudo raspi-config

And select Interface Options -> Serial Port.‎

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Say NO to enabling the login shell at startup and YES to enabling the serial port.‎

Exit, and reboot so your serial port configuration takes effect.‎

Initial Test

Now let's check things are connected and working properly.‎

Once again, open a Terminal (or SSH in) and install minicom:‎

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sudo apt install minicom

And then connect to your Clipper HAT:‎

On a Pi 5, that looks like this:‎

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minicom -b 115200 -D /dev/ttyAMA0‎

If you're using a different version of Pi, you may need to do:‎

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minicom -b 115200 -D /dev/ttyS0‎

Now you should be able to type "AT" and hit Enter.‎

If everything is working, you should see an "OK" response pop up in minicom!‎

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Press Ctrl+A and then X and select "Yes" to leave minicom. It's time to enable PPP!‎

Setting Up PPP

You know the routine, open up a terminal (it's open from the last step, right?) and copy the ‎reference configuration to a new clipper config like so:‎

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sudo cp /etc/ppp/peers/provider /etc/ppp/peers/clipper‎

Edit your new config:‎

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sudo nano /etc/ppp/peers/clipper

In nano you'll want to:‎

‎Pop an # before the user line to comment it out, we won’t need this!‎
On the 'connect' line, replace pap with gprs.‎
On this same line, replace the ******* with your apn, for our 1nce sim this would ‎be iot.1nce.net.‎
Change /dev/modem to /dev/ttyAMA0 (or /dev/ttyS0).‎
At the end of the file, add the line nocrtscts to disable hardware flow control (RTS, ‎and CTS)‎.
Add the line local to disable modem control lines (CD, and DTR)‎.

That's everything, press Ctrl+X to exit nano and 'Y' to save your chances, it's time to test ‎PPP!‎

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Enabling & Testing PPP

Still in your Terminal (or SSH session) fire up Clipper with the following command:‎

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sudo pon clipper

If you wish, you can list all the available network interfaces with ifconfig.‎

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Finally test your connection to the internet with:‎

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ping -I ppp0 1.1.1.1‎

This will ensure your ping attempt is routed via PPP rather than any other network ‎connection you might be using.‎

This might take a minute or so to start returning results. If it takes a while, try moving your ‎antenna and making sure you're in a good signal position.‎

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