Tools You Need

You can build the beacon with a surprisingly small toolkit. Here is the minimum, the recommended, and the optional.

Minimum

• Soldering iron (25-40 W or a temperature-controlled station). Any iron that heats fast and holds temperature works.
• Solder (0.7-1.0 mm 60/40 or lead-free rosin-core). Thin solder makes fine joints easier.
• Wire cutters / side cutters for trimming leads.
• Wire strippers (22-28 AWG range).
• Small flathead or Phillips screwdriver for the enclosure and terminals.
• Helping hands (optional but very useful) to hold wires while soldering.

Recommended

• Temperature-controlled soldering station with a fine tip.
• Flux pen for stubborn joints (especially ground planes and the SMA connector).
• Digital multimeter for continuity checks, voltage readings, and the battery divider test.
• Desoldering wick for fixing mistakes.
• Third hand with magnifying glass.
• Heat shrink tubing (2-4 mm) for protecting solder joints.

For flashing

• A USB micro or USB-C cable that carries data (many cheap cables are charge-only).
• A computer with the Arduino IDE or PlatformIO installed.

For testing

• A dummy load (50 ohm) if you want to transmit on the bench without radiating.
• Optionally an RTL-SDR dongle to hear the beacon on another device.

Nice to have

• A bench power supply (or a power bank) for powering the beacon while testing.
• An oscilloscope for RF and audio debugging.
• A frequency counter.

None of the nice-to-have items are required for a first build. Start with the minimum, and upgrade only when you hit a real limitation.