Documentation

Onboarding

Budget Planning Common Beginner Mistakes First Boot Learning Path Legal Basics for Beginners How the Beacon Saves Lives Understanding the Modes in One Page Morse Code for Beginners Parts Overview Reading the OLED Screens Radio Basics for Complete Beginners Safety First Tools You Need Using the BOM Builder Using the Interactive Demo Welcome to the Wiki

Getting Started

Bench Power Bench Testing Basics Boot Process Build Configurations Choosing a Build Configuration Static Safety and ESD ESP32 Troubleshooting Checklist Frequently Asked Questions First Transmission First Use Project Overview Quick Start Guide Shopping List Sourcing Parts System Architecture Troubleshooting Version Selection Workspace Setup

Power & Battery

Hardware & Components

Build & Assembly

3D Printing the Enclosure Assembly Guide Assembly Sequence Audio Jack Wiring Audio Troubleshooting Bench Checklist Breadboard Prototyping Building Your Own Case Button Actions in CONFIG Mode Button System Details Button Troubleshooting Case Cutouts Guide Case Materials Circuit Description Connector Types Datasheet Reading Dummy Load and Bench Testing Electrical Specifications Enclosure Options Flux and Solder Glue and Adhesives GPIO Pin Map Reference GPIO Pin Mapping Ground Planes and Counterpoises Ohm's Law Resistors, Capacitors and Passives Schematic Reading Screw and Fastener Guide Soldering Basics Soldering Iron Guide Two-Beacon Bench Test Waterproof Build Waterproofing and Enclosure Sealing Wire and Connectors Wire Gauge Guide Wiring and Connectors Wiring Order and Routing Wiring Quick Reference

Radio & RF Design

Antenna Cable and Connectors Antenna Design Antenna Efficiency Antenna Height Matters Antenna Length Reference Antenna Mounting Antenna Quick Select Antenna Testing and Tuning Antenna Theory Primer Antenna Troubleshooting Antenna Design and Selection Coax Loss Tables dBm Explained Foliage Loss The Fresnel Zone GPS Antenna Placement Half Wave Dipole Helical Antenna Homebrew Antenna Interference Sources at 433 MHz Line of Sight and Terrain LoRa vs FSK Modulation in the Beacon Morse Timing and Audio Sync Mountain Effects on Radio Propagation and Range Propagation Modes Quarter Wave Antenna Radio Quick Start Radio Shadow Receiver Testing RF Basics for the Beacon RF Design & Link Budget RF Exposure Safety RF Interference and Noise RSSI Explained Sensitivity vs Selectivity SWR Explained SX1262 Datasheet Notes SX1262 Frequency Ranges SX1262 Registers Transmitter Testing Tropospheric Ducting Troubleshooting RF Issues Urban RF Environment VSWR Measurement

Frequencies & Regulations

Firmware & Software

Arduino CLI Guide Boot Loop Troubleshooting Boot Screens and Errors Changelog Code Style Guide Config Backup Config Dashboard Why the Dashboard Uses System Fonts CONFIG Payload Format Configuration Reference Dashboard HTTP API Dashboard Rendering ESP32 ADC Guide ESP32 Flash Security ESP32 Interrupts Guide ESP32 RTC Notes ESP32 Serial Debug Output ESP32 Timers Guide ESP32 WiFi Hardware esptool Guide Extending the Serial Protocol Factory Reset and Recovery Firmware CW Decoder Firmware System Monitoring Frequency Setting over Serial The Button System in Firmware How Firmware Loads Configuration Firmware Deep Sleep Firmware Error Codes Firmware GPS Handling The Firmware Main Loop Firmware NVS Keys Firmware Overview The Payload Builder Firmware RSSI Measurement The Scan Cycle in Detail Firmware Scan Engine The Firmware State Machine Firmware Tone Generation The TX Cycle in Detail Firmware TX Scheduler Upgrading to v5.5 Firmware Update in the Field Firmware Wake Sources The Watchdog Benchmark Demo Mode Flash Troubleshooting No Boot? Troubleshooting No Display? Troubleshooting NVS Configuration Store PlatformIO Guide RTC RAM State Battery Logging over Serial Serial Bridge Guide Serial Command Automation Serial Command Protocol Serial Debug System Serial Monitor Guide Software Build Process Unit Testing the Firmware Upload and Monitor What's New in v5.5 What's New in v6.0 WiFi and Security WiFi Configuration Portal WiFi Troubleshooting

USB & Connectivity

Android OTG Guide Bridge Automation Bridge Security Bridge Troubleshooting Bridge TUI CH340 Driver Install CP210x Driver Install Report Position Page USB-Serial Adapter Troubleshooting Serial Port Detection Termux: Serial Bridge on Android USB Cable Types USB Connection Guide USB Power vs Data Web Serial: Browser-Only Option

GPS & Navigation

Morse & Communication

Modes & Operation

Glossary of Modes and Settings BEACON Mode CONFIG Mode EMERGENCY Mode LISTEN Mode SEARCH Mode Mode Screens and Icons Operating Modes Scan Engine Details

Field Operations & Rescue

Avalanche Rescue Operation Avalanche Safety Basics Beacon Care Seasonal Beacon Log Template Cleaning and Inspection Crevasse Rescue Distance Estimation from RSSI Emergency Cheat Sheet Emergency Communications Plan Emergency Kit Emergency Response Minute by Minute Emergency Response Scenarios Field Checklist Field Deployment Guide Field Maintenance and Storage Field Repair Kit Field Signals Cheat Sheet First Aid Kit Ground to Air Signals Group Communication Plan Hiking Safety Homing Technique Homing with the Serial Bridge Hypothermia Recognition Incident Command Long Term Storage Mirror Signaling Mission Debrief One Bridge, Several Beacons Night Operations Off-Grid Position Sharing Outdoor Testing Guide Pack Check Routine Position Logging Workflow Pre-Trip Checklist Repeater Position Reporting Ridge Crossing Technique Safety Guidelines Safety Quick Rules Search Patterns and Procedure Signal Strength Mapping Signal Triangulation Signaling Techniques Snow and Signal Behavior Snow Shelter Signaling Snow Signal Math Storm Operations Terrain Reading for Radio Trip Planning Water Damage Recovery Weather Planning Whistle Signals Winter Operations Winter Pack

Building Effectively

Effective Build Strategy Build Quality Gates Bench Jigs and Fixtures Rework and Desoldering Build Time Planning Build Log and Tracking

Build Variants

Displayless Build Minimal Build Multi-Beacon Network Multi-Beacon Operations Multi-Beacon Frequency Planning Repeater Beacon Standard Build Configuration

Project & Reference

Serial Debug System

Log tag reference, colours, verbose mode and a healthy annotated boot log

Serial Debug System

Overview

The firmware logs structured, tagged output over USB serial at 115200 baud, 8N1. Every log line follows the same shape:

CODE

[   elapsed_ms][TAG  ] message

The elapsed time in milliseconds since boot makes it easy to correlate events across the whole boot and TX cycle.

Log Tags

Tag	Colour	Meaning
`[INFO ]`	Cyan	Normal operation
`[OK ]`	Green	Successful operation
`[WARN ]`	Yellow	Non-fatal anomaly
`[ERROR]`	Red	Hardware / radio failure
`[MODE ]`	Magenta	Mode change event
`[SCAN ]`	Blue	RSSI scan result + ASCII bar graph
`[BTN ]`	White	Button event + hold duration
`[CFG ]`	White	Dashboard save / NVS load
`[OLED ]`	Magenta	Display event
`[AUDIO]`	Green	Audio tone event
`[GPS ]`	Cyan	GPS engine (fix, satellites, coordinates)
`[ADJ ]`	Gray	Button adjustment (vol/WPM change)
`[BAT ]`	Green	Battery reading (mV, %, charging state)
`[MORSE]`	Gray	Per-symbol Morse timing (verbose only)
`[RF ]`	Gray	RadioLib state codes (verbose only)

Verbose Mode

Set DEBUG_VERBOSE 1 at the top of the firmware to enable the two per-symbol tags:

[MORSE] logs every dot/dash with its measured unit timing.
[RF ] logs RadioLib state codes around each radio call.

Verbose mode is off by default because it floods the console during a long payload transmission.

Healthy BEACON Boot With GPS

CODE

============================================================
  AEGIS-BEACON v5.5 - SX1262+GPS+BTN+BAT+SSD1309
============================================================
    Active mode: BEACON

[       5][INFO ] Boot #1  reset_reason=1  heap=290244 B  cpu=240MHz
[      22][BAT  ] Boot battery: 87%  4100mV  charging=NO
[      40][OK   ] OLED ready - SSD1309 128x64
[      42][AUDIO] LEDC GPIO25 (DAC1) ch0 @ 40000 Hz 8-bit
[      45][GPS  ] Waiting for GPS fix (timeout 30s)...
[   12400][GPS  ] Fix acquired: 45.53124  12.30456  sats=6
[   12401][INFO ] Payload ready: "SOS DE MARIO ROSSI PSN N4553 E01230"
[   12410][MODE ] Starting: BEACON
[   12480][OK   ] SX1262 CW TX ready: 433.500 MHz @ 17 dBm
[   12481][INFO ] TX: "SOS DE MARIO ROSSI PSN N4553 E01230" (31 chars) @ 13WPM
[   57600][OK   ] TX done: 31 chars in 45119 ms
[   57605][BAT  ] VBAT=4098mV  pct=87%  ADC=2148  charging=NO
[   57610][INFO ] Deep sleep 10 s...

Typical SEARCH Scan Output

CODE

[  42381][SCAN ] [0] 433.500 MHz  RSSI=-112 dBm  |....................| quiet
[  42784][SCAN ] [1] 434.500 MHz  RSSI= -87 dBm  |#########...........| *** HIT ***
[  42785][SCAN ] HIT: 434.500 MHz -87 dBm [MEDIUM]  total=1
[  43188][SCAN ] [2] 435.000 MHz  RSSI=-109 dBm  |....................| quiet

The ASCII bar graph is 20 columns wide, scaled from the detection threshold up to -40 dBm, so a hit is visible at a glance.

Reading the Boot Line

CODE

[INFO ] Boot #1  reset_reason=1  heap=290244 B  cpu=240MHz

Field	Meaning
`Boot #1`	Value of the RTC boot-cycle counter (survives deep sleep)
`reset_reason=1`	ESP32 power-on reset reason code
`heap`	Free heap at boot, useful to spot memory leaks
`cpu`	Configured CPU frequency

Tip

A heap figure that keeps dropping across repeated cycles in the same session points to a memory leak in whatever mode you are exercising.