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Getting Started
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Power & Battery
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Hardware & Components
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Radio & RF Design
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Firmware & Software
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USB & Connectivity
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GPS & Navigation
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Morse & Communication
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Modes & Operation
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Field Operations & Rescue
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Building Effectively
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Project & Reference
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Docs Getting Started Version Selection

Version Selection

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Which firmware and hardware versions exist, what changed between them, and how to pick what to flash or buy today.

Version Selection

The project has moved through several hardware revisions. This page helps you match firmware to hardware.

The version line

  • v4.0: original ESP32-C3 + SX1276 (OOK) + SSD1306. Legacy hardware.
  • v5.0-v5.3: ESP32 DevKit V1 + SX1262 + SSD1309, added battery monitor and buttons.
  • v5.4: full GPS support, NEO-6M, refined payload formats and reliability features.
  • v5.5 (current): adds the serial bridge protocol (AEGIS: lines), serial commands (FREQ, WPM, MODE, POS), the cross-platform bridge script and the Report Position page on the website, and an offline-first config dashboard built on default system fonts.

What to buy today

Buy the v5.5 hardware: ESP32 DevKit V1 (30-pin), E22-400M30S, SSD1309 2.42” SPI OLED, NEO-6M GPS, TP4056, 18650. The hardware is unchanged from v5.4; only firmware and tooling moved.

What to flash

Flash the v5.5 firmware from the repository root (AegisBeacon.ino). It is the only version with:

  • Full NEO-6M GPS payload support.
  • The machine-readable serial protocol and serial commands (see Serial Command Protocol).
  • Position reporting for the Serial Bridge Guide and the website’s Report Position page.
  • The current dashboard HTML with button controls, scan settings and default system fonts.

The GPIO map changed - read this

v4.0 and v5.x use completely different pins. Do not run v5.x firmware on a v4.0 board without rewiring: the radio moved from software PWM keying to hardware VSPI with a mandatory BUSY pin.

Checking what you have

  • The boot screen shows the firmware version: AEGIS-BEACON v5.5.
  • The boot screen feature flags confirm GPS and audio configuration.
  • The serial log prints the version string at startup, followed by an AEGIS:HELLO:ver=5.5;... line.

Migrating config

Settings live in NVS and mostly carry over between v5.x releases. After a major upgrade, do a factory reset (MODE+SEL at boot for 5 s) and reconfigure via the dashboard, so stale keys cannot cause odd behavior.