I wanted to develop an APRS client on an MCU (ESP-32) instead of a SBC (Raspberry Pi).

This client would use a modem/radio combination (Mobilinkd TNC3/Baofeng UV-5R) to get on the air (144.390 MHz). The client connects to the TNC3 over a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) link and is secure against Man-In-The-Middle attacks,

Looking around, I settled on hardware similar to that Amazon’s AWS IoT EduKit workshop uses  https://edukit.workshop.aws/en/ but using APRS instead of the internet—of course.

I choose the (relatively) inexpensive M5Stack Core2 unit (https://m5stack.com/products/m5stack-core2-esp32-iot-development-kit). 
Or I might ultimately build my own using an ESP32 development board.

The video demonstrates the first step in using APRS–position beaconing and registering with a station having an APRS-IS (internet) connection. After the first beacon, you must transmit a beacon every 30 minutes to stay current in the system.

Step 1 for APRS, beacon your position and register with APRS-IS.
Step 2 to follow…


Video Notes:
Next time use a script
It’s APRS-IS not -SI
Be cool. Don’t sound so excited when it works!