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DefCon WiFi Shootout Winner Announced

Posted by simoniker on from the six-million-dollar-man-style dept.

devn2k writes "At the first annual WiFi Shootout at DefCon in Las Vegas, Adversarial Science Lab won the contest to shoot a wireless signal across the Nevada desert, with a distance of 35.2196 miles. The antenna was built from metal poles, window screen mesh, cardboard, duct tape, and aluminum foil! According to the official contest page, the antenna was designed the night before the contest, its component parts were purchased for $98 at Home Depot, and the next day it was built completely from scratch in the desert, on the side of the mountain, in the rain."

7 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Desert? Rain? by SUPAMODEL · · Score: 4, Funny

    Damn, I guess for US$98 you *can* change the weather :).

  2. ... and by Quixote · · Score: 4, Funny
    the antenna was designed the night before the contest, its component parts were purchased for $98 at Home Depot, and the next day it was built completely from scratch in the desert, on the side of the mountain, in the rain...

    You forgot to add "...while walking uphill, in a blinding snowstorm..." followed by the obligatory "... and we liked it!".

  3. Obligatory Python Joke by PakProtector · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nobody expects the Adversarial Science Lab! Our main construction material is Metal Poles!

    Metal poles and Window Screen Mesh!

    Two construction materials! Our Two Weapons are Metal Poles, Window Screen Mesh, and Cardboard!

    Our Three Main Construction Materials are Metal Poles, Window Screen Mesh, Cardboard! And Duct Tape!

    Among our CHIEF building materials are such diverse materials as Metal Poles, Window Screen Mesh, Cardboard, Duct Tape, and Aluminum Foil!


    Oh, bother. I'll come again.

    --

    Edward@Tomato - /home/Edward/ man woman
    man: no entry for woman in the manual.
    "Qua!?"

  4. Re:shape of the antenna by fritter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Notice that the shape of the winning antenna is a pyramid? There are a lot of theories regarding electromagnetism and the pyramid shape, including a bunch on how the ancient egyptians figured out how to utilize these electromagnetic properties, which is (supposedly) why the pyramids were built that way.

    If you want to get kooky, it can also point to the extra terrestrial origins of ancient egyptian civilization.

    That makes perfect sense! The aliens, feeling like outsiders in this new place, built gigantic 802.11 antennas to download porn and MP3s from their home planet.

    If it wasn't for the unacceptably long ping times, they would still be with us today.

  5. Re:Pretty Damn Impressive... by femto · · Score: 5, Funny
    > Yeah, anyone can make a bomb with the proper chemicals, but can YOU do it with bubble gum, a piece of thread and a muffin? :)

    Easy!

    You eat the muffin, stick the bubble gum over your rear end and fart until you have a nice big bubble full of explosive gas. You then poke the bit of thread into the bubble to act as a fuse. Done and ready to light.

  6. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    NASA scientists make fun of Slashdot users for unit conversion errors...

  7. Re:What about the FCC regs? by pclminion · · Score: 4, Funny
    The attitude at DefCon this year was pretty much "Fuck the FCC." There were so many WiFi networks (over 1000, when we were scanning), that the hopes of any FCC official having the slightest chance of locating the one guy who was using an illegally high power were pretty much zero.

    People (ahem) were flashing the firmware on their Senao cards to enable them to go up to 249 milliwatt. The entire area was bathed in 801.11 frequencies. Shit, I felt my hair stand up.

    It was funny to see a thousand black-clad geeks waving their WiFi antennas in the air, trying to get a signal. If you didn't know better you would have thought it was some kind of dildo festival.