DefCon World Record Wi-Fi as Comic Strip

carbolic writes "Remember last summer's WiFi Shootout, which took place during the DefCon hacker convention? We told you about the world record 55.1 mile shot pulled off by a few guys with two honkingly huge satellite antennas, a long stretch of road, and a couple off-the-shelf Wi-Fi networking cards. This month's Wired magazine condenses the toil of weeks of planning and testing, and trudging up and down mountains in 100+ degree weather into a captivating 8-panel comic suitable for any Sunday Edition (or cubicle wall)."

Comments

8 Panel Cartoon

[Mistlefoot]

Finally an article that'll get read.

If only they were all cartoons.....

Re:8 Panel Cartoon

[Randy Wang]

Truth be told, I'm not sure I have the concentration span necessary to read a whole eight panels. Three would be better, like Dilbert.

Re:8 Panel Cartoon

[secretsquirel]

8 panels is fine, but only if they make it into one of those movie clips that are like slide shows with speach. You know, like anime.

Re:8 Panel Cartoon

[jared42]

I wish I could submit my weekly reports at work in this format! Management would pay more attention to the flashy colors, and because I'd have to limit the information to fit into the small number of panels, I'd only have to put in actual highlights. It's a win-win for all!

Now if I could just learn how to draw...

Re:8 Panel Cartoon

[slimepit]

I'd love to see the link budget. BTW, a 'knife edge' effect exists that actually 'bends' the waves over mountain ranges. What bothers me about all the wireless is the reduction of the SNL as the broad spectrum noise floor rises. But, hey, if you can't touch, feel taste, smell or hear the RF pollution; does it really exist? A Spectrum Analyzer is a cool tool, but offers a scary future....

Re:8 Panel Cartoon

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.wulffmorgenthaler.com/

Ummm...

[Duncan3]

For very large values of 8?

Re:Ummm...

[mollymoo]

For very large values of 8?

Yeah. The rest got lost over the whacked-out Wi-Fi link.

Re:Ummm...

[bfields]

For very large values of 8?

I do wonder about their counting.... Does the one panel only count as background just because it doesn't have a border? Or do the one diagonal pair of borders not count as real panel separators?

slow day?

[Mortiss]

It must still be slow news period, since /. is now starting to post comic strips.

Re:slow day?

[djupedal]

/. is a comic strip...

In case of the Slashdotting...

[Kinetic]

Mirrors (including the images) are here: MirrorDot.

Re:In case of the Slashdotting...

[lpangelrob2]

Good lord, the comic strip is already posted via Akamai. If that goes down, I think we'll all be talking around the water cooler about other things besides comics...

Slightly on-topic... if you like online comics, visit your favorite 8-bit FF characters reborn at 8-bit Theatre. 3 years, 4 hurricanes, still going strong. No I don't run the site, just read it.

Re:In case of the Slashdotting...

[Omniscientist]

I've seen 8-bit theatre, that is hilarious material!

Re:In case of the Slashdotting...

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

Funny, but way too long for a comic. They should try to limit it to 3-4panes per comic, like Penny Arcade. They could even sacrifice having humor in it, like Penny Arcade.

So you know before you read it

[Anonymous Coward]

this is one of those comics like Ranger Rick. Don't expect a punch line or anything :)

Re:So you know before you read it

[Scud]

Gee, thanks. I would have hated to waste all that time :)

Re:So you know before you read it

[secretsquirel]

No you just didn't get the joke.

WiFi

[Anonymous Coward]

Oi, I cant wait till I start getting WiFi interference from not only the neighborhood, but the neighboring towns!

Re:WiFi

[blowdart]

Wardriving just won't be cool any more, not when you can sit in your front room, in your boxers/tighty whities watching star trek and hacking two towns away.

I have a question

[djupedal]

...since the horizon on flat ground is 25 miles away, how did they manage 55 miles? Must have been some hills involved? If so, then the distance as the crow flies would perhaps be less than 55.1 miles...

Re:I have a question

[Technician]

...since the horizon on flat ground is 25 miles away, how did they manage 55 miles? Must have been some hills involved? If so, then the distance as the crow flies would perhaps be less than 55.1 miles...

Follow the link to the original article of the shootout. 55 miles is the distance between two GPS locations, not the distance to drive to get there. And even if you bothered to read the comic strip, it even mentions finding a road up a canyon. There are not many canyons in flat areas like Florida, but Nevada does have hills and canyons.

Other than not reading the article or comic, good point that the curvature of the earth limits access to 2 points on the ground from beamed communications. Finding 2 points for a long range link in Florida would be difficult unless you could get rooftop access to some downtown buildings in Tampa or Miami.

Re:I have a question

[jginspace]

...since the horizon on flat ground is 25 miles away, how did they manage 55 miles? Must have been some hills involved? If so, then the distance as the crow flies would perhaps be less than 55.1 miles...

Some pics here http://www.wifi-toys.com/wi-fi.php?a=articles&id=2 3 give you a clue. And this caption from the comic strip: "I've got it! There's a secondary road up a canyon that should get you 55 miles away"

Seriously though, we're never going to be talking about inclinations of greater than 10 degrees are we?

Re:I have a question

[Anonymous Coward]

Presumably they used gps to come to the conclusion it was 55.1 miles, but in any case all they needed to achieve line of sight was some height. Last I checked, line of sight distance between two points is unaffected by the height of those two points... Yay! 55 miles with no amp... but with a squillion dBi gain antenna... Could've achieved the same (illegal) Tx power with an amp and a small directional, failing to see what the excitement's about...

Re:I have a question

[node 3]

...since the horizon on flat ground is 25 miles away, how did they manage 55 miles? Must have been some hills involved? If so, then the distance as the crow flies would perhaps be less than 55.1 miles...

Less than 55.1 miles, as in 55.0? Or are you going for 55.09657(etc) miles (which is the same as 55.1, given the same level of precision reported in the article)?

I think it more likely it would increase the distance. The change seems like it would be too small to count much anyway.

Re:I have a question

[Forbman]

Well, when in Nevada, you may be standing on a flat dry lake bed, and then you realize that the mountains off in the distance are probably 50-80 miles away (and a look at the map confirms it). You're not looking at the base of the mountains, remember, but the upper portions.

Re:I have a question

[djupedal]

If you are on hill A and drive down the hill and across the valley, and up hill B, and travel 55.1 miles, the point-to-point distance is less than 55.1 miles. No surprise logic to anyone here...I hope :)

Thanks for taking a run at me, but neither the article I read (on Wired) nor the strip mention GPS distance usage... If you have that info, please link it and thanks for answering my question.

The strip mentions driving up/down/thru a canyon, giving the impression they used the odometer on their '87 Chevy van, which validates my question about possible overstated distance, since that would confirm how they got above the horizon (not everyone knows how far that is, me thinks). I would hope they had enough sense to use GPS, of course...

Re:I have a question

[veddermatic]

If you had read ANY of the articles, or even the f*ing REPLIES to your post, you'd know the answer.

Pro tip: READ BEFORE POSTING.

Now, go back and read the replies to your posts, then feel bad for posting in the first place.

Re:I have a question

[Anonymous Coward]

I got your 'pro tip' wise ass...bend over, spread your flacid white ass and then cry like the little girl your mother always wanted.

Re:I have a question

[timeOday]

You know, replying to your own thread as AC isn't very clever. It's obvious who you are, a moderator could always go back and mod down one of your previous messages.

Re:I have a question

[MemoryAid]

That 25 miles figure for the distance to the horizon is only a rule of thumb, and as such it uses certain assumptions. Unfortunately, I don't know those assumptions, but I do know there is an equation to calculate the line of sight distance possible between two objects an arbitrary distance above the Earth's surface. You can find that equation here.

There is a nomograph on that page that allows one with a straightedge to quickly explore the relationships between elevation and line of sight distance. Unfortunately, it is not very clear in html, so the pdf version is also provided, here.

Note that this information is from a US Navy web site, and as such, the distances are listed in nautical miles.

God Bless the Geeks and everyone helping them

[vishmaster]

A fitting tribute to hackerdom , geekhood or whatever else you want to call the spirit of playful innovation and problem solving.

Re:God Bless the Geeks and everyone helping them

[secretsquirel]

And a sad sad day for cartoonists, writers, and anyone else with an in-tact sense of humor.

Most innovative antenna?

[Hanzie]

The article lists:

Most Innovative Antenna: Turbo Crew: 0.821 miles

I'd really like to know what they had. Any defcon attendees? Turbo Crew members?

In this crowd, the "most innovative antenna" has got to be something wild...

hanzie.

Re:Most innovative antenna?

[DCowern]

JFGI (just freaking Google it):

Google Search

Some nice pictures:

• http://www.wired.com/news/images/0,2334,64440-1376 6,00.html
• http://www.livejournal.com/users/benjiesque/72874. html

Re:Most innovative antenna?

[mOoZik]

I think they used "most innovative" in place of "least effective." There is nothing innovative about their design: it's a simple horn design, using materials one probably shouldn't use (coated car window guard thingie).

Re:Most innovative antenna?

[drinkypoo]

Apparently, what they had was two chicks who look like they're more at home outdoors than in a computer lab. If they held up the antenna they're part of it, right? That makes the whole thing pretty damned novel, at least 'round these parts.

Obligatory Family Guy Quote:

[Anonymous Coward]

Family Guy version of Wally: "Hey, Dilbert, what do you call it when a guy in middle management moves all the way up to upper management?" Family Guy version of Dilbert: "I don't know, what do you call it?" Family Guy version of Wally: "A promotion!" Family Guy version of Dilbert: "Oh, Thanks. Here's a Memo."

So yeah... a comic

[WhiteLudaFan]

Did anyone else not find that comic totally un-entertaining? I was disappointed.

Re:So yeah... a comic

[bogie]

Yep, pretty lame. I'll summarize below and save others time.

"Dude, hurry up and setup the antenna"
"Cool it worked"

Yawn. Some things just don't translate well to comics I suppose. And yes I realize all comics aren't supposed to be funny. That was just a really lame comic. Next up. An 8 panel comic where I setup a router and then connect to the Internet. Hazaa!! Think I'll get on Slashdot?

Poll for Subscriber

[ari_j]

The cartoon sucks and the story is pointless. Are people really paying to see this early?

Re:Poll for Subscriber

[jginspace]

The cartoon sucks and the story is pointless. Are people really paying to see this early?

It isn't a mere "cartoon"; it's a "captivating 8-panel comic suitable for any Sunday Edition (or cubicle wall)."

Some can sniff but I'm busy building myself a cubicle wall so I can pin this up...

Re:Poll for Subscriber

[wheany]

This is what I have on my "cubicle wall"

Re:Poll for Subscriber

[ari_j]

If you'd paid for a subscription, you could have built the cubicle earlier and beat the "rush" on the comic.

Re:Poll for Subscriber

[Anonymous Coward]

They should of gotten Bendis to write it ... but then one of them would have to die by the 8th panel.

- A S M -

I'll show them!

[Anonymous Coward]

One of these days I'm going to unveil my super secret long distance antennae. It's several miles in length. I've given it the code name "phone line".

Article Text

[quarrel]

Not to be a karma whore, but in case of the /. effect, here is the complete article text.

-----------------

Re:Article Text

[ion_]

here is the complete article text.

I believe you missed something - maybe a technical problem.

Here's the article text:

JFIF
Ducky
Adobe
#%'%#
//33//@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
#0+.'''.+550055@@?@@@@@@@@@@@@
!1AQ"
Cs$U
AQaq
Do[C
W_}m
krO@
Hr02
6F.(?

Obligatory Simpsons Quote

[Bryan Gividen]

Worst comic... ever.

And this time it's true....

Re:Obligatory Simpsons Quote

[secretsquirel]

Nope, still better than Ziggy.

Welllll

[Omniscientist]

Its not every day you see a comic strip about a bunch of dudes in DefCon and their adventures in the land of WiFi...news to me

???joke

[zxflash]

i don't get it...

must be one of those strips like peanuts...
not really supposed to be funny...

deep down i know that somewhere in an it broom closet some sysadmin is wetting himself because of this strip...

Re:???joke

[Proc6]

I agree, its like back when I used to play EQ and read EQ related forums. Everyone was always posting links to this website that did daily video game comics. I read like 40 in a row one day and not one was funny. Not even slightly. They were all like,

"Did you see that dragon?"
"Yeah, he sure was big!"
"Bwahahahah!"

So either I'm getting old, or what people find funny has really changed lately. I think some people laugh at anything put in a comic strip. They think, "Woah, Im a geek, and thats geeky stuff, and it's in bright colors, that's hilarious! Finally someone understands me!"

Re:???joke

[lonesome phreak]

I think it's more like the old Radio Shack comic strips. They weren't supposed to be funny, but tell some type of story. Comic magazines aren't really funny either.

Re:???joke

[Dun Malg]

i don't get it... must be one of those strips like peanuts... not really supposed to be funny...

I think the flaw in this comic strip is that it takes 9 pictures and 20 speech balloons to "condense" a 2-sentence story:

"The first test at home, 8.5miles, didn't work. After borrowing some equipment and trying again out in the hot Nevada desert, they managed to connect over a distance of 55.1 miles"

Typical "Wired" crap, if you ask me. Make 5 pages of content fill 40 pages using tricks found in their Adobe InDesign menus. Lame.

Of course, these antenna games are illegal ...

[dougmc]

In the US, WiFi usage falls under Part 15 regulations, and these regulations limit the power used for the 2.4 gHz band to 1 watt.

Which is all well and good, but there's this passage (in the `1 watt' link given above) --

if transmitting antennas of directional gain greater than 6 dBi are used the peak output power from the intentional radiator shall be reduced below the stated values in paragraphs (b)(1) or (b)(2) of this section, as appropriate, by the amount in dB that the directional gain of the antenna exceeds 6 dBi.

which basically means that if you use a directional (high-gain) antenna to transmit, you have to reduce your power by the same amount. (For receiving you can do anything you want, but these people used the same antennas for both.) Which makes this all illegal.

Now, there is a way out. The ham rules don't have the same restrictions on antennas, and there is some overlap between the ham bands and the WiFi 2.4 gHz band, so you could go that way, but if you go under the ham rules, you have to follow all the ham rules, like those about IDing yourself, no encryption, no bad language, no monetary interest, etc.

It wouldn't surprise me if there's a lot of hams in the group of people trying to get long range WiFi links going for things like this -- but I know that a lot of the people trying aren't hams, and I'll bet that even the ones that are hams aren't all following the ham rules (though they should know better.)

This link talks about wirelss ISPs co-existing with hams in the 2.4 gHz band. It's somewhat relevant, and may be interesting reading.

Re:Of course, these antenna games are illegal ...

[Seeker310]

well these guys (if you read the article) were in fact hams.

Re:Of course, these antenna games are illegal ...

[!ucif3r]

Am I mistaken in what happened. It was my understanding that this was unamplified.

The dishes were simply used to improve the focus of the tranmission and the reception on the other end. The dish both focuses the out going signal and collects more of the incomming signal than a regular antenna.

They did not violate the power limits did they?

Re:Of course, these antenna games are illegal ...

[drinkypoo]

The signal was unamplified? You mean it came out of the chip at very small mW values and was never bumped up? Poppycock. Anyway if you attach a sufficiently high-gain antenna to commercial WiFi equipment, you are required to reduce your power levels in order to retain FCC compliance.

Re:Of course, these antenna games are illegal ...

[dougmc]

well these guys (if you read the article) were in fact hams.

These guys were. If you look at the pictures on the defcon website, you can even see a callsign written on the antenna (KG4KVK?) They probably did follow the rules -- writing your callsign on the antenna is does *not* satisfy the identification requirements, but merely setting your SSID to your callsign is probably good enough.

Merely having a ham license isn't enough. You need to ID yourself in an appropriate manner, stick to specific Wifi channels, not make any money off the thing, and not use encryption. These people probably did do these things.

However, lots of people hook up external antennas to their Wifi gear -- there's certainly enough websites out there that tell how to turn a Pringles can into an antenna. And almost none of them mention ham radio. I'll bet that many of the people who entered this contest were not following the ham rules ...

I just think people need to know that adding special antennas to your Wifi equipment is generally illegal (in the US) unless 1) you never transmit or 2) you go under the ham radio operator rules (which requires a ham radio license, among other things.)

Re:Of course, these antenna games are illegal ...

[dougmc]

They did not violate the power limits did they?

If they followed all the ham rules, no they did not. I have no reason to believe that the winners did not follow all the ham rules, but I imagine that other teams did not.

If they did not use the ham rules, then yes they did. The rules put a maximum limit on total radiated power (1 watt) and on effective radiated power (which allowing a 6 dBi gain antenna would mean 4 watts.)

6 dBi isn't very much. These antennas probably got at least 25 dBi of gain, which would be a 316 fold increase in effective radiated power. To stay within the non-ham rules, you'd need to reduce your total radiated power by a factor of 79 to be legal with an antenna like that.

Still, it would seem that the FCC doesn't care. You can buy lots of Wifi antennas at your local Frys, many of which which have more than 6 dBi of gain, some a lot more. Obviously lots of people, even large companies, are violating the rules, but nothing seems to happen. Though I guess I'm not too surprised -- one watt of power isn't exactly a lot, and even with the highest gain antenna possible, it's still one watt of power -- just directed in a very tight beam. The FCC has bigger fish to fry -- like CBers with 20 kwatt amplifiers :)

Still, I'm always amused when I find an antenna that says `High gain omnidirectional antenna'. Who said your marketing department has to obey the laws of physics?

Re:Of course, these antenna games are illegal ...

[cymen]

I think everyone should know too that those little black and white signs on the sides of roads with numbers on them generally refer to a speed limit. People must 1) not drive faster than the number on the sign and 2) identify themselves. Merely placing a license plate on the vehicle is not enough. They must also identify themselves with picture ID.

Thanks gods for lawful citizens!

Re:Of course, these antenna games are illegal ...

[dougmc]

Clever.

However, the penalties for violating FCC regulations are generally stiffer than those for violating speed limits, though the odds of actually getting hit with one are smaller. Also, most people realize that going 65 in a 55 mph zone is illegal, where many (most?) people are probably not aware that hooking up a Pringles can antenna to their Wifi AP is probably illegal too, even without an amplifier. If you're going to break the law, you should at least realize that you're breaking the law, right?

And it's especially stupid to break the law while carefully documenting things, like one might do when trying to break a world record. To use the example of traffic laws, I believe that there was a (low budget, extreme, video-only, reality) movie made a few years ago where people did all sorts of crazy things in their cars (motorcycles?), like zipping through traffic at 100+ mph (you could see the speedometer), etc. The movie contained enough information for the police to identify those responsible and arrest them, and they did just that -- for numerous serious traffic violations.

The winning team probably did so legally. But I doubt all the teams did, unless the Defcon people made sure of it (which seems unlikely.)

Re:Of course, these antenna games are illegal ...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you'd RTFM, you would have read this:

Using two consumer-grade 32-milliwatt Orinoco Gold USB Wifi adapters mounted on the feed points of two surplus 9-1/2 foot satellite dishes, the team known as P.A.D. achieved a verified connect distance of 55.1 miles (88.67 kilometers), without the use of external amplification.

Re:Of course, these antenna games are illegal ...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you'd RTFM, you would have read this:

Two questions :

1) what does M refer to in this case for RTFM?
2) what question are you trying to answer?

Oh! now i get it!

[secretsquirel]

Wow that's a good one, heehee bwhaha ha, lol! lol!

DefCon Strip?

[Anonymous Coward]

Once I saw some pictures from DefCon when some chick was stripping naked--is that it?

STUPID

[Anonymous Coward]

if they were all cartoons, perhaps, but not if they are this retarded.

that was the dumbest cartoon i've ever seen.

read it or not, it was a waste of time. i know i'll be modded naughty, but really, that cartoon was fucking stupid.

anyone brave enough to agree with me? come on, someone sack up and agree.

Re:STUPID

[neds_dead]

I agree, it was one of the dumbest cartoons that I have ever read.

Re:STUPID

[curtoid]

Not every comic in the Sunday paper is intended to be funny. Just the ones we read.... Take a look. I think there's two or even three that are ongoing "drama" comics.
I'm not saying I like them, but apparently enough people read them or they wouldn't be there.

Re:STUPID

[thomn8r]

"Where's the elevation? It's fucking stupid!" --Freddie got Fingered

I've had this for at least a week

[Artifex]

Come on, this has been in subscribers' hands for a while, and even on the newsstands. What makes this suddenly news, now?

"comic" aint comic (was Re:???joke)

[Anonymous Coward]

Not everything in "comic" style is supposed to be funny (stupid name aside). It is just a medium for telling a story. In Japan, for example, there are thousands of titles covering every genre of literature. It is a (mainstream) "western" bias that story in this form is supposed to be funny.

Re:"comic" aint comic (was Re:???joke)

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? Like Superman and Spider-man. I think the American bias is that comics are for kids, not that they are supposed to be funny. Get your generalizations straight.

Just need to reiterate

[phoopee3]

Worst comic ever.

that cartoon is horrid

[Anonymous Coward]

since when does vapid + cartoon = anything but Trudeau?

Doonsbury

[das_katz_socrates]

This comic is to geeks as Doonsbury is to Democrats.

thermometer

[Anonymous Coward]

erm... why is the thermometer upside down? and how come no one noticed before...

IAWTP

[wheany]

I Agree With This Post

oh sweet lord

[Fringex]

In order to be the Sunday comics, I am pretty sure you have to write a comic that has at least one ounce of humor.

Re:oh sweet lord

[seeesesk]

You obviously haven't been reading the Sunday comics lately.

cartoonish

[cabazorro]

I find the story line predictable and the
characters derivative.

howbout some creative wi-fi onomatopoeias!
zziiiing-ding-ding-ding(net stumbler)drrrrrr!

Still as wi-fi goes.
I dig their kung-fu.

WTF?

[Chuffpole]

Karma be damned..

Even as a certified geek.. that has to be the saddest comic strip I've EVER seen. Sheesh.

Doing something wrong..

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't even get my signal to work from one end of my house to the other 37 feet away. I am not worthy.

That's not eight panels

[Minwee]

Does my ability to count up to nine disqualify me from being a Slashdot editor?

Whatever will I do with myself now?

The cool thing about this comic

[The Wicked Priest]

is that I can tell that they're using Averatec laptops, just like mine, even though I can't read the logos -- the styling is unmistakable. Nice touch; I would've expected a more generic rendering.

BTW, I see this as more graphic novel than Sunday funny style.

I didn't read it

[Trepidity]

I clicked through, but it looked like one of those "serious" cartoons in the newspaper that I don't read either. If it's got good drawing and more than a few words of text per panel, I don't have the concentration.

wow

[dR.fuZZo]

There's a comic that would be right at home between Mary Worth and Rex Morgan, MD.

Heck! That ain't nothin'

[lcsjk]

I mounted my two antennas back to back about 4 feet apart, thus transmitting some 25,000 miles around the world and still got a faint signal. Next I'm going to mount them back to back but spaced side to side more so the signal can go around the world twice before it gets to the receiving antenna. If I get a signal this time, I'll know I'm onto something.

Wow that's hilarious.

[g0at]

My housemate's dad drew some roofing diagrams on the corner of the newspaper today. If I scan it in, can I get a slashdot article too?

-ben

who?

[Anonymous Coward]

pulled off by a few guys with two honkingly huge satellite antennas,

Why, thank you.

Wulffmorgenthaler.com

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.wulffmorgenthaler.com/