Irish 'Running Man' WarWalking Competition

phaxx writes "Dubbed 'WaveHunt', this is the Irish take on DefCon's RunningMan competition. Contestants will have three attempts, each an hour long, to locate a moving Linksys WRT54g running OpenWRT Linux. They must positively identify the person carrying the hidden acccess point and report this back to base. The first prize is two hundred euro, and it takes place this coming Saturday, March 5th. The intended venues are a large park, a defined area of winding streets in Dublin City Centre, and a multi-level shopping centre!"

Comments

Twice the persons = twice the PC's?

[Jokernick5]

The article states that individuals or "teams of two" may enter. I wonder if a team of two could use two devices? If so, teams would have a huge advantage in their ability to triangulate the position of the WAP. ... on the other hand, the second person could just run around and physically search everyone in the area...

Triangulation

[mikeumass]

Triangulating the location of a wireless access point is no small task even if it is stationary, and you have 3 point of reference.

However combinting 2 points of reference with signal strength from each point should make the job possible, assuming there is not too much interference from external sources. The hard part will be trying to keep track of how your experimental locations map up to location of persons who could be carrying the access point.

Maybe you could just look for someone with an antenna sticking out of thier backpack!

Re:Triangulation

[mikeumass]

The rules state no directional antennae.

oblig

[Tuffsnake]

First ya find the computer running the wireless then you win 200 euro, then you can buy lots and lots of Guinness ... BRILLIANT!

My, My

[punkin]

Is that an access point in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

This should be pretty easy

[winstonmeister]

If you're using wireless internet and the router stops working every five minutes for no apparent reason, you're getting closer to the Linksys.

Re:I think some people have too much free time

[Hyecee]

Recreation? Competition? Exercise? Something fun to do? Not everything has to have a "point". Sometimes folks can just get together and have fun, you know?

Foxhunting by another name

[wowbagger]

This is just Foxhunting by another name.

The only difference is that this is open to non-hams.

sounds a lot like...ham radio

[lophophore]

This sounds a lot like Ham Radio direction finding contests. In fact, I bet a lot of the same kind of DFing technology will be used.

Look here for information about direction finding, transmitter hunting, and radio-orienteering as used by hams:

http://members.aol.com/homingin/

I could do this without a Wi-Fi device

[gearmonger]

Just seek out the smuggest-looking n3rd in the mall/park, which shouldn't be too hard, since true geeks generally avoid places with other people and sunshine.

Yeah, go ahead...I've got some karma to burn.

Re:I could do this without a Wi-Fi device

[kryten_nl]

Much easier:
Listen for young women screaming: "Get the f*ck away from me!"

Re:Simple answer

[caryw]

I wish it was that easy. It's pretty hard to find a moving target with a little pocket device that gives signal strength. A better solution would be to buy a nice receiver that can process signal direction (like a newer ICOM or Uniden). Of course you'd still have to fire up the laptop to figure out what channel the SSID you're chasing is on.
Ham's have these (find the transmitting guy) things all the time. They call them foxhunts. The best anecdote I remember is one year the guy transmitting was an elderly man fishing off a bridge. He was using the fishing poll as the antenna. Nobody wanted to disturb him.
- Cary
--Fairfax Underground: Where Fairfax County comes out to play

Not my cup of tea...

[eric_brissette]

Running? Like... with your feet? After a moving router? I'm getting winded just thinking about it.

Let me know when the host a go cart enabled competition. Or at least with those scooters for handicapped people. I'd be all over that.

Easy

[slapout]

Just look for the guy with the extension cord hanging out of his coat. Or the one carrying the really big battery. :-)

Re:intentional vi-l33tness?

[kahei]

It must be a hoax -- a user trying to quit vi actually types this:

^C
^C
^Z
.
^[
^[^[^[^[^[
quit
end
exit
bye
quit!
QUIT
QQQQQQQ :quit :QUIT :zz :w :quit!

$rm /usr/bin/vi

Re:For those who dont know..

[citog]

So the PRC has been annexed then? Langers surrendered?

Re:Walking to Los Angeles

[Render_Man]

Actually, that was BigEZy. He did drive all the way out to LA before the start of the competition, provided evidence of his being there at the time of the contest, but through some technical goofs, they did'nt get thier data in by the deadline and so the LA run did'nt count.

I know this because I was one of the other contestants who was angry and impressed by the interesting interpretation of the rules.

Winners!

[RamboCalrissian]

Hopefully the contestants this year will do as well as last years winners: Whitman, Price, and Hadad!