{"$schema": "https://c3voc.de/schedule/schema.json", "generator": {"name": "pretalx", "version": "2025.2.1"}, "schedule": {"url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/schedule/", "version": "0.4", "base_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org", "conference": {"acronym": "dc34", "title": "HRV @ DEF CON 34", "start": "2026-08-06", "end": "2026-08-09", "daysCount": 4, "timeslot_duration": "00:05", "time_zone_name": "America/Los_Angeles", "colors": {"primary": "#f38cbf"}, "rooms": [{"name": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "6-ham-radio-village-w321", "guid": "ca7db5a0-ce73-5e6e-8b65-96b423c99f9e", "description": "Our main village space, located in room W321 on the 3rd floor of the LVCC West hall", "capacity": null}, {"name": "Ham Exams Room (W320)", "slug": "7-ham-exams-room-w320", "guid": "4b7b217d-4d0a-506e-a7a5-d4f9b51c08cf", "description": "Room W320, next to the Ham Radio Village main room on the 3rd floor of the LVCC West Hall.", "capacity": 100}, {"name": "\"Can it Ham\" Contest Table (Contest Area)", "slug": "8-can-it-ham-contest-table-contest-area", "guid": "4bc6a78d-c45c-57be-b0da-8cd26e9adc9e", "description": "Located in the contest area, the HRV Contest tables hosts the HRV Fox Hunt and \"Can it Ham?\" contests.", "capacity": 100}, {"name": "Ham Radio Fox Hunt Contest Table (Contest Area)", "slug": "9-ham-radio-fox-hunt-contest-table-contest-area", "guid": "0016f6bb-ed7d-5220-aef9-d1264ff172ea", "description": "Located in the contest area, the HRV Contest tables hosts the HRV Fox Hunt and \"Can it Ham?\" contests.", "capacity": null}], "tracks": [], "days": [{"index": 1, "date": "2026-08-06", "day_start": "2026-08-06T04:00:00-07:00", "day_end": "2026-08-07T03:59:00-07:00", "rooms": {}}, {"index": 2, "date": "2026-08-07", "day_start": "2026-08-07T04:00:00-07:00", "day_end": "2026-08-08T03:59:00-07:00", "rooms": {"Ham Radio Village (W321)": [{"guid": "816828c4-fd7a-5761-8023-7d1431715e99", "code": "N3MDLZ", "id": 21, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-07T11:00:00-07:00", "start": "11:00", "duration": "00:30", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-21-meshtastic-101-off-grid-mesh-networking-with-lora", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/N3MDLZ/", "title": "Meshtastic 101: Off-Grid Mesh Networking with LoRa", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "Meshtastic has quickly become one of the most exciting new tools in the radio and hacker communities. Using inexpensive LoRa radios and open-source software, it allows anyone to build decentralized, off-grid messaging networks that work without cellular infrastructure or the internet.\r\n\r\nThis talk introduces Meshtastic and the technologies that make it possible. We\u2019ll cover the basics of LoRa radio, how mesh networking works, and how Meshtastic ties together radios, microcontrollers, and mobile apps into a simple communication platform.\r\n\r\nAttendees will learn what hardware is required, how easy it is to set up a node, and how Meshtastic networks are being used at events like DEF CON and in off-grid environments around the world.\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019re curious about building your own mesh network\u2014or want to understand why everyone is suddenly carrying strange little radios\u2014this session will show you how to get started.", "description": "Meshtastic is an open-source project that enables decentralized, off-grid communication networks using inexpensive LoRa radios and microcontrollers. By combining long-range low-power radio technology with modern mobile apps and mesh networking protocols, Meshtastic makes it possible to build resilient communication networks without relying on cellular or internet infrastructure.\r\n\r\nThis presentation provides an introduction to the Meshtastic ecosystem and the technologies that power it. Topics include the fundamentals of mesh networking, the basics of LoRa radio communication, and how Meshtastic integrates radios, ESP32-based devices, and smartphones into a distributed messaging platform. \r\n\r\nThe talk will also cover common hardware platforms used in Meshtastic deployments, including DIY nodes and commercially available devices, and demonstrate how easy it is to set up and join a network. \r\n\r\nFinally, we\u2019ll explore real-world applications for Meshtastic, including event communications, off-grid coordination, disaster response, and experimental hacker networks.\r\n\r\nAttendees will leave with a clear understanding of how Meshtastic works and what they need to begin experimenting with mesh radio networks themselves.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "DRYL7H", "name": "Jon Marler (K4CHN)", "avatar": null, "biography": "Jon Marler is a cybersecurity product director, hacker, and RF experimenter who enjoys building strange things that connect computers, radios, and networks together. By day he leads security products at VikingCloud focused on protecting global payment infrastructure. By night he experiments with mesh radio networks, hardware hacking, and unconventional communication systems. Jon is particularly interested in how radio and decentralized networks can complement modern security and resilience strategies.", "public_name": "Jon Marler (K4CHN)", "guid": "7ff75e0f-b258-5b6b-851d-0ac6cb0fb65a", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/DRYL7H/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/N3MDLZ/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/N3MDLZ/", "attachments": []}, {"guid": "c85edaa3-777d-5ab3-a235-1d302da6d567", "code": "7MVRHZ", "id": 35, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-07T12:00:00-07:00", "start": "12:00", "duration": "00:30", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-35-getting-started-in-radio-direction-finding", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/7MVRHZ/", "title": "Getting Started In Radio Direction Finding", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "Entry level talk reviewing what foxhunting / radio direction finding is\r\nCovering the basic equipment requirements\r\nYagi antenna building\r\nBody fading\r\nMinimum equipment\r\nTips and tricks", "description": "Radio Direction Finding (RDF) is one of the most practical and fun skills in amateur radio. This intro talk covers everything a beginner needs to know: low cost gear setups, building a simple Yagi antenna, and the techniques used to zero in on a transmitter.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "H9SM3Q", "name": "Nate Moore", "avatar": null, "biography": "Nate Moore works in cybersecurity, holds an Extra class amateur radio license, and spends his spare time teaching, examining, and pushing signals around the ether.", "public_name": "Nate Moore", "guid": "f1058988-7414-59e9-922b-e655ce5e7dda", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/H9SM3Q/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/7MVRHZ/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/7MVRHZ/", "attachments": []}, {"guid": "fe938771-7d65-5064-9701-d751cf9ca4ad", "code": "STGJPE", "id": 17, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-07T13:00:00-07:00", "start": "13:00", "duration": "01:00", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-17-ham-radio-isn-t-magic-preppers-sad-hams-and-practical-off-grid-communications", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/STGJPE/", "title": "Ham Radio Isn\u2019t Magic: Preppers, Sad Hams, and Practical Off-Grid Communications", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "Every hacker has seen the post: someone asks what radio will let them \u201creliably talk 500 miles to family when the cell network goes down.\u201d The replies quickly devolve into bad advice, magical thinking, and dismissive gatekeeping. The result is confusion, wasted money, and false confidence about off-grid communications.\r\n\r\nThis talk is the antidote.\r\n\r\nWe\u2019ll cut through the mythology and explain what amateur radio can actually do for personal and family communication during major disruptions \u2014 and what it cannot. Starting at a 101 level, we\u2019ll cover realistic ranges, basic propagation, equipment tradeoffs, digital modes, licensing myths, and why distance is usually the wrong requirement.\r\n\r\nRather than dunking on preppers or policing fun like a sad ham, this talk reframes the problem the way hackers do: understanding constraints, failure modes, and human factors. \r\n\r\nWe\u2019ll focus on practical off-grid communication strategies that work in the real world \u2014 coordination, redundancy, and low-bandwidth messaging \u2014 not fantasy continent-spanning voice links.", "description": "This talk approaches off-grid communications as a practical systems problem, informed by the author\u2019s real-world operation of portable and off-grid radio systems rather than theory or gear marketing. Rather than teaching amateur radio as a hobby, it reframes off-grid communications using failure-mode analysis and systems design principles familiar to the security and hacking community. While the question \u201cHow do I talk 500 miles when the grid is down?\u201d is a common starting point, the deeper issue is how communication systems behave when infrastructure is absent, degraded, or intentionally avoided \u2014 and why many well-intentioned plans fail in practice.\r\n\r\nThe presentation is structured as a 101-level introduction for a technically curious audience. It assumes no prior amateur radio experience, but it does assume interest in understanding constraints, tradeoffs, and failure modes the same way hackers evaluate any other system operating outside ideal conditions.\r\n\r\nThe talk opens by examining real examples from off-grid and preparedness communities, including common questions and the unhelpful responses they often attract. This framing establishes the core thesis: both \u201cprepper fantasy\u201d and \u201csad ham\u201d gatekeeping optimize for the wrong constraints and lead to brittle designs that fail when conditions are imperfect.\r\n\r\nFrom there, the talk builds a mental model of off-grid radio communications grounded in physics and operational reality. Attendees are introduced to why radio performance is probabilistic rather than guaranteed, why a fixed distance like \u201c500 miles\u201d is a misleading requirement, and how factors such as propagation, noise floor, antenna efficiency, duty cycle, and coordination dominate outcomes more than transmitter power or radio model. Real failure modes are discussed, including HF voice links failing when expected to work, digital modes succeeding where voice does not, antenna quality overwhelming other variables, high-noise environments negating otherwise capable setups, and situations where increasing power does not meaningfully improve reliability.\r\n\r\nThe scope then expands beyond emergencies to everyday off-grid use cases hackers actually encounter: group communications while hiking or camping without cell coverage, portable and battery-powered operation, short-range mesh and store-and-forward systems such as Meshtastic, and longer-range low-bandwidth HF messaging. Activities like Parks on the Air, Summits on the Air, and Field Day are presented not as hobbies, but as structured opportunities for exploration and experimentation \u2014 real-world environments for testing antennas, power systems, logistics, and coordination under off-grid constraints.\r\n\r\nRather than focusing on specific products or modes, the talk emphasizes design principles that consistently work: simple plans over clever ones, redundancy across bands and modes, asynchronous messaging over real-time voice, and communication plans that account for human behavior as a primary constraint. Regulatory considerations are covered at a practical level to help attendees understand what is possible and appropriate without turning the talk into a licensing lecture.\r\n\r\nIf appropriate for the venue, the talk may include a short demonstration or case study illustrating propagation variability or the effectiveness of low-bandwidth digital techniques compared to voice. Any demonstration will be designed with realistic fallback options and framed as illustrative rather than guaranteed.\r\n\r\nThe goal of this talk is not to turn attendees into radio experts, but to give them a reusable framework for thinking about off-grid communications the way hackers think about resilient systems: define the actual problem, understand how and why things fail, and design solutions that work in imperfect, real-world environments.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "UEBUA7", "name": "Andrew Ohnstad - N3OCQ", "avatar": null, "biography": "Andrew has spent 25 years designing large-scale IT systems. He grew up alongside the birth of the internet, building his own computers, running a BBS, and taking electronics apart to understand how they worked. His interests remain firmly hands-on, focused on hardware tinkering and RF. He\u2019s been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1993, holds an Amateur Extra license, and is active from VHF/UHF through 160 meters.", "public_name": "Andrew Ohnstad - N3OCQ", "guid": "fd4cc72e-46cd-5b68-8153-fe0b310e5223", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/UEBUA7/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/STGJPE/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/STGJPE/", "attachments": []}, {"guid": "5fdd2e2b-cfbb-5712-9f00-11e3b5d08d83", "code": "3BC7DL", "id": 25, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-07T14:30:00-07:00", "start": "14:30", "duration": "00:40", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-25-who-owns-your-shack-open-source-amateur-radio-and-the-software-we-can-t-afford-to-lose", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/3BC7DL/", "title": "Who Owns Your Shack? Open Source, Amateur Radio, and the Software We Can't Afford to Lose", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "You own your radio. The protocols you use \u2014 AX.25 and APRS \u2014 are open standards anyone can implement. But the software your club depends on? That's often a different story.\r\n\r\nFor the security-minded: this is a story about critical communication infrastructure running on software whose source code doesn't exist.\r\n\r\nAmateur radio has a long tradition of self-reliance: building your own antennas, maintaining your own gear, understanding your own stack. That tradition breaks down at the software layer. Too much of the tooling that holds the hobby together is maintained by a single developer, distributed as a closed binary, with no source code and no succession plan. We've already seen what happens when that developer is gone: When Roger Barker G4IDE passed in 2004, UI-View32's source code went with him \u2014 leaving the community to maintain unofficial workarounds rather than fix the underlying binary, with the registration servers eventually going dark. Bob Bruninga WB4APR's death in 2022 raised the same question for his reference APRS implementations and the aprs.org site he maintained. These aren't edge cases \u2014 they're a pattern, and the hobby's aging demographics make it one we can't ignore.\r\n\r\nThis talk makes the case that open-source licensing isn't just a software philosophy \u2014 it's an infrastructure resilience strategy. If a tool is critical to your club's operations or your emergency net, its source code needs to outlive its author.\r\n\r\nAs a working example, we'll look at open-packet: an early-stage, MIT-licensed packet messaging client in Python \u2014 a working existence proof that the open-source path is viable. A brief live demo will show the basic functionality, along with some nice to have extras such as visual themes and a web client.\r\n\r\nAttendees will leave with a concrete lens for evaluating the software they depend on, a GitHub link, and three specific asks \u2014 from \"try it\" to \"apply this thinking to every tool in your shack.\"", "description": "A 30\u201340 minute talk for Ham Radio Village at Defcon. Primary audience is licensed amateur radio operators, with a secondary audience of hackers and security-minded attendees unfamiliar with the hobby. The talk uses the post-mortem license failure pattern in amateur radio software as motivating context, builds an ownership/self-reliance argument, and presents open-packet as a working existence proof of the open-source alternative.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "ZYDLVR", "name": "Jeremy Banker - K0JLB", "avatar": null, "biography": "Jeremy Banker (K0JLB) has been a licensed amateur radio operator since 2010, drawn to the hobby by a lifelong interest in experimentation. A Senior Security Software Engineer by trade, he is a regular packet radio operator and supports packet operations for his local ARES group. His frustration with the closed-source tools available for packet messaging \u2014 software he couldn't fix or improve \u2014 led him to build open-packet, an MIT-licensed Python client designed to outlive any single developer. He has spoken at Black Hat Arsenal, DEF CON Demo Labs, Ham Radio Village, and RMISC.", "public_name": "Jeremy Banker - K0JLB", "guid": "c3c85ede-a5a4-5b7a-ba69-a56ebdc9a28e", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/ZYDLVR/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/3BC7DL/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/3BC7DL/", "attachments": []}, {"guid": "f8033a61-6df5-5af8-9ddc-7fc04238095d", "code": "GQRGS3", "id": 34, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-07T15:30:00-07:00", "start": "15:30", "duration": "00:48", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-34-advanced-topics-in-lora-meshes", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/GQRGS3/", "title": "Advanced Topics in LoRa Meshes", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "This talk goes past the Meshtastic getting-started guides and into the advanced builds that push LoRa mesh networks to their limits: bridging MeshCore and Meshtastic so the two ecosystems can talk, rugged repeaters that survive the field, battery technology and enclosures for nodes that run for years, multi-channel concentrators, and high-altitude balloons that turn a handheld into a regional backbone. We'll also cover the human side, bridging separate mesh communities into one bigger network.", "description": "This talk goes past the Meshtastic getting-started guides and into the advanced builds that push LoRa mesh networks to their limits: bridging MeshCore and Meshtastic so the two ecosystems can talk, rugged repeaters that survive the field, battery technology and enclosures for nodes that run for years, multi-channel concentrators, and high-altitude balloons that turn a handheld into a regional backbone. We'll also cover the human side, bridging separate mesh communities into one bigger network. Come for the range records, leave knowing how to build a network that outlives the grid.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "SU38T9", "name": "Eric Escobar", "avatar": null, "biography": "Eric is a seasoned pentester and a Red Tech Lead at Sophos. On a daily basis he attempts to compromise large enterprise networks to test their physical, human, network and wireless security. He has successfully compromised companies from all sectors of business including: Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Entertainment, Amusement Parks, Banking, Finance, Technology, Insurance, Military, Retail, Food Distribution, Government, Education, Transportation, Energy and Industrial Manufacturing.\r\n\r\nHis team consecutively won first place at DEF CON 23, 24, and 25's Wireless CTF, snagging a black badge along the way. Forcibly retired from competing in the Wireless CTF, he now helps create challenges!", "public_name": "Eric Escobar", "guid": "7c6914bd-ebf3-50ba-8b6e-eaedd9c847ed", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/SU38T9/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/GQRGS3/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/GQRGS3/", "attachments": []}]}}, {"index": 3, "date": "2026-08-08", "day_start": "2026-08-08T04:00:00-07:00", "day_end": "2026-08-09T03:59:00-07:00", "rooms": {"Ham Radio Village (W321)": [{"guid": "6783b748-850a-50fd-b67e-9108e47bec31", "code": "MDRYD7", "id": 22, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-08T11:00:00-07:00", "start": "11:00", "duration": "00:30", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-22-digital-modes-101-the-weird-wonderful-world-of-computer-radio", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/MDRYD7/", "title": "Digital Modes 101: The Weird, Wonderful World of Computer Radio", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "Modern amateur radio is no longer just voice communication. Today, radios routinely exchange digital data, text messages, telemetry, and even machine-learning encoded voice signals.\r\n\r\nThis talk introduces the world of amateur radio digital modes and explains how computers and radios work together to communicate using sound. We\u2019ll explore some of the most popular digital modes used by operators today, including FT8, JS8Call, WSPR, APRS, and several emerging digital voice technologies.\r\n\r\nAttendees will learn what digital modes are, how they differ from traditional analog radio, and why they have become so popular. The session will also highlight new developments in the digital radio ecosystem, including open-source digital voice systems and long-range LoRa APRS experimentation.\r\n\r\nIf you've ever wondered what those strange buzzing sounds coming from a radio actually mean\u2014or how to start experimenting with digital radio yourself\u2014this talk will show you how to get started.", "description": "Digital communication has become one of the fastest-growing areas of amateur radio. By combining traditional radio equipment with computers and software, operators can send text messages, telemetry, position data, and even digitally encoded voice across the airwaves.\r\n\r\nThis presentation introduces the fundamentals of amateur radio digital modes and how they work. We\u2019ll begin by explaining the difference between analog and digital signals and how computers convert data into audio that radios can transmit.\r\n\r\nThe talk then explores several widely used digital modes, including FT8 and WSPR for weak-signal communication, JS8Call for keyboard-to-keyboard messaging, and APRS for real-time position tracking and messaging. We\u2019ll also look at newer developments such as LoRa-based APRS experimentation and open-source digital voice technologies like FreeDV and M17.\r\n\r\nFinally, we\u2019ll discuss practical ways to get started with digital radio using affordable hardware, including simple USB radio interfaces, beginner-friendly radios, and lightweight portable setups.\r\n\r\nAttendees will leave with a clear understanding of how digital radio works and several easy paths to begin experimenting with digital modes themselves.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "DRYL7H", "name": "Jon Marler (K4CHN)", "avatar": null, "biography": "Jon Marler is a cybersecurity product director, hacker, and RF experimenter who enjoys building strange things that connect computers, radios, and networks together. By day he leads security products at VikingCloud focused on protecting global payment infrastructure. By night he experiments with mesh radio networks, hardware hacking, and unconventional communication systems. Jon is particularly interested in how radio and decentralized networks can complement modern security and resilience strategies.", "public_name": "Jon Marler (K4CHN)", "guid": "7ff75e0f-b258-5b6b-851d-0ac6cb0fb65a", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/DRYL7H/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/MDRYD7/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/MDRYD7/", "attachments": []}, {"guid": "099a3b03-a2fd-5669-bcdc-57d7c13fa7cb", "code": "SCZHWV", "id": 23, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-08T12:00:00-07:00", "start": "12:00", "duration": "00:30", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-23-so-you-got-your-license-now-what", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/SCZHWV/", "title": "So You Got Your License, Now What?", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "You crammed, you passed, you got a callsign. And now your radio is sitting in a box while you wonder what you're actually supposed to do with it. This talk is a guided tour of the rabbit holes waiting for you on the other side of your license exam, organized by how deep you want to fall. Technician class? You can hit satellites with a handheld, track yourself on a map with APRS, or chase hidden transmitters through the woods with a directional antenna and questionable judgment. Upgrade to General and suddenly you've got the HF bands: a global playground where you can work 200 countries in a weekend via a mode a Nobel laureate invented, argue with the laws of physics via antenna wire, and wage legal warfare against your HOA.", "description": "Getting your ham radio license is the easy part. Figuring out what to do next? That's where most people get stuck. This talk is a practical, opinionated guide to the best rabbit holes in amateur radio: satellites, APRS, HF operating, digital modes, antenna experimentation, POTA, and the beautiful chaos of Field Day. Whether you got your ticket last week or you've been meaning to upgrade for years, this is an opinionated romp through the hobby.\r\n\r\nWe'll cover the stuff no one tells you after the exam: what the bands actually feel like, why FT8 will make you productive and vaguely empty inside, how much you can accomplish with $50 of wire and a willingness to climb things, and why learning to solder is basically a superpower. We'll also talk about getting off the couch comms for events and contests like POTA and ARRL Field Day are the most chaotic fun you can have with a radio legally.\r\n\r\nIt's easy to listen, but things get more interesting when you start transmitting. Ham radio is one of the last hobbies that rewards you for actually understanding how it works. This talk is the map.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "SFWPU9", "name": "Danny Quist", "avatar": null, "biography": "Danny Quist has been a licensed amateur radio operator since he was 17, which is a really long time. Currently he is an extra class operator who gets to operate in his freetime working as CTO at Swarm Inc. He is a volunteer examiner with the ham radio village. His day job includes reverse engineering malware, forward engineering malware detonation systems, and management.", "public_name": "Danny Quist", "guid": "e72866f0-fbc8-50a0-93cf-20f3334ca199", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/SFWPU9/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/SCZHWV/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/SCZHWV/", "attachments": []}, {"guid": "1558559b-dad9-59ec-ab31-d312033f16cf", "code": "9NG7QE", "id": 27, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-08T13:00:00-07:00", "start": "13:00", "duration": "00:30", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-27-why-signals-still-matter-amateur-radio-in-the-age-of-cell-phones", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/9NG7QE/", "title": "Why Signals Still Matter: Amateur Radio in the Age of Cell Phones", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "We all have radios in our pockets. 5g, Bluetooth, and heck star-link up in the sky. Let's talk about why 100 year old tech is still relevant today, and why us hackers should care about ham radio when the internet is basically everywhere now.", "description": "Topics covered:\r\nWhy ham still matters, the philosophy of ham radio, cool stuff we're doing in the hobby with a focus on digital modes, how it's the original hacking hobby. \r\nExtended info on software defined radio, GnuRadio.\r\nTalk about how it's basically old school analog internet, and that everything we do on the modern internet network is possible on ham radio.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "H9SM3Q", "name": "Nate Moore", "avatar": null, "biography": "Nate Moore works in cybersecurity, holds an Extra class amateur radio license, and spends his spare time teaching, examining, and pushing signals around the ether.", "public_name": "Nate Moore", "guid": "f1058988-7414-59e9-922b-e655ce5e7dda", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/H9SM3Q/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/9NG7QE/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/9NG7QE/", "attachments": []}, {"guid": "0318715f-d781-52ac-b6d3-013c84b6b7dc", "code": "JNXS3Q", "id": 29, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-08T14:30:00-07:00", "start": "14:30", "duration": "00:30", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-29-ham-radio-licensed-to-experiment", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/JNXS3Q/", "title": "Ham Radio - Licensed to Experiment", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "N0OPS and W0BDP will walk the audience through the diversity of ham radio operations such as portable activations such as POTA/SOTA, satellite contacts, digital weak-signal modes, direction-finding competitions, emergency communications, and drone telemetry. \r\n\r\nThe takeaway: no matter how long you've held a call sign whether it's 5-minutes or 5 years, there's almost certainly a corner of this hobby you haven't touched yet. This speech is an invitation to go find it.", "description": "The most common question we hear in the village is, \"What can I do now that I'm licensed?\" N0OPS and W0BDP attempt the guide new hams into incorporating ham radio into their current hobbies or pursuing new interests.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "LCSBYF", "name": "Dan W0BDP Norte", "avatar": null, "biography": "Dan \"darkestofdans\" Norte (W0BDP) is a penetration tester, currently with NetSPI.  Dan has been a ham radio operator for 9 years, currently Amateur Extra class.  Dan enjoys popping shells and chasing DX.", "public_name": "Dan W0BDP Norte", "guid": "a5995551-a189-5336-92a8-3e380a4b9207", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/LCSBYF/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/JNXS3Q/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/JNXS3Q/", "attachments": []}, {"guid": "2b409e30-7905-559b-aaca-ff686531940a", "code": "CTMAYM", "id": 26, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-08T15:00:00-07:00", "start": "15:00", "duration": "00:50", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-26-meshtastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/CTMAYM/", "title": "Meshtastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "Meshtastic does exactly what it says: it carries your text off-grid to whoever shares your channel key. The risk is what people assume it does on top of that. **The mesh does not keep your secrets and does not vouch for your neighbors**, and a growing number of people are betting real stakes on both, using it for protest logistics, disaster response, and off-grid safety where \"trusted friends on a channel\" is exactly the wrong threat model. We go looking for the beasts that live in that gap, impersonation, forgery, silent packet-dropping, traffic analysis, and node-database floods, each shown live on a real mesh with a custom firmware fork and a Python toolkit. The uncomfortable part is how little it took: two developers who do not write firmware for a living built the whole offensive stack with AI assistance in **about 16 days of evenings**. _This is not a dunk on Meshtastic._ It is a field guide to its actual threat model, and to operating like you know the difference.", "description": "Meshtastic is an open-source LoRa mesh used off-grid by preppers, hikers, event organizers, and amateur radio operators, and increasingly for protest logistics, disaster response, and other high-stakes comms, usually where people assume their traffic is private and their neighbors are who they claim to be. Those two assumptions are the subject of this talk. A shared channel key buys confidentiality for everyone who holds it and nothing else: not message integrity, not sender identity, not header privacy, not availability. The default key ships with every node, so for much of the mesh the wall is not there at all. **None of this is a flaw.** It is the threat model of a protocol built for simple, low-power text between people who already trust each other, and the talk treats it that way.\r\n\r\nTo make that concrete, we hunt four beasts, each shown live. The **Impersonator** forges messages and node identities the mesh accepts as real, through AES-CTR ciphertext forgery and firmware-level source-ID spoofing. The **Eavesdropper** reads who is talking, when, and the shape of the network from cleartext headers with no key, and their location too on any channel still running the default key. The **Saboteur** breaks delivery for a chosen target by dropping its packets, rewriting hop limits, or decrypting, modifying, and re-encrypting traffic in transit. The **Swarm** exhausts the node database, only about a hundred slots on the boards we run, with ghost nodes and poisons the public map through the MQTT bridge. The active attacks run on a custom firmware fork whose features toggle at runtime and default to safe, with an on-device KILL ALL that resets everything to safe, so the live demos stay penned in our own isolated mesh. For the HAMs there is a sharper cut: licensed mode sets your callsign and transmits in the clear, and a callsign maps through public FCC records to a name and often an address, so a by-the-book node beacons your legal identity and rough location to a village full of people who can direction-find it. **The point is not the regulation, it is the consequence.**\r\n\r\nWe also tell an honest story about how fast this came together: two developers who do not write firmware for a living built the firmware fork, a Python toolkit, and custom device-UI panels in **about 16 working days** (well, _evenings_) with heavy AI assistance. The one part that did not yield was the hardware, a radio regression that took old-fashioned diagnosis and a version pin, not a cleverer prompt. **The attacker's effort floor collapsed; the hardware did not care**, and that asymmetry applies to every volunteer-run protocol. So we close where it matters, with an opsec playbook drawn straight from the beasts: change the default key, verify identity and content out of band, assume broadcast, do not stake life-safety on availability, and **match the tool to the threat** (Meshtastic bought simplicity and adoption, Reticulum offers cryptographic identity and authenticated encryption by default, MeshCore sits between). Credit where due: Meshtastic already ships public-key DMs and signed admin messages, with cryptographic node identity in progress, and our hardening is offered as support for that trajectory, not a homework list for volunteers. Come find the beasts, then learn to live alongside them.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "8EGTDG", "name": "Scott Thompson", "avatar": null, "biography": "Scott Thompson, KF5CPY, is a Cloud Architect for a motorsports team by day and a compulsive tinkerer by night, with a home lab full of Raspberry Pis, SBCs, and a backlog of HackerBox projects that will absolutely get soldered eventually. He earned his Technician license in 2019 for the most practical reason possible: surviving a back-country trip into the New Mexico desert without cell service. He has spent most of his career security-adjacent, doing the kind of remediation work that gives you strong opinions about how things break. This is his first conference talk.", "public_name": "Scott Thompson", "guid": "f60725b3-4845-52fa-a221-fe328e168bea", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/8EGTDG/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/CTMAYM/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/CTMAYM/", "attachments": []}, {"guid": "5a2e5e09-1714-524e-9ea0-3022514abc25", "code": "FEXNSU", "id": 18, "logo": null, "date": "2026-08-08T16:00:00-07:00", "start": "16:00", "duration": "00:45", "room": "Ham Radio Village (W321)", "slug": "dc34-18-keeping-the-angry-pixies-happy-the-care-and-feeding-of-your-batteries", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/FEXNSU/", "title": "Keeping the Angry Pixies Happy: the Care and Feeding of your Batteries", "subtitle": "", "track": null, "type": "Creator Talk", "language": "en", "abstract": "Lead acid, nickel metal, lipo, lithium iron, silicon carbon? With all the different battery types out there now, how can you be sure you're keeping it functioning at its best, and not creating a ticking time bomb?\r\n\r\nThis talk will cover the plethora of energy sources for off-grid radio operations and give tips for what works best and how to get the most out of it.", "description": "The talk will cover various battery types. For each type, we will cover such items as why you might want to use it, what the cost is, and most importantly, how do you charge/discharge it safely?\r\n\r\nWhile most of the batteries will be of the chemical variety, some mention will be made of mechanical batteries.", "recording_license": "", "do_not_record": false, "persons": [{"code": "FNHTXE", "name": "hamster", "avatar": null, "biography": "Passionate about electronics and energy storage", "public_name": "hamster", "guid": "0fdbeca1-68c9-5e4d-b5b9-f7d15d2b4b03", "url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/speaker/FNHTXE/"}], "links": [], "feedback_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/FEXNSU/feedback/", "origin_url": "https://cfp.hamvillage.org/dc34/talk/FEXNSU/", "attachments": []}]}}, {"index": 4, "date": "2026-08-09", "day_start": "2026-08-09T04:00:00-07:00", "day_end": "2026-08-10T03:59:00-07:00", "rooms": {}}]}}}