1
00:00:06,990 --> 00:00:09,610
Okay, it's time for the Q&A.

2
00:00:09,730 --> 00:00:12,870
Let's get some questions up there.

3
00:00:14,030 --> 00:00:22,010
I got Pete here in Discord, so let's give a hand to Pete, get some questions going.

4
00:00:22,810 --> 00:00:27,370
Pete, do you got your webcam on there?

5
00:00:28,610 --> 00:00:33,910
Yeah, I'm getting a repeat of your voice about three, four seconds.

6
00:00:36,210 --> 00:00:39,790
Are you watching the stream live in the background?

7
00:00:40,750 --> 00:00:42,230
Yes, I should not.

8
00:00:43,550 --> 00:00:47,630
Correct, go ahead and mute that.

9
00:00:51,820 --> 00:00:52,900
Okie dokie.

10
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,880
Okay, now that we got that, looks like we got a question.

11
00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:02,430
What measurements or experiments were done to evaluate the RF hash of the boost converter?

12
00:01:04,850 --> 00:01:12,710
It wasn't very sophisticated when I first got it, which is no longer, by the way, no longer obtainable at that amperage.

13
00:01:12,710 --> 00:01:15,350
It's a shame the ham who built that died.

14
00:01:15,350 --> 00:01:34,670
But anyway, I just had it connected to a battery in my basement, and I did a before and after, so I had the radio running with it and without it before I started mounting it.

15
00:01:34,670 --> 00:01:48,670
And it's a great question because it brings up a larger point that most regulators, power supplies, anything that has to do with changing voltage, they're almost all a terrible, terrible problem with RF hash.

16
00:01:48,670 --> 00:01:53,830
So you have to assume that components like that are bad until proven good.

17
00:01:53,830 --> 00:02:01,970
So great question, a great thing to watch out for whenever you're doing anything with power supplies or changing voltages.

18
00:02:03,590 --> 00:02:04,770
Very nice.

19
00:02:04,770 --> 00:02:07,170
We got another question from Twitch here.

20
00:02:07,950 --> 00:02:09,150
Let's see.

21
00:02:09,430 --> 00:02:11,610
ArmorDKrabs says, thanks so much for sharing.

22
00:02:11,610 --> 00:02:16,730
Curious if you worry about security of the van, what was the microwave rack for?

23
00:02:19,450 --> 00:02:21,790
Sounds like two different questions.

24
00:02:21,790 --> 00:02:25,550
So the security of the van, you mean physical security?

25
00:02:25,950 --> 00:02:28,770
I am a little worried about it.

26
00:02:28,770 --> 00:02:32,210
I should have better protection for it.

27
00:02:32,210 --> 00:02:41,050
Now, when it's stored long term, it's in a garage that's with cars that are much, much more expensive than this van is for car collectors.

28
00:02:41,050 --> 00:02:43,650
So I've got good security when it's stored.

29
00:02:43,650 --> 00:02:52,670
But yeah, I am a little worried about it when it's parked, say, at a hotel or even at home.

30
00:02:52,670 --> 00:02:54,230
So I don't have a good answer for that.

31
00:02:54,230 --> 00:02:55,590
And I should have a better answer.

32
00:02:55,590 --> 00:03:06,730
The microwave rack, that was just by chance that a guy in our club was retired from roving himself and sold me his entire collection of microwave vans.

33
00:03:06,730 --> 00:03:09,730
So I wanted to get into microwaves at some point.

34
00:03:09,990 --> 00:03:20,750
And I just took that opportunity, which happens a lot in radio, is you have equipment available now that you think you might use in the future.

35
00:03:20,750 --> 00:03:22,090
It's had a great price.

36
00:03:22,090 --> 00:03:23,390
And hey, get it now.

37
00:03:23,390 --> 00:03:27,490
You might save hundreds, or in this case, thousands of dollars in the future.

38
00:03:27,490 --> 00:03:34,930
I mean, that rack that I showed with the microwave capabilities, if I got new equipment there, you're looking at at least $15,000.

39
00:03:34,970 --> 00:03:37,290
And I didn't pay anything like that.

40
00:03:37,290 --> 00:03:40,250
I didn't pay five figures for that equipment.

41
00:03:40,250 --> 00:03:46,750
So it's not on the air yet, but it's there and ready to go when I get the lower bands ready.

42
00:03:48,170 --> 00:03:48,990
Very good.

43
00:03:48,990 --> 00:03:52,390
We got another question from Dead Pixel in Discord.

44
00:03:52,470 --> 00:03:54,970
How do you deal with your van's total payload weight?

45
00:03:54,970 --> 00:03:56,290
Yeah, it must be heavy.

46
00:03:56,290 --> 00:04:00,050
Are you over with all that equipment?

47
00:04:02,550 --> 00:04:09,530
No, the total payload rate, there's a lot of special things about this van.

48
00:04:09,530 --> 00:04:12,270
It's a package that goes with things like TV vans.

49
00:04:12,410 --> 00:04:14,730
They also have a lot in common with ambulances.

50
00:04:14,750 --> 00:04:19,510
Ambulances have a lot of heavy equipment with AC requirements.

51
00:04:19,510 --> 00:04:23,030
So I don't know what the number is.

52
00:04:23,030 --> 00:04:26,310
I think it's well over 9,000 pounds.

53
00:04:28,070 --> 00:04:36,870
And I assume that even with my heavy batteries, that the whole van weighed a lot less than it did when it was used as a TV van.

54
00:04:37,210 --> 00:04:43,990
Although I have to admit that engineering-wise, I didn't compare the weights or even measure how heavy it was.

55
00:04:43,990 --> 00:04:48,670
I made a guess when I registered the van and I made a guess at 6,000 pounds.

56
00:04:48,670 --> 00:04:50,190
I think it's below that though.

57
00:04:50,190 --> 00:04:54,230
So good question, but I don't have a really good satisfying answer.

58
00:04:54,790 --> 00:04:57,570
Yeah, it's definitely got to be a beefy van, right?

59
00:04:57,570 --> 00:05:00,750
So we got another question in Discord.

60
00:05:00,890 --> 00:05:05,370
Testing2 asks, weather seals and grommets and water intrusion.

61
00:05:06,810 --> 00:05:10,070
On an old van, was the rubber all crumbling?

62
00:05:10,310 --> 00:05:15,430
How much of that did you need to refurbish to make the old ship seaworthy again?

63
00:05:16,190 --> 00:05:20,070
No, I didn't have to replace anything yet.

64
00:05:20,070 --> 00:05:29,610
There was some water infiltration through the connection on the roof to the satellite antenna real early in the presentation.

65
00:05:29,610 --> 00:05:33,350
I showed my buddy lifting that satellite antenna off.

66
00:05:33,350 --> 00:05:43,710
So that had some water infiltration on it and I just put a four or three and a half inch cover on it and it hadn't been a problem since then.

67
00:05:43,710 --> 00:05:58,510
As far as the seals for other cables or even the doors, the only moderate problem was some of the seals for the doors were coming off, but they weren't dried out so I didn't have a real problem there.

68
00:05:58,510 --> 00:06:08,490
Now I haven't done a lot of cables that run to the outside, especially through the roof, so that is a concern when I do start wiring it.

69
00:06:08,490 --> 00:06:12,330
That's one thing I should say that I'm not using a lot of.

70
00:06:12,330 --> 00:06:25,850
I got a screwdriver antenna on the back for HF, but I haven't done a lot of work with getting the VHF antennas out that obviously involve a lot more cables and ones that run through the roof instead of the floor.

71
00:06:25,850 --> 00:06:28,130
So I do have to watch out for that.

72
00:06:29,710 --> 00:06:30,610
Very good.

73
00:06:30,610 --> 00:06:33,090
Another question from Twitch here.

74
00:06:33,790 --> 00:06:37,790
Calvingluck asks, those are such densely packed racks.

75
00:06:37,790 --> 00:06:41,930
Are you able to get access to most of the connections without fully disassembling it?

76
00:06:43,170 --> 00:06:47,930
Yeah, luckily, you know, I'm going to take a step back.

77
00:06:47,930 --> 00:06:56,590
Part of what I wanted to do was make a little video tour of the van, but I ran out of time with the tropical storm that ran up the east coast.

78
00:06:56,590 --> 00:06:57,490
That's my excuse.

79
00:06:57,490 --> 00:06:58,250
It's a good excuse.

80
00:06:58,250 --> 00:06:59,190
It's true.

81
00:06:59,570 --> 00:07:05,630
Anyway, it's really good accessibility to the back of the rack.

82
00:07:05,630 --> 00:07:18,650
So the first three racks that are together, there's a back door where you can get access to the AC panel that is displayed and the box for the generator.

83
00:07:18,650 --> 00:07:20,810
And there's like a storage area back there.

84
00:07:20,810 --> 00:07:23,450
So it's pretty good accessibility.

85
00:07:24,170 --> 00:07:37,210
I think the only problem I has in the upper side of the, I guess it would be the driver's side and rack number three, it's hard to get access to the screws to put the rack equipment in that I mount from the rear.

86
00:07:37,550 --> 00:07:39,810
But other than that, it's pretty accessible.

87
00:07:39,810 --> 00:07:47,950
Now, obviously, if there's interior connections that I have to fix, the racks have to come out, or maybe at least the racks on top have to come out.

88
00:07:48,110 --> 00:07:51,670
Pretty good accessibility on both the front and the back.

89
00:07:52,470 --> 00:07:53,030
That's good.

90
00:07:53,030 --> 00:07:57,630
Nothing like taking a full day to take stuff apart just because you forgot something.

91
00:07:57,850 --> 00:07:58,550
Oh yeah.

92
00:07:58,550 --> 00:08:03,010
Okay, we got another question in Discord from Bunzel.

93
00:08:03,070 --> 00:08:12,910
In addition to the fan, do you have anything else for airflow or cooling to prevent the hardware from overheating?

94
00:08:13,990 --> 00:08:18,870
No, and I do worry about that because it gets pretty darn hot in the van.

95
00:08:19,410 --> 00:08:25,530
It gets less hot than it did in my minivan because there's less glass to let sunlight through.

96
00:08:26,130 --> 00:08:29,490
I do have one other fan that I put in the back.

97
00:08:29,490 --> 00:08:31,670
So I open the back door when it's particularly hot.

98
00:08:31,670 --> 00:08:38,290
I open the back door and I have a fan that's powered with 12 volts to get a little bit of airflow in.

99
00:08:39,030 --> 00:08:45,150
But I'm kind of surprised at how hot it's been that none of the equipment has failed so far just because of heat.

100
00:08:45,330 --> 00:08:47,330
And I don't know what to say.

101
00:08:47,430 --> 00:08:52,150
They work better than I would have expected, than I have any right to expect.

102
00:08:52,270 --> 00:08:58,770
There are opportunities, physical opportunities in the back I would suppose to get even more fans going.

103
00:08:59,690 --> 00:09:10,350
But so far it has been an issue and I've activated on HF at least up to like an air temperature of 95 degrees outside.

104
00:09:10,350 --> 00:09:12,150
So far so good.

105
00:09:12,150 --> 00:09:14,550
That's a great point though, a great question.

106
00:09:15,030 --> 00:09:22,730
And I don't know if you remember at the beginning of the presentation I emphasized that I can't have the van engine on.

107
00:09:22,730 --> 00:09:26,250
I can't have the AC system on because of RF hash.

108
00:09:26,250 --> 00:09:31,210
So while I'm operating I can't have any air conditioning on as much as I would like to.

109
00:09:32,010 --> 00:09:33,810
Oh wow, that's a bummer.

110
00:09:33,810 --> 00:09:37,190
Yeah, especially if you came to DEF CON with that thing.

111
00:09:38,250 --> 00:09:41,090
It would definitely be a sweaty situation.

112
00:09:42,230 --> 00:09:45,210
Someone's asking, are you going to do a video tour of the van?

113
00:09:46,290 --> 00:09:50,170
I want to do this time but ran out of time.

114
00:09:50,170 --> 00:09:50,890
That would be nice.

115
00:09:50,890 --> 00:09:57,990
It would be especially nice I think when I get antennas on it though because it's kind of limited to just the interior.

116
00:09:57,990 --> 00:10:00,230
There's not too much to see.

117
00:10:00,230 --> 00:10:02,230
It'd be nice to see it in operation I suppose.

118
00:10:02,230 --> 00:10:10,490
But I'd like to make a video when it's more exciting when I can show the pneumatic mast in operation and the rotator rotating.

119
00:10:10,530 --> 00:10:12,370
I hope I'll do that someday.

120
00:10:13,010 --> 00:10:14,450
Very good.

121
00:10:14,450 --> 00:10:18,810
Do we have any other questions on Twitch or Discord for Pete here?

122
00:10:18,810 --> 00:10:23,750
K-O-P-A-K on his ultimate van life van conversion.

123
00:10:30,310 --> 00:10:32,510
I'm not seeing anything yet.

124
00:10:32,510 --> 00:10:36,510
We'll give him just a few more seconds to throw a question out.

125
00:10:45,350 --> 00:10:48,470
Okay, looks like that's it for the Q&A.

126
00:10:48,470 --> 00:10:50,850
Well thanks Pete for the presentation.

127
00:10:50,990 --> 00:10:57,770
Maybe we'll see some demos or some other content maybe next year at DEF CON.

128
00:10:58,230 --> 00:11:00,350
Oh boy, that would be great.

129
00:11:00,510 --> 00:11:04,110
I hope we have an opportunity to get together live.

130
00:11:04,110 --> 00:11:13,850
And thanks for being a great host and holding my hand through this 62 year old getting used to Discord and Twitch and all the other stuff at one time was kind of overwhelming.

131
00:11:13,850 --> 00:11:15,790
And you guys did a great job.

132
00:11:15,790 --> 00:11:16,830
Thank you.

133
00:11:17,250 --> 00:11:22,110
Thank you and we'll see everybody for the next presentation.

134
00:11:22,110 --> 00:11:29,710
Next up we have K-8-A-M-H with the National Traffic System and Radiograms.

135
00:11:29,710 --> 00:11:34,290
So that will be coming up in about 20 minutes.

136
00:11:34,290 --> 00:11:38,770
So we'll get going on that and we'll see you guys shortly.

137
00:11:38,910 --> 00:11:39,990
Thanks Pete.

138
00:11:40,330 --> 00:11:41,130
You're welcome.