WEBVTT 00:06.990 --> 00:09.610 Okay, it's time for the Q&A. 00:09.730 --> 00:12.870 Let's get some questions up there. 00:14.030 --> 00:22.010 I got Pete here in Discord, so let's give a hand to Pete, get some questions going. 00:22.810 --> 00:27.370 Pete, do you got your webcam on there? 00:28.610 --> 00:33.910 Yeah, I'm getting a repeat of your voice about three, four seconds. 00:36.210 --> 00:39.790 Are you watching the stream live in the background? 00:40.750 --> 00:42.230 Yes, I should not. 00:43.550 --> 00:47.630 Correct, go ahead and mute that. 00:51.820 --> 00:52.900 Okie dokie. 00:53.360 --> 00:56.880 Okay, now that we got that, looks like we got a question. 00:56.920 --> 01:02.430 What measurements or experiments were done to evaluate the RF hash of the boost converter? 01:04.850 --> 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. 01:12.710 --> 01:15.350 It's a shame the ham who built that died. 01:15.350 --> 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. 01:34.670 --> 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. 01:48.670 --> 01:53.830 So you have to assume that components like that are bad until proven good. 01:53.830 --> 02:01.970 So great question, a great thing to watch out for whenever you're doing anything with power supplies or changing voltages. 02:03.590 --> 02:04.770 Very nice. 02:04.770 --> 02:07.170 We got another question from Twitch here. 02:07.950 --> 02:09.150 Let's see. 02:09.430 --> 02:11.610 ArmorDKrabs says, thanks so much for sharing. 02:11.610 --> 02:16.730 Curious if you worry about security of the van, what was the microwave rack for? 02:19.450 --> 02:21.790 Sounds like two different questions. 02:21.790 --> 02:25.550 So the security of the van, you mean physical security? 02:25.950 --> 02:28.770 I am a little worried about it. 02:28.770 --> 02:32.210 I should have better protection for it. 02:32.210 --> 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. 02:41.050 --> 02:43.650 So I've got good security when it's stored. 02:43.650 --> 02:52.670 But yeah, I am a little worried about it when it's parked, say, at a hotel or even at home. 02:52.670 --> 02:54.230 So I don't have a good answer for that. 02:54.230 --> 02:55.590 And I should have a better answer. 02:55.590 --> 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. 03:06.730 --> 03:09.730 So I wanted to get into microwaves at some point. 03:09.990 --> 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. 03:20.750 --> 03:22.090 It's had a great price. 03:22.090 --> 03:23.390 And hey, get it now. 03:23.390 --> 03:27.490 You might save hundreds, or in this case, thousands of dollars in the future. 03:27.490 --> 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. 03:34.970 --> 03:37.290 And I didn't pay anything like that. 03:37.290 --> 03:40.250 I didn't pay five figures for that equipment. 03:40.250 --> 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. 03:48.170 --> 03:48.990 Very good. 03:48.990 --> 03:52.390 We got another question from Dead Pixel in Discord. 03:52.470 --> 03:54.970 How do you deal with your van's total payload weight? 03:54.970 --> 03:56.290 Yeah, it must be heavy. 03:56.290 --> 04:00.050 Are you over with all that equipment? 04:02.550 --> 04:09.530 No, the total payload rate, there's a lot of special things about this van. 04:09.530 --> 04:12.270 It's a package that goes with things like TV vans. 04:12.410 --> 04:14.730 They also have a lot in common with ambulances. 04:14.750 --> 04:19.510 Ambulances have a lot of heavy equipment with AC requirements. 04:19.510 --> 04:23.030 So I don't know what the number is. 04:23.030 --> 04:26.310 I think it's well over 9,000 pounds. 04:28.070 --> 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. 04:37.210 --> 04:43.990 Although I have to admit that engineering-wise, I didn't compare the weights or even measure how heavy it was. 04:43.990 --> 04:48.670 I made a guess when I registered the van and I made a guess at 6,000 pounds. 04:48.670 --> 04:50.190 I think it's below that though. 04:50.190 --> 04:54.230 So good question, but I don't have a really good satisfying answer. 04:54.790 --> 04:57.570 Yeah, it's definitely got to be a beefy van, right? 04:57.570 --> 05:00.750 So we got another question in Discord. 05:00.890 --> 05:05.370 Testing2 asks, weather seals and grommets and water intrusion. 05:06.810 --> 05:10.070 On an old van, was the rubber all crumbling? 05:10.310 --> 05:15.430 How much of that did you need to refurbish to make the old ship seaworthy again? 05:16.190 --> 05:20.070 No, I didn't have to replace anything yet. 05:20.070 --> 05:29.610 There was some water infiltration through the connection on the roof to the satellite antenna real early in the presentation. 05:29.610 --> 05:33.350 I showed my buddy lifting that satellite antenna off. 05:33.350 --> 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. 05:43.710 --> 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. 05:58.510 --> 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. 06:08.490 --> 06:12.330 That's one thing I should say that I'm not using a lot of. 06:12.330 --> 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. 06:25.850 --> 06:28.130 So I do have to watch out for that. 06:29.710 --> 06:30.610 Very good. 06:30.610 --> 06:33.090 Another question from Twitch here. 06:33.790 --> 06:37.790 Calvingluck asks, those are such densely packed racks. 06:37.790 --> 06:41.930 Are you able to get access to most of the connections without fully disassembling it? 06:43.170 --> 06:47.930 Yeah, luckily, you know, I'm going to take a step back. 06:47.930 --> 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. 06:56.590 --> 06:57.490 That's my excuse. 06:57.490 --> 06:58.250 It's a good excuse. 06:58.250 --> 06:59.190 It's true. 06:59.570 --> 07:05.630 Anyway, it's really good accessibility to the back of the rack. 07:05.630 --> 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. 07:18.650 --> 07:20.810 And there's like a storage area back there. 07:20.810 --> 07:23.450 So it's pretty good accessibility. 07:24.170 --> 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. 07:37.550 --> 07:39.810 But other than that, it's pretty accessible. 07:39.810 --> 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. 07:48.110 --> 07:51.670 Pretty good accessibility on both the front and the back. 07:52.470 --> 07:53.030 That's good. 07:53.030 --> 07:57.630 Nothing like taking a full day to take stuff apart just because you forgot something. 07:57.850 --> 07:58.550 Oh yeah. 07:58.550 --> 08:03.010 Okay, we got another question in Discord from Bunzel. 08:03.070 --> 08:12.910 In addition to the fan, do you have anything else for airflow or cooling to prevent the hardware from overheating? 08:13.990 --> 08:18.870 No, and I do worry about that because it gets pretty darn hot in the van. 08:19.410 --> 08:25.530 It gets less hot than it did in my minivan because there's less glass to let sunlight through. 08:26.130 --> 08:29.490 I do have one other fan that I put in the back. 08:29.490 --> 08:31.670 So I open the back door when it's particularly hot. 08:31.670 --> 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. 08:39.030 --> 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. 08:45.330 --> 08:47.330 And I don't know what to say. 08:47.430 --> 08:52.150 They work better than I would have expected, than I have any right to expect. 08:52.270 --> 08:58.770 There are opportunities, physical opportunities in the back I would suppose to get even more fans going. 08:59.690 --> 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. 09:10.350 --> 09:12.150 So far so good. 09:12.150 --> 09:14.550 That's a great point though, a great question. 09:15.030 --> 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. 09:22.730 --> 09:26.250 I can't have the AC system on because of RF hash. 09:26.250 --> 09:31.210 So while I'm operating I can't have any air conditioning on as much as I would like to. 09:32.010 --> 09:33.810 Oh wow, that's a bummer. 09:33.810 --> 09:37.190 Yeah, especially if you came to DEF CON with that thing. 09:38.250 --> 09:41.090 It would definitely be a sweaty situation. 09:42.230 --> 09:45.210 Someone's asking, are you going to do a video tour of the van? 09:46.290 --> 09:50.170 I want to do this time but ran out of time. 09:50.170 --> 09:50.890 That would be nice. 09:50.890 --> 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. 09:57.990 --> 10:00.230 There's not too much to see. 10:00.230 --> 10:02.230 It'd be nice to see it in operation I suppose. 10:02.230 --> 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. 10:10.530 --> 10:12.370 I hope I'll do that someday. 10:13.010 --> 10:14.450 Very good. 10:14.450 --> 10:18.810 Do we have any other questions on Twitch or Discord for Pete here? 10:18.810 --> 10:23.750 K-O-P-A-K on his ultimate van life van conversion. 10:30.310 --> 10:32.510 I'm not seeing anything yet. 10:32.510 --> 10:36.510 We'll give him just a few more seconds to throw a question out. 10:45.350 --> 10:48.470 Okay, looks like that's it for the Q&A. 10:48.470 --> 10:50.850 Well thanks Pete for the presentation. 10:50.990 --> 10:57.770 Maybe we'll see some demos or some other content maybe next year at DEF CON. 10:58.230 --> 11:00.350 Oh boy, that would be great. 11:00.510 --> 11:04.110 I hope we have an opportunity to get together live. 11:04.110 --> 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. 11:13.850 --> 11:15.790 And you guys did a great job. 11:15.790 --> 11:16.830 Thank you. 11:17.250 --> 11:22.110 Thank you and we'll see everybody for the next presentation. 11:22.110 --> 11:29.710 Next up we have K-8-A-M-H with the National Traffic System and Radiograms. 11:29.710 --> 11:34.290 So that will be coming up in about 20 minutes. 11:34.290 --> 11:38.770 So we'll get going on that and we'll see you guys shortly. 11:38.910 --> 11:39.990 Thanks Pete. 11:40.330 --> 11:41.130 You're welcome.