WEBVTT 02:02.690 --> 02:04.110 Hello everyone! 02:04.110 --> 02:10.430 Thank you for joining me for my presentation about the Ostwerk initiative here at Defcon 28 Safe Mode. 02:10.430 --> 02:15.730 I would like to thank you all for giving me an opportunity to show you the presentation I put together. 02:15.930 --> 02:20.550 And if you have a passing interest in amateur radio, I hope you find it interesting. 02:21.150 --> 02:30.310 A quick heads up, most talks or presentations like this are usually an expert lecturing about a topic they are very familiar with to an interested audience. 02:30.790 --> 02:39.430 This is kind of the opposite, where today I'm an amateur radio enthusiast presenting more of a concept to people who know much more than I do. 02:39.430 --> 02:44.550 A concept that's very fluid and open to change right now depending on community input. 02:44.810 --> 02:46.850 Alright, let's begin! 02:50.540 --> 02:56.580 Please keep in mind that this is my first Defcon, so this is a learning experience especially for me. 02:56.580 --> 03:04.040 If you have any questions during this presentation, feel free to ask them in the appropriate moderated channel in the Defcon Discord server. 03:04.300 --> 03:15.980 And at the end, I hope to have, not necessarily a Q&A, but more of like a moderated roundtable style discussion about your thoughts about this project, its strengths, and what it needs. 03:15.980 --> 03:20.120 And I've never been part of something like that before, so I'm interested to see how this goes. 03:23.930 --> 03:27.710 I'm willing to take a gamble that many of you know what a lightsaber is. 03:27.710 --> 03:32.130 For those that don't, it's basically a laser sword from a popular movie franchise. 03:32.690 --> 03:40.670 In the stories, with rare exceptions, if you wanted a lightsaber of your own, you had to build it to your own exacting specifications. 03:40.950 --> 03:47.430 So where the switches are, the way it fits in your hand, the weight and the balance, it's all perfectly attuned to the builder. 03:47.790 --> 03:50.770 Well, what if Ham Radio could have their own version of the lightsaber? 03:55.580 --> 04:03.820 Right off the bat, what I hope to accomplish with this presentation is a way to simplify and encourage the planning and construction of amateur radio kits. 04:04.060 --> 04:08.520 If that doesn't interest you, then you are free to duck out now. 04:08.640 --> 04:10.220 It won't hurt my feelings. 04:10.220 --> 04:12.360 I understand your time is valuable. 04:12.500 --> 04:17.260 And we'll both be happier if you were spending your time by doing something that interests you. 04:17.260 --> 04:32.180 So, to those of you who already have an enthusiasm for amateur radio, you're probably not going to learn anything brand new, but I want to keep some of the principles here in mind when you're Elmering a new ham that wants a radio of their own. 04:32.680 --> 04:40.040 Alright, enter the Open Source Tactical Wireless Emergency Radio Kit, or TWRK, or TWRKstation. 04:40.040 --> 04:46.680 A TWRK is a custom kit built by a radio enthusiast to operate in times of an off-grid situation. 04:47.020 --> 05:00.340 So you can build one for relaying voice messages into or out of a disaster zone, or you can set up a data network node, or keep track of contacts during a contest, or you can administer a TWRKstation Parliament. 05:00.340 --> 05:08.400 Each kit is custom-built by the owner to be dependable, not just for casual use, but especially for emergency situations as well. 05:08.620 --> 05:15.180 And it's my hope that this presentation motivates you to create a TWRKstation of your own, or assist someone in the creation of their own TWRKstation. 05:20.930 --> 05:24.590 I'd now like to walk you through a sample TWRKstation. 05:24.590 --> 05:29.550 It is a voice TWRKstation that I built that has data capabilities on board. 05:29.550 --> 05:38.810 It can't broadcast or receive data, but you could use the computer on board for contest logging or local networking. 05:41.370 --> 05:49.630 This TWRKstation is sealed up in a durable plastic case, and it's extremely water-resistant and dust-proof with the lids closed. 05:49.630 --> 05:56.410 There's no external access ports, so you have to open the kit if you want to charge it or hook up the antenna. 05:58.690 --> 06:01.050 Here it is open but undeployed. 06:01.230 --> 06:06.050 The keyboard, the microphone, and the mouse kind of float around in there loose. 06:06.110 --> 06:15.630 The switches and thumbscrews in there do a good job of keeping them from sliding around, but I still would like to add some kind of cushioning in there to avoid rattle damage. 06:18.120 --> 06:25.820 So flipping that blank panel that was in the lower part over, you'll see that there is a remote faceplate for an ID4100. 06:26.440 --> 06:31.120 Also under that panel is the fuse box and the cables that feed into the Raspberry Pi. 06:31.140 --> 06:39.340 And the lower left is the power controller, which switches automatically between external power and the lead-acid batteries that are on board. 06:39.820 --> 06:45.560 And then on the right are the pass-throughs that pass through the microphone. 06:45.560 --> 06:50.280 There's pass-throughs that go for the USB and the audio cable into the Raspberry Pi. 06:50.500 --> 06:55.560 And there is USB ports that are not pass-throughs, they're just charging ports. 06:59.720 --> 07:04.740 The top left of the panel has the power controls and the power display. 07:04.740 --> 07:13.100 The switches engage the battery, the red one does, and then the black switch below selects between the main battery and the on-board backup. 07:13.680 --> 07:20.720 There's a power display that shows the voltage and amperage used by the kit, so it's easy to estimate the remaining power at current use. 07:25.520 --> 07:27.980 And here's the fully deployed torque station. 07:28.080 --> 07:38.240 Just to let you guys know, the monitor on the right is being powered off of AC power that goes to a USB-C cable, so it's not being powered off the kit right now. 07:39.000 --> 07:50.460 That would be pretty trivial to do, I just need to find a reliable USB hub that is powered enough to keep all the hardware on-board powered up. 07:52.460 --> 07:58.500 So my prototype kit is done, for the most part, but it's actually not. 07:58.500 --> 08:00.060 The kit has a few issues. 08:00.060 --> 08:02.320 For one thing, it's really heavy. 08:02.320 --> 08:09.160 I want a long battery life, and sealed lead-acid batteries are cheap, but the kit can't be carried for more than a minute or two. 08:09.560 --> 08:13.580 The radio I have is a decent radio, but I want to switch over to HF bands. 08:14.200 --> 08:18.540 The kit has a big clunky antenna switch that I'm not going to use very often. 08:19.080 --> 08:22.900 And I discovered some new power pole mounts I want to incorporate into the design. 08:22.900 --> 08:25.520 So now I know what to improve. 08:25.720 --> 08:36.400 I can budget to get new batteries and a compatible charger, ditch the auxiliary battery in favor of bringing a solar panel, and upgrade the radio to an HF radio. 08:36.560 --> 08:41.660 I'll also need to design up a new mounting panel for all of these new parts. 08:43.480 --> 08:48.720 So that was version one of the kit, and some of the challenges that I'll need to overcome. 08:48.720 --> 09:00.080 Now, after I go over the three pillars of the AUSTORC initiative, I'll demonstrate the operation of the upgraded TORC station at the end of the video, which may give some of you ideas for the kit you may want to build. 09:04.320 --> 09:08.060 The AUSTORC initiative has three pillars that I think would make it successful. 09:08.060 --> 09:11.140 One is enthusiasm for the construction of TORC stations. 09:11.300 --> 09:19.760 A second pillar is the online platform torcbench.org, where TORC station constructors, or TORCsmiths, can compare notes. 09:19.760 --> 09:23.000 And the third pillar is the TORCsmith Code of Conduct. 09:23.080 --> 09:25.360 And let's get into these in detail. 09:30.880 --> 09:33.800 First off is the kit open source. 09:33.800 --> 09:41.660 Are there schematics or diagrams or a bill of materials available online somewhere so that I can build my own copy of the kit and put my own spin on it? 09:42.400 --> 09:44.720 Second, the kit should be tactical. 09:44.820 --> 09:48.960 It should be constructed to work with other TORC stations in the event of an emergency. 09:49.280 --> 09:52.120 The kit should also have some degree of durability. 09:52.120 --> 09:57.840 Just think about how many tears you're going to roll down your cheeks if the kit fell off a table or a tailgate. 09:58.620 --> 10:00.620 The kit should be wireless. 10:01.020 --> 10:10.860 Six hours of operation is a good ballpark, and more is always better, but more means either more weight or more cost, so balance your options carefully. 10:14.660 --> 10:17.960 The kit can be used for emergencies or everyday use. 10:17.960 --> 10:22.920 If you plan on using your kit every day, be aware of heat buildup and have proper ventilation. 10:23.160 --> 10:26.260 Or better yet, just invest in a dedicated base station maybe. 10:26.940 --> 10:31.820 The guideline is actually a pretty loose one, and it was added mostly because the acronym needed a vowel. 10:33.200 --> 10:35.760 Next, the kit should have a radio in it. 10:36.680 --> 10:49.020 Usually a mobile rig, a 12-volt kind of mobile rig, but it's encouraged to throw a cheap HT or other kind of walkie-talkie style radio into a power or utility kit just to have one on hand just in case. 10:50.780 --> 10:55.880 The final guideline is that everything is conveniently located into one single package. 10:56.160 --> 11:03.940 The kit has everything it needs built in by the owner, and delicate components should fold into the kit for protection during transport. 11:08.000 --> 11:12.860 Alright, now let's get into the major types of Torque Stations you might see. 11:12.960 --> 11:18.720 These are by no means all-encompassing, but should act as a starting point when designing a Torque Station. 11:19.380 --> 11:23.860 First off is the Voice Torque, a very common, easy-to-make kit. 11:23.860 --> 11:30.100 It can be made from a used radio and a sealed lead-acid battery in some kind of durable case. 11:30.400 --> 11:33.540 It's accessible for get-on-the-air and tech licenses. 11:34.700 --> 11:43.100 Second up is the Data Kit, and those are similar to the Voice Kits, but they have some kind of computer on board to take advantage of digital radio modes. 11:43.340 --> 11:48.000 The computer can be a Raspberry Pi, or a laptop, or a Surface tablet, whatever. 11:48.040 --> 11:52.780 Just some way to decode digital information and to get it out onto the air. 11:54.420 --> 12:00.340 SATCOM kits are designed for satellite interfacing, and they're usually paired with a special antenna. 12:01.420 --> 12:10.420 And there's CW, HF, or Weak Signal Kits, and you want to be considerate of the Weak Signal Kits because they're pretty sensitive to the EMF noise. 12:15.080 --> 12:19.560 Those are some of the main types of kits that you're probably going to interact with or build. 12:19.560 --> 12:24.420 And let's take a look at some of the Support Kit ideas, some of the Advanced Level Kits. 12:24.960 --> 12:29.500 The Auxiliary Power Kits supply power to your Torque Stations. 12:29.500 --> 12:33.860 You also need to think of a way to replenish power if there's no grid. 12:33.920 --> 12:36.020 Solar is a pretty popular option. 12:36.820 --> 12:43.560 Next up, Antenna Kits provide masts, feed line, and the antennas necessary for broadcast and reception. 12:44.120 --> 12:49.540 Some kits are as simple as a spool of wire, and others have complex folding mechanisms. 12:51.600 --> 12:59.140 Troubleshooter Kits are stocked with all the tools, adapters, duct tape, zip ties, everything you need to keep everyone on the air and happy. 12:59.500 --> 13:02.220 And remember to always thank your troubleshooter. 13:03.740 --> 13:11.080 And if a Torque Station Parliament gets too cumbersome, someone can step up as Net Ops to take care of the administrative side of things during a crisis. 13:11.700 --> 13:21.080 They can act as one point of contact and direct the appointment of a Power Comp Troller to oversee the power consumption in a multi-day grid down situation. 13:21.620 --> 13:24.800 So lots of coordination options available if you'd like. 13:28.430 --> 13:31.150 Finally, we have a few rare Torque Stations. 13:31.610 --> 13:35.170 These are a couple Torque Stations that you won't see in the wild that often. 13:35.530 --> 13:37.010 First off is the Llama. 13:37.010 --> 13:41.090 Big and heavy, the Llama is for the person that overpacks for every trip. 13:41.170 --> 13:44.330 It tries to do too much and doesn't tend to do anything very well. 13:44.730 --> 13:46.710 The rarest type of kit is the Mi... 13:47.970 --> 13:50.350 Alright, so those were the Torque Stations. 13:50.350 --> 13:54.330 Let's move on to Pillar 2, or the online platform. 13:54.330 --> 13:57.050 This is kind of the weakest Pillar for me. 13:57.050 --> 14:00.750 I am not a web expert at all. 14:00.750 --> 14:06.290 I have a lot of ideas based on stuff that I've seen online, but I don't really have a way to implement them. 14:06.290 --> 14:09.230 So this is where I'm going to need the most help. 14:09.230 --> 14:12.070 But here are some of the ideas that I've got. 14:15.980 --> 14:19.680 The website should have a link to their own forums, hopefully. 14:19.680 --> 14:23.720 A place people can submit photos and designs to be featured in the gallery. 14:23.720 --> 14:27.950 A place where people new to the hobby can stop in and have any questions answered. 14:30.040 --> 14:34.460 The website will also have a feature similar to PC Part Picker. 14:34.460 --> 14:38.010 Where you can pick out and design your own Torque Station. 14:38.360 --> 14:41.960 And have it tell you approximately how much power you'll need. 14:42.580 --> 14:47.080 The website will also hopefully feature a regional map. 14:47.080 --> 14:50.880 That assists Torquesmiths to find each other. 14:50.880 --> 14:55.560 And maybe display power levels and capabilities of a particular registered region. 14:55.560 --> 14:58.580 So if you want to compete against nearby towns. 14:58.580 --> 15:03.620 As to who's got the most power standing by in the event of an emergency, that would be kind of fun. 15:05.180 --> 15:16.700 One additional item would be a portal where student radio groups could design an ideal Torque Station and find a place to get help with fundraiser or grant writing or sponsorships. 15:18.540 --> 15:20.880 A few more website ideas. 15:20.880 --> 15:25.740 Again, I have no idea how to implement these, so this is all wishful thinking right now. 15:25.940 --> 15:28.940 The website might have a Torcathlon information. 15:28.940 --> 15:30.920 And I'll discuss what that is later. 15:31.920 --> 15:37.100 The site would have not just a kit builder, but a kit panel builder. 15:37.100 --> 15:40.020 Where people could design custom panel for their kits. 15:40.580 --> 15:44.620 Drag and drop pre-sized holes or pre-sized cutouts. 15:44.620 --> 15:47.060 For parts that they know they want in their kit. 15:47.540 --> 15:57.400 In the same vein, the site could have a makerspace locator where torquesmiths could find a local makerspace to help with tools or 3D printing or laser cutting. 15:57.400 --> 15:59.840 Anything for constructing Torque Stations. 16:00.480 --> 16:06.200 Maybe we could make some arrangements for partnerships or sponsorships or discounts or something. 16:08.080 --> 16:16.800 Finally, the site could have an online marketplace where you could buy patches, stickers, small custom trinkets that could make your kit stand out. 16:16.800 --> 16:21.900 You won't be able to buy Torque Stations because that defeats the purpose of the whole initiative. 16:22.060 --> 16:24.880 If you want a Torque Station, you have to build one yourself. 16:28.270 --> 16:32.590 The third and final pillar is one that I'm sure people will gloss over. 16:32.590 --> 16:34.890 The Torquesmith Code of Conduct. 16:34.890 --> 16:40.470 Just a handful of principles that I hope people will live by if they want to build their own Torque Station. 16:43.450 --> 16:45.470 A good Torquesmith is courteous. 16:45.470 --> 16:51.470 If you build your Torque Station properly, it should attract a little attention from people who may have a passing interest in our hobby. 16:51.830 --> 16:56.750 So be ready to be peppered with a few questions every once in a while when you're using your Torque Station. 16:58.250 --> 17:00.390 A good Torquesmith is competent. 17:00.550 --> 17:06.990 A Torque Station is built to the exacting specifications of its creator, and any shortcomings of the kit lie with the builder. 17:07.250 --> 17:12.790 So know how to operate your kit, and know about how much power you have left at all times in an off-grid situation. 17:12.790 --> 17:16.410 Also know how to budget your remaining power responsibly. 17:17.670 --> 17:21.390 A good Torquesmith values their community, both online and offline. 17:21.550 --> 17:29.850 Ideally, you would know a couple nearby Torque Station owners, and agree on a schedule to make contact should the worst happen in a grid-down situation. 17:30.210 --> 17:35.010 Also see what you can do in a disaster to supply comfort and relief to those negatively affected. 17:38.880 --> 17:41.760 A Torquesmith values their own personal honor. 17:41.760 --> 17:46.640 They would never cheat a contest, and would never reveal the contents of the mystery box. 17:47.900 --> 17:49.740 A Torquesmith shows their work. 17:49.860 --> 17:52.640 There are people out there who are interested in seeing what you've made. 17:52.640 --> 17:53.760 I know I am. 17:53.920 --> 17:55.420 What makes your kit special? 17:55.420 --> 17:56.980 How does it fit into your lifestyle? 17:58.260 --> 18:06.400 Finally, a Torquesmith knows that there's always room for improvement, whether it's cheaper components, or farther range, a better battery life, whatever. 18:06.440 --> 18:11.600 A Torquesmith knows that their kit is never finished, and it's just a jumping-off point for better things. 18:18.940 --> 18:27.460 So those were the three main pillars of the Ost-Torque initiative, and here are some bonus slides at the end. 18:27.460 --> 18:35.900 I'm going to go over something I came up with called the Torqueathlon, and then we'll take a tour of a Torque Station that I built, a Llama Class. 18:38.890 --> 18:42.990 So what if there was a competition where teams could show off their ingenuity and hustle? 18:42.990 --> 18:57.230 Basically a small course is set up with obstacles to climb over or struggle through that would resemble maybe a post-disaster situation and teams of Torque Station owners would try to race against the clock to carry their stations any way they want through the course, 18:57.230 --> 19:03.950 and then when they get to the finish line they use them to relay some traffic through a remote judging station at the end. 19:04.850 --> 19:12.210 Costumes and theme teams are encouraged, and a reminder should go out beforehand saying that public intoxication of all types is frowned upon. 19:18.060 --> 19:22.680 Alright, so here is my latest kit. 19:22.680 --> 19:27.660 There's a little red patch on the top where I adhere a suction cup antenna. 19:28.460 --> 19:37.240 There's about four latches on the kit that keeps the kit airtight, watertight, dustproof. 19:38.640 --> 19:43.540 I still don't have a decent solution to keep everything from sliding around. 19:43.740 --> 19:54.400 I've got the keyboard here, and I've got the microphone to uncoil. 20:00.280 --> 20:03.140 Check for product shifting during transport. 20:03.420 --> 20:04.940 Everything looks good. 20:10.470 --> 20:14.530 I'll get ready to mount the software radio antenna. 20:15.110 --> 20:23.310 Just onto the lid, onto that red square of vinyl that I put on there, because the suction cup doesn't adhere to the coarse plastic of the kit. 20:23.750 --> 20:27.450 So I need something smooth to stick the suction cup onto. 20:28.610 --> 20:36.830 A little GPS antenna, a little USB GPS antenna that sticks to a metal clip for locking the kit shut. 20:37.650 --> 20:40.630 Antenna connector, I'll get that screwed on. 20:51.080 --> 20:54.220 Alright, let's get ready to hook up the external power. 20:54.480 --> 20:59.320 I've got my Shanktronics power brigand supplying all the power I need for the kit. 21:00.400 --> 21:04.060 Turn it on, and I can see the display on the kit turns on. 21:08.540 --> 21:11.600 Alright, let's get the Raspberry Pi fired up. 21:11.600 --> 21:17.680 I've got the power switch there next to the passthrough for the USB and the audio for the Raspberry Pi. 21:18.680 --> 21:28.380 I've got the dual monitors hooked up, and oh well, I've got this USB switch was powered on, or the USB hub there was powered on. 21:30.260 --> 21:34.680 So now that the computer's booted up, I'm just going to control it with the Logitech keyboard here. 21:40.220 --> 21:43.060 I'll fire up my FL rig. 21:49.700 --> 21:56.300 And I'm going to boot up my radio data software package, WSJTX. 22:03.790 --> 22:09.730 And unfortunately, the kit is not cooperating with me. 22:10.850 --> 22:16.270 The radio's receiving, but it's not putting audio from the radio into the Raspberry Pi. 22:16.270 --> 22:19.390 And that's a problem I really need to troubleshoot here. 22:24.790 --> 22:36.530 Moving along, I can fire up GQRX which I have pre-programmed to decode the local classical radio station. 22:38.650 --> 22:50.730 But the cool thing about the SDR is that I can program any channel I want to into here, any channel that the SDR is able to decode. 22:53.120 --> 23:01.340 Alright, now for the moment you've all been waiting for, a closer look into the Snaccess panel. 23:01.700 --> 23:08.340 So we remove the panel and inside we have an array of snacks. 23:08.340 --> 23:23.640 We have a post-snack treat, we have some crunchy snacks, we have some sweet snacks, and we also have some more salty snacks. 23:23.640 --> 23:28.840 And then all the snacks get tucked right back away into the Snaccess compartment. 23:30.860 --> 23:33.360 And we replace the Snaccess panel. 23:33.360 --> 23:41.640 I hope to incorporate some kind of magnets or maybe 3D print a latching solution for it sometime in the near future. 23:42.400 --> 23:44.800 Alright, let's power down the kit. 23:44.800 --> 23:51.740 I'll log off the Raspberry Pi and then flip off the power switch here. 23:54.680 --> 23:57.960 That terminates power to the monitors and the Pi. 24:01.690 --> 24:03.510 Turn off the radio. 24:05.750 --> 24:08.350 And then disconnect the battery. 24:08.350 --> 24:11.030 We've been running off battery power this whole time. 24:11.850 --> 24:18.010 Battery power disconnected and as a safety measure I'm going to turn it from battery power to external power. 24:18.770 --> 24:24.210 So in case the switch gets bumped for some reason it doesn't drain the battery. 24:24.210 --> 24:33.130 And for those of you who are interested, here is a kind of a blocky wiring diagram for how the kit works. 24:33.130 --> 24:40.890 I've got the two ports, a solar port for power input and a 12 volt port for external power input. 24:41.150 --> 24:47.050 And then the 12 solar goes into the PowerWorks solar charge controller and then that charges the battery. 24:47.250 --> 24:54.890 And then I have the big red battery cutoff switch and then that goes down to a selector switch that selects between the battery and the external power. 24:55.150 --> 24:57.250 And then that feeds into the fuse block. 24:57.450 --> 25:04.290 And then the fuse block shoots out the 12 volt leads to all of the hardware in there that runs off of 12 volts. 25:05.230 --> 25:08.450 Alright, you've made it to the end of the pre-recorded portion. 25:08.470 --> 25:13.950 If you're still interested, you're welcome to visit the website twerkbench.org to see what we have so far. 25:13.950 --> 25:21.630 And if you want to voice in the direction this project goes, you can join the Discord community by visiting our Discord server online. 25:21.790 --> 25:32.730 The link there is on our website at twerkbench.org And I'm going to do a live Q&A now and hopefully a demo if my equipment cooperates to round up my presentation time. 25:32.890 --> 25:41.210 So please stick around and we can hopefully have a moderated discussion where we can share ideas and where this initiative should go moving forward. 25:50.950 --> 25:57.290 Cool, so we have Swiss Ninja here and I'm live on video feed and I think he's ready to give us a nice demo. 25:57.290 --> 25:59.990 Before you start though, I do have a starting question. 26:00.990 --> 26:09.110 Is there any sort of mod or thing you've made that you've tried to make and just messed up so bad that you just said, nope, this is going in the trash, I have to start over? 26:10.690 --> 26:23.590 No, but leading right up to this presentation, the audio input that goes from my HF transceiver to the Raspberry Pi won't detect the audio signal. 26:23.590 --> 26:26.770 Like, I know that the audio signal exists but it's not going into the Pi. 26:26.770 --> 26:35.850 I wanted to show off a couple data modes that would be able to be received on the Raspberry Pi but that won't be in today's presentation. 26:37.870 --> 26:51.650 I was curious if anyone had any quick questions or anything that maybe I didn't cover in the video or any suggestions, because it looks like the chat topics are a little empty right now. 26:51.650 --> 26:53.650 Did anyone have anything to ask or add? 26:57.290 --> 27:06.310 So, I'm curious if anyone does anyone have any experience with working with a volunteer software team or web development team? 27:06.310 --> 27:22.490 Because a big part of the initiative here is the website and the website we have right now is very basic and I'm learning web stuff as I go along, but I wouldn't mind supercharging it with a couple team members. 27:22.490 --> 27:27.110 Has anyone worked with a volunteer team in the past to get something like this done? 27:33.990 --> 27:36.130 I'm not aware of any personally. 27:36.590 --> 27:42.110 I mean, I'm curious are you also releasing all these plans and open source stuff on something like GitHub as well? 27:42.550 --> 27:43.770 Oh, absolutely, yes. 27:43.770 --> 27:51.350 So, I hope that other people can join in and, like I said, copy plans, like they can take a look at the Twerkstation I built. 27:51.530 --> 28:09.530 That's kind of what this stemmed from, was I saw kits online and I would say that, oh, those are so awesome but I could never have one of those and then one day I decided to put a kit together for my father at the behest of my mom. 28:09.530 --> 28:30.630 She was curious how we could all get together in the event of an emergency and I said, oh, well, ham radio, and I wanted to get an all-in-one solution that they could use after getting their ham radio licenses to get on the air with me in the event of a grid down situation and so I would see the kits online and I would say, 28:30.630 --> 28:51.530 oh, those are awesome and then I decided to just build one myself and it was surprisingly easy and I just want to let people know that I want to remove the barrier to entry to making kits for themselves, like a big one is the panel of the kit, like, I can actually start moving stuff around here, 28:51.530 --> 29:12.390 like being able to laser cut, I have a laser cutter in my garage and being able to laser cut a panel whenever I need a new one is a huge blessing, but I want other people to be able to have that access too, like to nearby maker spaces, places where they would be able to download plans for a panel and then be able to have them cut out, 29:12.390 --> 29:25.770 so that would probably be a portion of the website would be being able to coordinate people to be able to make their own things, or this panel that the radio is inset in is 3D printed. 29:25.890 --> 29:27.470 I've got my own 3D printer. 29:27.670 --> 29:31.030 I know a lot of people, that's a barrier to entry, they don't have their own. 29:32.070 --> 29:40.050 I'd like to be able to connect people that want to have their own inset panel mount things like I've made or that they've designed their own. 29:40.050 --> 29:44.790 I want to connect them with online resources to be able to get them printed out. 29:47.050 --> 29:49.770 Cool, we do have a couple of questions here from the audience. 29:50.250 --> 29:53.010 One is, what if you need more room for snacks? 29:53.010 --> 29:57.450 I'm assuming there's going to be some sort of snack expander box or something like that. 29:57.910 --> 30:02.510 Yeah, there's always... you can get extra kits to put extra snacks in. 30:02.510 --> 30:06.550 You can always sacrifice extra battery power, get a smaller radio. 30:07.010 --> 30:15.610 Right now, this design of the 3D inset panel for my radio face is just kind of basically a prototype. 30:15.710 --> 30:19.930 There's a lot of wasted space around the edges you can see, so it still needs refinement. 30:20.570 --> 30:26.690 I hope to post the plan files online so that people can download and print them. 30:26.690 --> 30:29.290 Actually, this panel itself is on Thingiverse. 30:29.450 --> 30:39.230 If you Google or if you use the search for JiguG90 it should pop up as one of the 3D printable items. 30:40.670 --> 30:43.570 And then I also hope to have sticker templates. 30:43.570 --> 30:46.890 I like the industrial style of stickers so that's my kit. 30:46.890 --> 30:53.370 Some people might have something less colorful or more colorful, more informative, maybe more minimalist. 30:53.490 --> 30:59.470 So I hope to have vector files online available for stickers if you want to download them yourself. 31:01.090 --> 31:03.030 Great, that's great to hear. 31:03.090 --> 31:04.910 Some more questions coming in here. 31:04.910 --> 31:09.590 What type or brand of case do you use in this kit? 31:10.270 --> 31:14.170 This is a Harbor Freight Apache case. 31:14.290 --> 31:16.370 I hope to put a... 31:17.490 --> 31:28.970 I've done some upgrades to the kit and I hope to have a completed bill of materials done once my presentation... I've been prepping for the presentation here for a while and I hope to have a completed bill of materials done. 31:28.970 --> 31:33.370 But the case itself is an Apache Harbor Freight case. 31:33.370 --> 31:35.010 They're very affordable. 31:35.210 --> 31:38.790 They're very similar to Pelican cases. 31:38.830 --> 31:47.010 They come with a foam block that you can pick apart inside for cushioning parts. 31:47.010 --> 31:50.730 I took the foam out so that I had greater airflow through the kit. 31:52.570 --> 32:00.830 And I guess here as a Defcon exclusive, I usually don't show off the inside of my kits, especially when they're under construction. 32:00.830 --> 32:04.450 But if there's interest, I'd like to show off kind of what's inside the kit. 32:04.970 --> 32:12.470 Normally I would have thumbscrews on the side that I would undo, but I haven't gotten around to those yet. 32:12.530 --> 32:14.790 I'll remove the SNAXS panel. 32:16.390 --> 32:18.710 And the wires are still kind of a mess. 32:19.130 --> 32:25.310 I've got a battery , a lithium iron phosphate battery that I just put in the kit last week. 32:25.370 --> 32:29.610 I have a USB hub that comes out of a Raspberry Pi underneath . 32:29.610 --> 32:35.590 And I need a better solution, maybe some kind of little shelf to build in here to separate everything out so there's better airflow. 32:35.590 --> 32:37.730 And then the radio here is in the back. 32:37.850 --> 32:44.030 I have an RTL-SDR software radio that goes into the Raspberry Pi. 32:44.370 --> 32:51.450 And of course I have the SNAXS off to the side and a fuse block that the 12 volts come off of. 32:55.210 --> 33:04.370 Cool, we've got a question about maybe using magnets to hold down the panel on the keyboard, like the Rayworth magnets. 33:04.370 --> 33:05.770 Is that something you've looked at? 33:06.550 --> 33:10.150 Yeah, that would not be a bad idea at all. 33:10.750 --> 33:18.390 The keyboard has a weird kind of curve to the back, so I would have put like a Velcro or something maybe on there that would snap down. 33:19.450 --> 33:21.050 But magnets would be a good idea too. 33:21.050 --> 33:29.130 I just need a way to either epoxy or anchor the magnet to the keyboard or maybe to the box and then maybe put a plate on the back of the keyboard. 33:29.130 --> 33:37.670 See, these are all great ideas that you could post to the Twerkstation Discord or the forums if we ever get them up and running. 33:39.170 --> 33:40.550 Absolutely, absolutely. 33:40.550 --> 33:44.650 A question here in the chat about have you considered using solar for power? 33:44.650 --> 33:47.110 And maybe there might be some interference with that. 33:47.610 --> 34:02.810 Oh, so that was another thing that was brought up in our Discord chat a few days ago was someone had a question about solar controllers and noises and if anyone had experience with expensive versus cheap ones. 34:02.810 --> 34:05.670 I actually have a solar panel on the way. 34:05.670 --> 34:07.790 It's going to be here tomorrow. 34:09.530 --> 34:15.590 Someone posted a bargain online for one of them and I snatched up a nice folding one. 34:17.110 --> 34:23.690 But yeah, so I had a couple batteries in my version 1 of the kit so that I'd have a lot of power. 34:23.690 --> 34:46.150 And in this version 2, you saw the one lithium-ion phosphate battery in the back that was about 1,500 mAh and I labeled the switch with 1,400 mAh and then I have the switch labeled 1,400 mAh so that I have a little cushion left over. 34:48.420 --> 34:51.660 I'd love a 1,500 mAh battery. 34:52.560 --> 34:54.660 Yeah, that would be great. 34:54.800 --> 35:02.500 A question here about you mentioned no selling jerk benches, but what about individual parts? 35:04.200 --> 35:10.100 I would like to have in the Bill of Materials links to parts that people use. 35:10.360 --> 35:27.140 Or when I built my computer a few years ago, the PC part picker website would continually scan other websites would scour for prices and tell you who had the lower price and if there were any sales going on. 35:27.140 --> 35:38.300 Ideally there would be some kind of functionality that's like very, very, very far down the road, but for parts, ideally I would just put my Amazon links for where I got all the parts. 35:38.300 --> 35:39.980 Basically all the parts of the kit. 35:39.980 --> 35:45.280 What kind of kicked off the kit plan design was this red kill switch that I installed. 35:45.540 --> 35:54.020 I've always loved these growing up and being able to buy them by a 5-pack was incredible. 35:54.080 --> 35:57.680 I love being able to buy stuff like that online. 35:58.080 --> 36:01.660 These power connectors are 3D printed. 36:01.660 --> 36:04.740 Those were made by... I found them on Thingiverse. 36:06.600 --> 36:13.680 Most of the stuff I was able to source online, which I wouldn't have been able to do about 10 years ago. 36:13.740 --> 36:18.880 So being able to source stuff online is a great benefit to the ham radio hobby. 36:21.120 --> 36:21.840 Great. 36:21.840 --> 36:23.640 A question from Twitch. 36:23.640 --> 36:28.020 What are the temps inside the case when everything is powered on and running? 36:29.480 --> 36:30.800 It depends. 36:30.800 --> 36:34.180 I haven't used a heavy duty cycle. 36:34.180 --> 36:38.520 I can't imagine it's very warm with just the Raspberry Pi running. 36:40.420 --> 36:44.920 If I was broadcasting a lot with the radio, the temps might get pretty warm. 36:44.920 --> 36:46.920 I thought about putting active cooling in. 36:46.920 --> 36:50.600 I've got empty space up here above the display panel. 36:50.600 --> 36:56.200 If I wanted to put a couple case fans up here just to move air through, I could move some of the air slots around. 36:56.340 --> 36:59.820 So this is basically the prototype version of this panel. 36:59.960 --> 37:02.940 It's made out of MDF wood that I spray painted black. 37:02.940 --> 37:08.160 I hope to source a plastic panel from the local plastic store. 37:08.460 --> 37:14.600 They make a nice textured plastic, a black textured plastic that I think will look really sharp. 37:14.600 --> 37:17.740 But it's going to be more expensive than the MDF. 37:17.740 --> 37:22.540 I want to make sure that the layout is done before I get the final panel cut. 37:24.920 --> 37:25.720 Yeah, great. 37:25.720 --> 37:27.760 That sounds pretty awesome. 37:28.040 --> 37:39.940 We've got a question here about when it comes to selecting components, what part do you suggest that people don't skimp out on when it comes to parts and what parts do you think people can maybe buy the cheaper version of? 37:41.580 --> 37:43.420 That is a very good question. 37:43.420 --> 37:52.640 And that's actually part of the reason I kicked off the Ostwerk initiative was to help answer that question for me so that I'd be able to select parts for my kits. 37:53.140 --> 37:58.700 I know a lot of people out there have bought parts and they know what works and what doesn't. 37:58.700 --> 38:02.180 This is a learning experience for me, but it's kind of an expensive one. 38:02.400 --> 38:18.280 So before I pull the trigger on an expensive solar charge controller, which I imagine if you want low noise like on the HF bands, you'd probably want you probably don't want to skimp on your charging controller. 38:19.820 --> 38:22.420 I've noticed a little bit of noise running the Pi. 38:22.420 --> 38:33.540 I don't know if I'm going to be able to shield that, if I'd be able to build a little shielded shelf maybe around the Pi where airflow could go but RF noise can't. 38:33.780 --> 38:40.760 So there's lots of ideas for improving the kit and they can always be improved, but I don't have any suggestions right off the bat. 38:41.240 --> 38:54.140 But I would imagine probably your charging controller, especially if you use expensive batteries or... and that's another thing you want to consider when picking parts is make sure your charging chemistries are compatible. 38:54.160 --> 39:02.100 When I made the first version of this kit, I used lead acid batteries and then they were super heavy, but I had to upgrade to... 39:02.100 --> 39:10.820 well, I didn't have to upgrade, but I wanted to upgrade to lithium iron phosphate batteries, which are lighter, a lot more expensive, but they also use a different charging chemistry. 39:10.820 --> 39:22.860 I can't use the lead acid charging system that I had in the old kit in this new kit, so I had to budget for a new charging system for the kit that was compatible with the lithium iron phosphate batteries. 39:27.230 --> 39:29.510 Great, yeah, there's a couple comments here on Twitch. 39:29.510 --> 39:43.850 One person talks about, you know, if you don't want to take a charge controller, taking a lot of space, maybe have a different torque station that's like a power module, you know, a power type torque station that does all that just in its own separate box. 39:45.510 --> 40:07.350 Yeah, that was an idea, like one of the power torque stations, like I want to have a power interface kit so people would be able to tap into different powers or different, like electric vehicles or solar, wind, water, like a kit that would be able to convert a variety of voltages down to the kit voltage. 40:07.950 --> 40:18.830 And so, yeah, that's something for people to consider whether they want to build it into their kit or whether they want to carry an external kit that would house that functionality. 40:19.030 --> 40:25.890 But the kits would hopefully be compatible not only with each other, but with other torque stations as well. 40:27.730 --> 40:39.990 Yeah, I've also started to see a rise in popularity of the, you know, battery generators, quote unquote, where it's just basically a battery box with a bunch of power distribution that you can now buy off the shelf, which is kind of nice for like, hey, 40:39.990 --> 40:42.910 I just need power and I need lithium power and off-grid. 40:43.530 --> 40:45.730 We've got a question... yeah, go ahead. 40:45.890 --> 40:47.490 Oh, no, I was going to say, yeah, those are great. 40:47.970 --> 40:52.710 Yeah, I have not splurged on one yet, but hopefully soon. 40:53.130 --> 40:59.590 A question here, could you talk a bit more about the antennas and or connectors you use for the antennas that hook up to this kit? 41:00.890 --> 41:07.810 Yeah, I use just the standard UHF antenna connector. 41:09.070 --> 41:12.590 Actually, it's probably easier if I just took off my nanoVNA here. 41:13.510 --> 41:18.250 So this is a nanoVNA I have kind of velcroed to the kit. 41:18.250 --> 41:23.150 It's used as an antenna analyzer and I use this type of connector. 41:25.190 --> 41:31.610 I'm going to embarrass myself here, PL259 or SO238, or 239, I mean. 41:32.710 --> 41:41.330 But it's just this standard type of antenna connector and then I have a box around here with different adapter connectors for the antenna. 41:41.550 --> 41:50.970 But the antenna that I like to use right now is I got from my brother a B &W AP10A. 41:51.210 --> 41:53.170 I don't have the whip on it right now. 41:53.170 --> 41:57.190 There's a whip that extends off the top that I can raise and lower. 41:57.190 --> 42:07.590 And it also has a tunable loading coil that I can adjust for the HF frequencies to get a better reception or better broadcast on those frequencies. 42:08.370 --> 42:17.070 But that just has the same type of screw that screws on to the kit there, the bulkhead connector. 42:20.620 --> 42:21.540 Very nice. 42:21.540 --> 42:24.580 You can always just say UHF connector and you're good. 42:25.360 --> 42:30.560 I think SO is socket and PL is plug, I think is what it is. 42:32.080 --> 42:35.740 So I think that's all we have for questions right now on the chat. 42:35.740 --> 42:38.520 Is there anything else you guys want to show or talk about? 42:43.020 --> 42:51.320 No, just curious if anyone has thought of any like if this has inspired anyone to make their own kit or if anyone has any ideas. 42:51.320 --> 42:52.420 Actually, here's an idea. 42:52.420 --> 43:05.280 So for in-person the Ham Radio Village, what if we could maybe start a fundraiser to make three or four torque stations for a get on the air station. 43:05.280 --> 43:09.220 And then at the end, give them out to school groups. 43:09.760 --> 43:13.220 So we'd have like a fundraiser kind of thing to make the stations. 43:13.220 --> 43:18.860 And then after they're used for people to get on the air, they can just be donated out. 43:18.860 --> 43:21.040 Would that be something people are interested in? 43:22.800 --> 43:25.140 Yeah, definitely something to take the pulse on. 43:25.140 --> 43:35.940 I was just completely off the top of my head and you could have potentially even prior to DEF CON said, okay, well, build your best torque station and come join the competition. 43:36.440 --> 43:42.640 Yeah, that could be part of the torque-cath-a-lon maybe if that ever takes off. 43:43.520 --> 43:46.700 I mean, it's not DEF CON if there's no soldering irons involved. 43:48.520 --> 43:53.560 Maybe build one within like an hour to the competition or something maybe. 43:56.610 --> 43:57.390 Cool. 43:57.390 --> 44:01.930 Well, thank you for putting this presentation together and hanging out and chatting with us. 44:01.930 --> 44:03.370 I thought this was pretty awesome. 44:03.710 --> 44:05.170 We even got a comment in the chat. 44:05.170 --> 44:06.990 Someone says it's very inspiring. 44:06.990 --> 44:08.050 So that's great to hear. 44:08.190 --> 44:09.290 Thank you for coming. 44:10.310 --> 44:13.670 I thank you all for joining me and thank you to the staff for putting this on.