Defcon Radio

[Xodia]

I just got back from Notacon where they have had a shoutcast station during the last few cons. Everyone involved had a blast, including some regulars from the Defcon community.

With the size of Defcon, the constantly bumping tunes in the chillout room, and the awesome DJ sets at night, why not bring Defcon Radio back via Shoutcast/Icecast? A central broadcast location wouldn't even necessarily be needed. Just running a line off the board in rooms with DJs would be sufficient if it was just music. Though, I suppose the media archives eventually meet this need anyway. A main server with laptops contributing from around the con could also work without a central broadcast room.

However, if I could get a central broadcast location there could be speaker interviews, user contributed shows (via sign-up in advance), scavenger hunt news, etc. It is just a lot of fun to hear recordings of yourself and friends post-con (recordings of your drunken karaoke even). I have all the necessary equipment, space and trustworthy volunteers is the only constraint.

I intend on doing this in a totally unofficial ghetto rigged fashion either way, but I was just seeing if there is any wider interest. I know there was a podcasters meetup a few cons ago, you guys still around?

[The Dark Tangent]

Re: Defcon Radio

I am all for it, if you can make it happen.

DJ GreatScott! had a feed last year, I think we were streaming it? He would be the person to talk with about making your idea reality.

For a second when you said radio I was expecting some low power fm transmitter action.

[Xodia]

Re: Defcon Radio

I am all for it, if you can make it happen.

DJ GreatScott! had a feed last year, I think we were streaming it? He would be the person to talk with about making your idea reality.

For a second when you said radio I was expecting some low power fm transmitter action.

I had thought about low power FM, but it doesn't seem worth the trouble considering the legal distance of transmission is so low. If I remember correctly, DMZ had low power FM in addition to a stream at the AP. The Rio is just so huge in comparison!

I will get in touch with DJ Greatscott! about getting DJ feeds. Its really just an issue of configuring a central server to pick up secondary streams from each DJ room. I have the necessary Shoutcast servers with large listener capacities if need be.

Would it be possible to get a space to broadcast from? It would make handling the streams and switching to correspondants at events/contest/parties much easier. It's also just fun having people stop by the station to say hello or have a brief show during the day.

I have the following equipment thus far, and will most likely have more by the time con rolls around:
- 5 SM58 mics
- Yamaha MG102c mixer
- An unmarked ancient mixer I bought at a garage sale. Works great though.
- Mbox Mini audio interface
- 5 Pairs o' headphones
- Enough iThings with webservers to supply to 5 trustworthy volunteers for on-location broadcasts. This could be anything from covering contests (Scavenger hunt updates!) to interviewing speakers. That would be something to get hammered down on a broadcast schedule.

Without a central location, I could still use all of the above...I'll just need to mobilize it.

[The Dark Tangent]

Re: Defcon Radio

I know the Hacker News Network guys are broadcasting from a central place, maybe there is room for you guys to colo?

[TheCotMan]

Re: Defcon Radio

I thought this sounded familiar....

Back at Defcon 17, there was an event and forum created called [forum=470]Podcasters Meetup[/forum] which has a few threads. It is described as meeup with live podcasts and opportunities for listeners to meet the people running podcasts and the other way around.

I did not have time to see how this event at Defcon 17 worked out. Anyone know and care to comment about it?

Next question to ask first is, "who is running it?" (Then we can ask them about the title.) It looks like it was not an event last year, and if it was, I have no forum for it. If it did not happen last year, that would suggest it is an open opportunity for someone else to run it if the people that originally ran it have no plans to run it this year. Xodia, if you are planning to run this in light of evidence showing something similar was run two years ago, please let me/us know.

It is probably a good idea for anyone that wants to run this this year to contact the people that ran it 2 years ago for some sort of hand-off of the metaphorical torch, and if all parties are available and amenable to it, hints, advice and suggestions for the people that would run it this year.

Thanks!

[Xodia]

Re: Defcon Radio

It is probably a good idea for anyone that wants to run this this year to contact the people that ran it 2 years ago for some sort of hand-off of the metaphorical torch, and if all parties are available and amenable to it, hints, advice and suggestions for the people that would run it this year.

Thanks!

My concept is much more similiar to what DMZ had going for Defcon Radio at Defcon 13. Live programming all day and night for the full duration of the Con. I went ahead and emailed him a bit ago, but I'm not sure if the address on the old Defcon Radio site is up to date. Hopefully he sees this here!

From what I understand, the Podcasters meetup was more of a panel of notable podcasters being broadcast live in a roundtable style. Then again, I wasn't able to attend that con, so I could be wrong. Looking at their other events, it definitely isn't something that goes live 24/7.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Defcon Radio

My concept is much more similiar to what DMZ had going for Defcon Radio at Defcon 13. Live programming all day and night for the full duration of the Con. I went ahead and emailed him a bit ago, but I'm not sure if the address on the old Defcon Radio site is up to date. Hopefully he sees this here!

Sounds good. If you are sure you are going to make this happen, DT (above) has given an OK. You will still need to work out space for your event if you need it, and access to Defcon resources if you need those. Once you make a decision to carry it through, I'll make a forum for it. Just let me know! :-)

From what I understand, the Podcasters meetup was more of a panel of notable podcasters being broadcast live for a period at night and a quiet room for people to record during the day. Then again, I wasn't able to attend that con, so I could be wrong.

Yeah, i never attended it either. The description made it sound like a bunch of podcasters got together and ran their own live shows during the meet-up, and went on their way to podcasting out in the crowd when the meeting was over.

[Xodia]

Re: Defcon Radio

Sounds good. If you are sure you are going to make this happen, DT (above) has given an OK. You will still need to work out space for your event if you need it, and access to Defcon resources if you need those. Once you make a decision to carry it through, I'll make a forum for it. Just let me know! :-)

Awesome! I am 100% certain this is going to happen. Unlike Poker events, its something that doesn't require gaming commission hoops.

I'll get on the hunt for space/bandwidth immediately. Thanks, DT, and humble forum God.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Defcon Radio

Awesome! I am 100% certain this is going to happen. Unlike Poker events, its something that doesn't require gaming commission hoops.

I'll get on the hunt for space/bandwidth immediately. Thanks, DT, and humble forum God.

Forum "[forum=581]Defcon Radio[/forum]" has been created and this thread moved into it with a redirect from the old location to the new location which will auto-expire in 3 weeks.

Present Description:
"Temporary Title: Audio broadcast from Defcon."

Please let me know if you want that changed and what you want to change it to.

Do you have a twitter feed for this event, where you will tweet information on where you are or what you are doing? If so, please give me a URL so I can include it in the description.

What about Facebook? If you have a URL for a facebook entry, please give that to me so it can be added.

Any other URL for a site/web page, wiki, mailing list or something else? URL and I can link to it from the description.

If you have none of these but plan to get them later, let me know when you have them and I can update the descrption.

Thanks, and good luck!
-Cot

[eris]

Re: Defcon Radio

xodia, contact pyr0 about constest space. There is, in fact, a form and questionnare up as of yesterday from him. He can arrange space and get you help with what you need to make it happen.

[Pyr0]

Re: Defcon Radio

Awesome! I am 100% certain this is going to happen. Unlike Poker events, its something that doesn't require gaming commission hoops.

I'll get on the hunt for space/bandwidth immediately. Thanks, DT, and humble forum God.

Hey there Xodia,
Be sure to fill out the RFI (https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=12113) and let me know what you need to make this happen.
-Pyr0

[Xodia]

Re: Defcon Radio

Hey there Xodia,
Be sure to fill out the RFI (https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=12113) and let me know what you need to make this happen.
-Pyr0

Submitted, sir. Thanks for the help!

[eris]

Re: Defcon Radio

Submitted, sir. Thanks for the help!

What, no damn love for the eris that posted about contacting pyr0 before pyr0 posted? Why you gotta hate like that?

[dmz]

Re: Defcon Radio

Howdy y'all. Just getting caught up and happy to bring anything I had before. A few quick thoughts on issues I had in years past.

The biggest problem was dependable internet. Without that your not streaming!

The next biggest issue is getting dependable help. If I make it out this year (the kids are finally big enough for me to travel for fun:) I'd be happy to help. Getting access to the presentations, post-interviews and soundbites are some of the hardest things to get if you don't have enough people helping.

Also, get your software configured and tested pre-con. The weekend goes by very quick if your debugging...

I'm also happy to let the site defconradio.org be used if someone has energy & skills to create something. I also have a few data-centers worth of servers that we can use to add to repeaters if there is a need.

DT would the radio be able to broadcast any of the talks?

As for the FM broadcast, if you have a room up high in the hotel and have access to the stream you should be able to get 7-10 miles coverage with 15 watts, which is good for those bouncing between parties :) Check out freeradio.org for more details on equipment

dmz

[dmz]

Re: Defcon Radio

Since your getting setup now, have you decided how your going to manage the stream / schedule? I'd recommend airtime:

http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/produ...time_overview/

Also regarding the network, will people at defcon be able to connect/listen to stream locally or only from internet relays?