[Ground-station] Orlando HamCation 2020

[Michelle Thompson]

I got asked about CTFs. I apologize for not better defining them in the
original message!

A "CTF" is a "Capture the Flag" competition. It's very very much like the
playground game, where you have to hunt down and capture a flag and take it
back to your base (or just keep it for a round) and then you get a point.

At many conferences, there are CTFs that are there for people to compete in
a controlled environment.

Here's a link to the CTF Report from GNU Radio 2017:
https://w5nyv.blogspot.com/2019/07/gnu-radio-conference-2017-wireless.html

What generally happens is that teams or individuals sign up to solve
problems that are posed by organizers. It's like a scavenger hunt combined
with a bar trivia game. The organizers tell you what you need to bring, you
show up, and then you get a series of problems to solve. They may be hard!
They may be interconnected. There might be things to distract or false
leads. There might be art involved, or some sort of literature reference,
or social engineering. Or, it might all be very narrowly technical.

Usually there's a theme, or a tool, or a technology that the CTF is
designed around. I competed in a CTF at a workshop recently that was
devoted to BlueTooth Low Energy communications.

One of the more famous and difficult computer networking CTFs is one hosted
by DEFCON (https://www.defcon.org/html/links/dc-ctf.html).

CTFs shine as a way for people that learn best by example or application to
get ahead. There's a lot of classroom material out there for people that
learn by equation or theory. Sometimes there's not a lot for people that
learn by doing. CTFs really do a great job of teaching through doing. They
range from individual to teams, and can be very competitive to very
collaborative.

One can think of amateur radio foxhunts (and ARDF in general) as a type of
CTF.

-Michelle W5NYV




On Tue, Aug 13, 2019 at 12:51 PM Michelle Thompson <
mountain.michelle at gmail.com> wrote:

> Open Research Institute has been asked to come back to Orlando HamCation.
>
> We have a ham radio satellite communications FPGA workshop that would be
> of interest.
>
> We have a wireless Capture the Flag reputation that is of interest.
>
> We need to decide very soon and pay the booth fee of $375.
>
> We need a team! If you want to help make these things happen, we need to
> start now.
>
> Questions, comments, support, commitment, critique? Reply here!
>
> -Michelle W5NYV
>
>
>
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