Lots of people think the Maker culture is a relatively new phenomenon. However, one group has been doing it for close to a hundred years: Amateur radio operators. While some dismiss amateur radio as an aging artifact from decades ago, today's radio amateurs are building wide area wireless networks, developing digital protocols that use the tiniest of bandwidth, and building radios from scratch. This presentation will review the basics of amateur radio, the advantages over unlicensed devices, and areas of interest you can apply to your existing projects.
Ben Jackson is just another geek from the Boston area. He spends his days doing InfoSec stuff and generally breaking things for a large public sector organization. In his spare time he messes around with computers, VoIP, analog telephones, amateur radio, and generally anything with a button on it. Ben has spoken at DEFCON, HOPE, SOURCE Boston, and various other conferences, and strongly dislikes writing about himself in the third person.