New World's Record Set At Defcon Wifi Shootout Contest
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- August 3, 2004

New World's Record Set At Defcon Wifi Shootout Contest

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Amateur engineering took a new turn on July 31, 2004, in the Nevada desert,
as three teenage ham radio operators from Ohio took top honors in the 2nd
Annual Defcon Wifi Shootout Contest. Held in conjunction with the annual
Defcon convention, the contest seeks to discover who can achieve the
greatest connected wireless network distance between two computers using the
802.11b Wireless Fidelity (Wifi) protocol.

Using two consumer-grade 32-milliwatt Orinoco Gold USB Wifi adapters mounted
on the feed points of two surplus 9-1/2 foot satellite dishes, the team
known as P.A.D. achieved a verified connect distance of 55.1 miles (88.67
kilometers), without the use of external amplification.

This surpasses previous records set in the unamplified class, including
those of Canarias Wireless of Spain (70.5 kilometers) and Seattle Wireless
(61.1 kilometers).

After reading a story at http://classes.weber.edu/wireless/, it was thought
that team P.A.D. had not beaten the record set by students from Utah's Weber
State University, who achieved a wifi connection of 82 miles on December 6,
2003. However, after scrutinizing the university team's equipment list
(http://classes.weber.edu/wireless/Project%20Information.htm), it was
discovered that the Weber State team had indeed used two external 1.5 watt
bi-directional amplifiers.

Similar concerns arose after reading a rather confusing story about the
72-mile wifi shot achieved by the HPWREN facility
(http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,75830,00.html).
However, in a follow-up story published by Computerworld
(http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,76118,00.html),
the use of external power amplifiers was once again revealed.

All other wifi records exceeding 55.1 miles have involved the use of
external power amplifiers.

Further information about the Defcon Wifi Shootout contest may be found at
http://www.wifi-shootout.com.

OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST

http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LongShots
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/4045
http://www.defcon.org
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,64440,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

Released by the Defcon Wifi Shootout Contest Staff.