CactusCon
Arizona security-conference context for the 2017 badge record, anchored to the attendee writeup's event narrative.
SourceCactusCon 2017 · United States · 2017
CactusCon 2017 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Scanner Badge
Soldered WemOS scanner badge
The CactusCon 2017 badge is preserved through a first-hand attendee writeup that describes paying for the badge package, soldering and troubleshooting the board at the Phoenix-area event, and using it as a tiny Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanner.
EventCactusCon 2017
SeriesCactusCon
LocationPhoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Arizona
CountryUnited States
People
Authors & Credits
Ratil.life
Publisher of the public attendee writeup that preserves the paid badge package, soldering, and scanner-behavior evidence.
SourceWhy It Mattered
It narrows the CactusCon pre-2019 gap with artifact-level evidence from the attendee floor while avoiding unsupported claims about official design files, firmware releases, component variants, or image rights.
Hardware
The writeup says attendees could attend free or pay $45 to get a badge, shirt, and swag. It identifies the badge as a tiny Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanner made from a WemOS board, records a soldering/de-soldering troubleshooting session, and says the badge displayed nearby SSIDs with signal strength plus a scrolling screen of Bluetooth device MAC addresses. No schematic, BOM, production count, enclosure details, battery details, or final controller variant was recovered in this pass.
Software & Apps
No public firmware repository, challenge archive, source release, bootloader note, app, or scanner code was recovered for this 2017 record. The catalogue therefore treats the scanner behavior as observed badge functionality from the first-hand writeup, not as a reproducible software archive.
Lore
The attendee narrative frames CactusCon as a free Phoenix-area security conference, with the badge as the paid package centerpiece and soldering help part of the on-site experience before talks and post-conference skydiving.
Lifecycle
Add-ons & Upgrades
badge interface
source-backed
Bluetooth MAC-address scrolling display
The writeup says the badge's first screen scrolled Bluetooth device MAC addresses.
Source
badge interface
source-backed
Wi-Fi SSID and signal display
After troubleshooting, the badge displayed visible Wi-Fi SSIDs and signal strength in the attendee writeup.
Source
hardware architecture
source-backed
WemOS-board scanner foundation
The writeup identifies the badge as a tiny Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanner made from a WemOS board.
Source
ticket badge
source-backed
Paid badge, shirt, and swag package
The attendee writeup says CactusCon 2017 could be attended free or with a $45 package that included a badge, shirt, and swag.
SourceOperational history
Issues & Camp Impact
missing rights-cleared image
note
No CactusCon 2017 badge image is published because the recovered attendee writeup photos have not been paired with complete source URL, reusable license or permission basis, attribution, and processing notes for catalogue publication.
The entry remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying blog photos, screenshots, social media, or generated media.
- Confidence
- local project policy
- Status
- needs licensed original replacement
- Timeframe
- current catalogue build
- Source note
- badge.gallery image policy and Ratil.life Hacking and Skydiving writeup.
module-variant caveat
note
The writeup names a WemOS board but does not identify the exact module variant, bill of materials, display part, battery setup, or scanner firmware source.
The record uses WemOS only as the source-backed board family reference and avoids pinout, controller, or firmware-specific claims.
- Confidence
- source-limited
- Status
- needs board-identification recovery
- Timeframe
- current CactusCon historical pass
- Source note
- Ratil.life Hacking and Skydiving writeup and linked WemOS reference.
source-depth caveat
note
The recovered source proves a paid badge package and observed Wi-Fi/Bluetooth scanner behavior, but this pass did not recover official badge-team documentation, schematics, BOM, firmware, production count, challenge material, or a source repository.
The catalogue records the real scanner badge while keeping technical claims limited to the public attendee writeup.
- Confidence
- first-hand attendee writeup
- Status
- needs official badge archive recovery
- Timeframe
- current CactusCon historical pass
- Source note
- Ratil.life Hacking and Skydiving writeup.
Resources
CactusCon 2017 event metadata
event metadata · Secondary event listing source used for September 29-30, 2017 Phoenix Convention Center context, not for badge technical details.
Hacking and Skydiving
first-hand attendee writeup · First-hand attendee source for the CactusCon 2017 paid badge package, Phoenix-area event context, WemOS-based Wi-Fi/Bluetooth scanner behavior, soldering troubleshooting, and image-rights boundary.
WemOS
linked board-vendor reference · Board-vendor link named by the attendee writeup for the badge's WemOS-board foundation; used only to preserve the linked hardware reference, not to infer a specific module variant.
Sources
Ratil.life: Hacking and Skydiving
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · First-hand attendee source for CactusCon 2017 paid badge package, soldering/de-soldering troubleshooting, WemOS-board identity, Wi-Fi SSID/signal display, Bluetooth MAC-address scrolling, and image-rights boundary.
Security.World: CactusCon event listing
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Secondary event-context source for September 29-30, 2017 Phoenix Convention Center metadata; not used for badge technical claims.
WemOS: WemOS
Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Linked vendor reference named by the attendee writeup for the badge board foundation; not used to infer a specific WemOS module beyond the source text.