What Hackers Yearn 2025 · Netherlands · 2025

WHY2025 Badge

Capable hardware, difficult camp history

The Dutch 2025 camp badge mixed ambitious hardware with late distribution, LoRa caveats, battery-safety controversy, and a documented pre-event team conflict.

ESP32-P4 ESP32-C6 LoRa BadgeHub Battery CTF Dutch Camp

WHY2025 Badge badge image

EventWhat Hackers Yearn 2025

SeriesDutch Hacker Camps

LocationGeestmerambacht, near Alkmaar

CountryNetherlands

Image Provenance

Asset: optimized WebP from transparent cutout
Status: licensed original photo
Source: Why2025-badge-batteries.jpg
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Attribution: Korrupt, Wikimedia Commons
Notes: Original 4032x3024 Wikimedia Commons field photo downloaded from File:Why2025-badge-batteries.jpg, cropped to the visible board and battery holder, conservatively polygon-masked, scaled to the site badge canvas, and preserved as a transparent source cutout before WebP delivery conversion. This is a documentary camp photo with the battery warning labels visible, not a studio packshot; partial fabric background remains where it sits behind the hardware in the original image. The published badge.gallery delivery file is an optimized WebP generated from the rights-cleared local derivative/source with metadata stripped, WebP quality 82, and a maximum side cap of 1600 pixels when the source is larger; upstream source URL, license, and attribution remain unchanged.

People

Authors & Credits

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

Edwinm

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

FrancisD

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

Heplaphon

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

Illyau

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

Jay9

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

Jelmo2

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

Joram

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

Lmpsk

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

Park0

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

Pitastrudl

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member

TMM

Listed on the public Team:Badge wiki page.

Source

WHY2025 Team:Badge member and first-line contact

Kintaro

Listed as Team:Badge first-line contact and team member on the public wiki page.

Source

Why It Mattered

WHY2025 is a case study in how badge success depends on logistics, safety, documentation, volunteer process, and camp timing as much as silicon.

Hardware

Public sources describe a two-ESP32 badge with LoRa module, large screen, keyboard, sensors, 18650 cells, SD card app loading, optional LoRa antenna/socket work, and repair-sensitive daughterboard connectors.

Software & Apps

BadgeVMS, BadgeHub app delivery, web flashing, OTA updates, SD-card app installation, and experimental Meshtastic/MeshCore paths. Public issue pages document post-event firmware and app availability problems.

Lore

Attendees still built and ran Doom, designed cases and spacers, and documented repair paths, but much of the camp memory centers on queues, safety warnings, epoxy, and late availability.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

hardware add-on documented caveat

LoRa connector and antenna

LoRa use depended on attaching the connector and a suitable, matched antenna; the wiki records VNA/SWR antenna checks and warns that transmitting without a proper antenna could permanently damage RF hardware.

Compatibility: WHY2025 badge LoRa/FSK radio

Source

mechanical add-on ecosystem community documented

Cases, spacers, and repair parts

The wiki tracks 3D-printed cases, spacers, covers, and repair guidance, reflecting the post-event mechanical support ecosystem.

Compatibility: WHY2025 badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

safety critical

The badge was publicly flagged as a fire hazard when used with unprotected 18650 cells because short circuits around battery traces and holders could cause dangerous heating.

The warning shaped distribution, battery handling, user confidence, and the badge's public reputation.

Confidence: primary and secondary sources
Status: mitigated/disputed
Timeframe: during event
Source note: WHY2025 fire-hazard wiki, Hackaday, Tweakers.

camp impact major

Feedback says there was little badge hacking during camp compared with SHA2017 and MCH2022, partly due to late arrival, limited distribution, missing app-store workflow, LoRa limitations, and sparse documentation.

The badge's technical potential was hard to realize while the camp was happening.

Confidence: public feedback
Status: historical
Timeframe: during event
Source note: WHY2025 Feedback page.

ctf impact major

A CTF participant reported receiving their badge only on the final day of camp, making it difficult to work on an embedded-device challenge during the event.

Badge-dependent embedded work became timing-constrained for at least one participant; this aligns with public feedback about late handout.

Confidence: first-hand participant report, partially corroborated
Status: reported
Timeframe: during event
Source note: First-hand report from badge.gallery project owner; corroborated by public late-distribution feedback.

delivery major

Public feedback describes late and limited distribution, long queues, poor communication, and not enough badges for all visitors.

Many attendees could not use the badge as a nametag or as a normal camp hacking object.

Confidence: public feedback and press
Status: historical
Timeframe: during event
Source note: WHY2025 Feedback page and Tweakers field report.

safety mitigation major

Epoxy was applied as a last-minute mitigation, and the badge wiki later warned about reports of uncured epoxy.

Volunteers spent substantial camp time applying epoxy; users had handling and curing concerns.

Confidence: primary wiki
Status: partially mitigated
Timeframe: during event
Source note: WHY2025 Badge wiki and Badge Issues.

team/process major

Public sources document a Badge Team conflict before the event. Hackaday reported that the original Dutch badge team resigned en masse after disagreement with organizers; orga mailing-list posts confirm a conflict involving project leadership, a hardware lead, and others while cautioning that public facts were incomplete.

The conflict forms part of the badge's production history and likely contributed to a hurried replacement effort, but individual claims should not be overstated beyond public evidence.

Confidence: public mailing list and secondary source
Status: historical, incomplete public record
Timeframe: pre-event
Source note: Hackaday and WHY2025 orga mailing-list posts.

LoRa moderate

The LoRa connector was not pre-soldered, the supplied antenna was documented as a compromise 868/915 MHz antenna, and the wiki warned that transmitting without a connected or correctly matched antenna could permanently damage the Semtech SX1262 transmitter. The dedicated antenna page records VNA/SWR measurements, including one report above the safe SWR threshold at EU frequency before antenna rework; the compendium treats the colloquial bricked-antenna story as a source-backed RF-transmitter damage risk rather than as a literal claim that antennas themselves were bricked.

LoRa was not a simple out-of-box feature: users needed soldering, antenna choice or tuning, and caution with auto-transmitting firmware such as Meshtastic to avoid RF damage.

Confidence: primary wiki
Status: documented caveat
Timeframe: during and after event
Source note: WHY2025 Badge, Badge Issues, and Badge/LoRa-Antenna wiki pages.

firmware/apps moderate

Issue reports include OTA stalls, blue screens, missing apps after reflashing, wrong USB-port confusion, SD-card boot problems, and settings-app failures.

Users needed post-event reflashing and troubleshooting before the badge became a stable hacking platform.

Confidence: primary wiki
Status: partially resolved
Timeframe: during and after event
Source note: WHY2025 Badge Issues page.

Resources

Badge Issues issue tracker · Community issue page with hardware, firmware, LoRa, and user problems. BadgeHub app store · Badge app distribution service. Team Badge GitLab source · Hardware and firmware project files. WHY2025 LoRa antenna radio advisory · Dedicated antenna page for LoRa/FSK transmitter damage risk, SWR/VNA measurements, tuning notes, and antenna caveats. WHY2025 Team:Badge team page · Public team page listing Team:Badge contacts, development groups, and team members. WHY2025 badge wiki official wiki · Main badge page, warnings, LoRa notes, repair notes, app install instructions.

Sources

Hackaday: The WHY 2025 Badge And Its 18650s Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Secondary coverage of the battery-safety controversy and badge-team resignation context. Tweakers: Toilethokjes vol glasvezel en badges vol drama Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Dutch report on queues, epoxy mitigation, and camp context. WHY2025 orga mailing list: Personal Statement Dany around the Badge Team conflict Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary public mailing-list evidence that a conflict existed. WHY2025 orga mailing list: Truth-finding w.r.t. Team:Badge conflict Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary public mailing-list evidence and caution about incomplete public facts. WHY2025 wiki: Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary badge warnings, LoRa details, repair notes, and app install information. WHY2025 wiki: Badge Issues Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Community-maintained issue and repair record. WHY2025 wiki: Badge/LoRa-Antenna Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary LoRa antenna advisory covering irreversible transmitter damage risk without a proper antenna, SWR thresholds, VNA measurement, and tuning notes. WHY2025 wiki: Badge/Fire hazard Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Detailed fire-hazard advisory and response links. WHY2025 wiki: Feedback Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Public attendee feedback on late distribution, queues, limited hacking, and documentation. WHY2025 wiki: Team:Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary public team page for Team:Badge member names and development-group structure.