| January 15, 2026 01:44 UTC | 3 | Success! | After failing to fall asleep I spend some time on the current #hamchallenge. I have a 27.5m long ZS6BKW antenna. Based on that the antenna should resonate at 5.45 MHz. Since the feedline isn't matched it acts as an impedance transformer. If the I include that in the calculation I get the second plot. Which looks quite close the the plot of the NanoVNA. The plot suggest that the often quoted length of 12.2m is not optimal and a longer feedline should be used. I will keep that in mind when I need to work on my antenna again. HC03S @hamchallenge |
| February 24, 2026 09:21 UTC | 9 | Success! | A few days @dj4ram suggested on the #draussenfunker Discord to try out JT9. This quickly turned into a who can go lower challenge. The attached image shows my transmission with just 8dBm received by DJ4RAM. HC09S #hamchallenge @hamchallenge |
| March 10, 2026 21:46 UTC | 10 | Success! | @hamchallenge
I accidentally found a source of interference. I was scrolling over the bands when I noticed that that 80m was full of QRM that wasn't there a gew days ago. I was looking up 80m foxhunt equipment when I heard the tv turning of and suddenly the QRM was gone.
So I grabbed an AC filter and plugged the TV into it. It seems to help a bit (but not much). Still I count that as a success. HC10S
#hamchallenge |
| March 12, 2026 18:18 UTC | 11 | Success! | I build a small patch panel out of single sided PCB material. There are just three connectors for now since I only have one antenna but two radios. The backside already has all the markings needed for future expansion. Currently I just need to print some labels at the club station (I don't have a label maker) and I am done with this weeks #hamchallenge. HC11S @hamchallenge |
| March 20, 2026 20:46 UTC | 12 | Success! | I did a small activation of my home park yesterday. At least that was the plan. Getting the 10 QSOs required for an activation took 2 hours. Well that was partly my fault because I hadn't had enough wire for an 40m Endfed. I tried everything SSB, FT8 and CW. What worked in the end was just doing CW on 40m. SWR was infinity. But the transceiver said, that it outputs one watt. That was enough for the three QSOs so that I could finally leave the park. Thanks for all the hunters that had the patience to deal with my terrible CW.
@hamchallenge HC12S
#amateueradio #pota |
| May 10, 2026 12:33 UTC | 19 | Success! | @hamchallenge Listen to a signal on either 630m or 2200m. Doesn't matter if CW or FT8. Every mode counts. HC19S |
| May 18, 2026 06:51 UTC | 20 | Success! | I modified my ZS6BKW to work on 160m. I replaced my balun with an alligator cable that connected the center pin of the coax to both terminals of the ladder line.
It worked. Running 50W on FT8 I managed one qso with DL7GP (135km). I got -17 on my report. That's an improvement to the last time, where I just matched the antenna on 160m and got zero decodes.
While this is progress I am still looking for a 160m antenna.
#hamchallenge @hamchallenge
HC20S |
| May 24, 2026 16:12 UTC | 21 | Success! | @hamchallenge I tried to use a 10m repeater. For that I had to figure out how to configure the CTCSS tone. Turns out that's quite easy. Set the the mode to FM, press the function button and then a option called tone appears.
I could hear the repeater transmitting its callsign but sadly no one was listening on the repeater.
HC21S |
| June 07, 2026 14:01 UTC | 16 | Success! | Scrolling around on the bands I saw some PSK31 transmissions. I fired up fldigi and made a QSO with M0AAX.
HC16S
@hamchallenge |
| July 02, 2026 13:27 UTC | 18 | Success! | @hamchallenge Some time ago I started building an adapter to connect my https://github.com/skuep/AIOC to my Yaesu FT-65. Took quite some time to figure out the pinout of both connectors but I was able to build a prototype on the same day.
Finally the missing parts arrived (I should have checked the availability before ordering the PCBs) and it works. I can now connect my radio via USB C to my phone / laptop and have the audio there as well as a programming interface.
HC18S
#hamchallange |