52 Week Ham Radio Challenge 2026 - Week 20: Build the cheapest antenna you can and make a QSO with it

Challenge for 2026-05-11 - 2026-05-17

Category: 🛠️ - Difficulty: 🟠

Build the cheapest antenna you can and make a QSO with it

What antenna did you build? How much did it cost? What was your QSO (band, mode, power, RST)? Be competitive

Toots mentioning this challenge

DateUserUser ScoreStatusToot Summary & Link
May 18, 2026 06:51 UTCDF1CN@social.darc.de9Success!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

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