#hamchallenge week 8 - Experiment with APRS!

Whether you set up your own station or look into how APRS works or the history of it is up to your imagination. What did you find out? Did you see APRS packets? How do you they work?https://www.hamchallenge.org/challenges/9/toots #hamradio

@DJ5CW Of course you are right! HC07S #hamchallenge @hamchallenge

Thanks to @DJ5CW for #lcwo, my CW advisor Lutz DM6EE, and my peers in the CW academy foundation class Jan/Feb '26 - now I am looking forward practising my #morse skills.

I sent a "thank you" card via snail mail to Brett, KE9BOS, developer of vailmorse.com to thank him and the team behind the platform. I use it regulary to practice.
HC07S @hamchallenge #amateurradio #cw #morse #hamchallenge

#hamchallenge week 7 - Thank a fellow ham radio operator!

Maybe your mentor or someone you recently talked to or someone who helped you with a problem? Who did you chose and why? Let us know! https://www.hamchallenge.org/challenges/8/toots #hamradio

Ticked a number of this year's #HamChallenge tasks off the list yesterday:
* Thanked a bunch of people, particularly our net controller HC7S
* Sent and received APRS beacons from the hilltop with the TH-D74 HC8S
* Activated a POTA park HC12S

@hamchallenge

#hamchallenge week 6 - Whistle a DIGI- or CW-QSO!

While it says this is an easy challenge arguably whistling a digimode might be very hard. Hint: It doesn't say you need to use a radio anywhere. Maybe you toot a video of yourself whistling and receive a mention back? https://www.hamchallenge.org/challenges/7/toots #hamradio

Since I saw this years #hamchallenge s I was awaiting this week: From my QTH I have a good LOS to DB0FLX and had set up a Ubiquity device together with a Raspberry Pi for routing into the Hamnet from my local network some time ago.

For HC05S I looked at some tracroutes to see the involved links and used APRS, DX-cluster and MQTT via HAMNET(-Servers) and right now think about using MQTT as a chat…

@hamchallenge

The nearest access point to Hamnet is only 1.6 km away as measured in a straight line, but i am on the second floor with many houses in between, so I am unable to establish a radio connection.
I connected to Hamnet via VPN and browsed around a bit. The web part seems a bit like the early Internet, with many private or club sites and broken links. I wish I could add a personal website, hosted on a Pi, to Hamnet. HC05S @hamchallenge #hamchallenge #amateurradio

#hamchallenge Week 5: Use HAMNET.

OK, I don't know what I am doing, but it only took 5 minutes to get started on #hamnet with #wireguard thanks to https://vpn.hamnet.network/w/de/

@hamchallenge #HC05S

#hamchallenge no 2 was a good motivation to use RTTY, which so far I had only been decoding. Except for the one time I *thought* I would be fast enough to use the memos of an Icom rig to have sth like a RTTY-QSO (dr op pse excuse my unpolitely short answers…). Now I made a sked for a 2m RTTY QSO, using fldigi, answering properly. Faszinating mode, but it feels a bit weird not being able to hear the received content. We later switched to BPSK, which turned out to be more reliable :). HC02S @hamchallenge

#hamchallenge week 5 - Use HAMNET!

Can you get access to the HAMNET? What services did you find useful? How did you get access?https://www.hamchallenge.org/challenges/6/toots #hamradio

NOTE: Did you know you can click the heading of a challenge on the website in order to toggle a detailed description? Plus you can click any user name anywhere in order to show more detailed statistics for that user. Try it out!

@hamchallenge My IC-7100 has a power setting in percent rather than Watts. I just gave it a try: RW7K is CQing on 1824.7 kHz with a S9+ signal on my remote (SO5CW). With Power "0%" he didn't react to my call. With "1%" I got a "?", with "2%" I received a "CW?" and with "5%" we completed the QSO. Maybe he would have copied the full callsign even at 2% but I didn't want to torture the operator more than necessary, and I already knew he copied part of my callsign with 2%. Antenna: 16m long vertical. That's HC04S for me 🙂 #hamradio #hamchallenge

#hamchallenge week 4 - How low can you go in QRP?

This challenge is about hitting the lower bands with your QRP rig: How low can you go? Can you make it to 80 m or maybe 160 m? Hint: The mode is up to you 😉 https://www.hamchallenge.org/challenges/5/toots #hamradio

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

#hamchallenge HC05 - Use HAMNET!
This is something I should have done a long time ago already - especially since I have line of sight to the Olympiaturm in Munich, which hosts DB0TVM (picture shows the view from my flat). However, according to hamnetdb.net it is currently under renovation... https://hamnetdb.net/index.cgi?q=db0tvm - I will observe the status. Would be much nicer to access the hamnet via radio rather than some VPN... #hamradio #hamnet @hamchallenge

#hamchallenge week 3: Understand how your antenna works. 🧵

Let's check out the lowband vertical antenna I built before #CQWW in November. It is 16.5m long, built with an 18m Spiderbeam mast minus the top element. About 18m of wire are coiled up on it (for stability), and it is tuned at the feed point with a CG3000 automatic tuner. There are 12 ground radials with an average length of 10m below it. When I built it and laid out the radials, I noticed that the feed point impedance stayed at about 37 Ohm at the resonant frequency of ~ 4.1 MHz any more after 12 radials, so I left it like that. HC03 @hamchallenge #hamradio #antennas

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#hamchallenge week 3 - Understand how your antenna works!

Not all antennas are equal, so why not research one of your antennas or an antenna you are interested in and try to understand how it works? A magnetic loop? What is its beam characteristic and pattern? Can it handle high power? Let us know! We are eager to hear what you find out. https://www.hamchallenge.org/challenges/4/toots #hamradio

The #hamchallenge got two Shout outs today on The AR News today. (Well in QLD anyway)
WIA (Wireless Institute of Australia) national broadcast, along with a section from my local Club - Darling Downs Radio Club Inc. As part of the state segment- Q News.
@hamchallenge

In an Attempt to work on HC01 I have had a marvellous QSO with a former Student, whom I help get his Foundation Licence.
Given Echolink is an Unfamiliar mode to me I think I'm eligible to claim success in HC02S
I will persist and aim to have a QSO with a little further away.
#hamchallenge @hamchallenge

Today, I managed to make a QSO via a repeater in London (GB3LV) using #Echolink. The repeater is connected to a larger network, and I had a QSO with EA7KNK from Spain. Many repeaters seem to be connected via a wide variety of networks, so you can connect via Echolink and then end up via Allstar in Spain on another repeater or an operator's hotspot in Turkey...
In any case, the first Hamchallenge of the year has been completed HC01S #hamchallenge @hamchallenge

If anyone else is still working on the challenge, I am now QRV on DB0BLO, which can also be reached via Echolink (call for DK4MJ).