#hamchallenge week 12 - Sign up for an outdoor radio activity program and make a successful activation or hunt at least 10 stations!

There is a plethora of outdoor activity programs these days: SOTA, POTA, COTA, IOTA and even Toilets On The Air (though this mostly happens indoors HI). Chose one that you didn't yet sign up for and complete the challenge. How does it work? Was it easy to make contacts? Which references did you activate or hunt?https://www.hamchallenge.org/challenges/13/toots #hamradio

52 Week Ham Radio Challenge 2026

52 weeks, 52 challenges. The #hamchallenge is meant to inspire you to extend your horizon in amateur radio by weekly challenges that touch all aspects of ham radio.

@hamchallenge HC11S

I managed to spend most of the weekend tidying up the shack. I now have the HF cables for my FT-710 and TS-2000 separately labeled, so that I can plug either into my window passthrough.

I also managed to wrap up all of my spare USB cords, which I have now placed into an old popcorn tin. I will likely regret this decision later.

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🔎 Found a QRM source: an HDMI cable! Solution: It may not count as full success but turning monitor off when unused still satisfy me for IQ recording. 😇
#hamchallenge HC10S

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

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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

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#hamchallenge week 11 - Großreinemachen: Clean up and label all cables in your shack!

How did you tackle cable management in a shack full of cables? What about the cables that run to your antennas? Tell us about your power cables, feed lines and computer cables. Do you use special cables to mitigate interference? Clip-on ferrites?https://www.hamchallenge.org/challenges/12/toots #hamradio

52 Week Ham Radio Challenge 2026

52 weeks, 52 challenges. The #hamchallenge is meant to inspire you to extend your horizon in amateur radio by weekly challenges that touch all aspects of ham radio.

Mine wasn't strictly ham bands, but I installed new led lights and I noticed I got worse tv reception when I turned on a specific set of lights. Next was figuring out which fixture was noisy. I used an rtl-sdr dongle with my phone to figure out which light was causing the issue. Then I put a ferrite core on the power cable to attenuate the noise.

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#hamchallenge week 10 - Find a source of interference in your home and eliminate it

How did you localise the QRM source? What was it and how did you mitigate the interference? How long have you been dealing with it?https://www.hamchallenge.org/challenges/11/toots #hamradio

52 Week Ham Radio Challenge 2026

52 weeks, 52 challenges. The #hamchallenge is meant to inspire you to extend your horizon in amateur radio by weekly challenges that touch all aspects of ham radio.

Cables were definitely cleaned up, though I haven't labelled them all.
@hamchallenge #HamChallenge HC11
Spent a couple of hours rearranging my desk and faffing with cables, trying to remove noise sources that interfere with my HF rig. No luck unfortunately. Too many power supplies and cable runs next to each other; I will need more extreme measures. @hamchallenge #HamChallenge HC10